'Monkey Meat' & the Art of Chaos: Juni Ba on comics, capitalism & cartoon carnage

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NEWS

1. 'Runaways' returns with five-issue series from Rainbow Rowell and Elena Casagrande
2. 'One World Under Doom' #5 reveals the world must choose Doom or Dormammu
3. Marvel reveals new details for 'Giant-Size X-Men' and 'Dark Phoenix' one-shots
4. Marvel Television variant covers coming for ‘Daredevil’ titles starting in April
5. Oni reveals ‘Biker Mice From Mars’ gets new ongoing in June 2025
6. Top 50 comics of February
7. Batman H2sh #1 sells over 400,000 copies

Our Top Books of the Week

Dave:

1. Monkey Meat: Summer Batch #1 (Juni Ba)
2. Batgirl #5 (Tate Brombal, ​​Takeshi Miyazawa)

Colin:​​

1. Ultimates #10 (Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri)
2. The Nice House by the Sea #6 (James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno)

Standout KAPOW moment of the week:

Colin - Storm #6 (Murewa Ayodele, Luciano Vecchio)

Dave - Uncanny X-Men #11 (Gail Simone, Javier Garron)

TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK

1. Colin: Absolute Superman #5 (Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval)
2. Dave: Assorted Crisis Events #1 (Deniz Camp, Eric Zawadzki)

JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.

1. Dave: Iron Man #6 (Ian Bertram Cover)
2. Colin: The Batman Adventures #12 (Facsimile Edition Super Powers Cover) (Toy Otter/Jason Geyer)

Interview: Juni Ba: Monkey Meat: Summer Batch #1 out ​​​​Mar 5, 2025

Story and Themes

1. Monkey Meat is such a unique blend of dark fantasy, humor, and horror. How do you balance those tones without losing the story's core message?
2. The concept of Monkey Meat Island explores hyper-capitalism and corporate exploitation in surreal ways. What new angles or themes are you excited to explore in The Summer Batch?
3. You describe Monkey Meat as a comic where you can "shed corporate expectations." How does that creative freedom shape the way you approach each issue or story?
4. This new arc takes a summer magazine format with games and multiple tales per issue. What inspired this structure, and what do you think it brings to the reading experience?

Characters and Worldbuilding

1. From superhero monkeys to debt-collecting witches, the characters in Monkey Meat are wild and wonderfully diverse. Are there any new characters in The Summer Batch you're particularly excited for readers to meet?
2. In previous issues, the Monkey Meat Company has a huge impact on the local, magical fauna. Does the environment of Monkey Meat Island evolve or play a role in this new arc?

Art and Creativity

1. Your art is incredibly dynamic and experimental. How does your artistic process change when you're working on an anthology with multiple stories in one issue versus a single, continuous narrative?

Fun/Silly Question

1. If you were forced to take a vacation on Monkey Meat Island, what three survival items would you bring, and how would you avoid getting on the bad side of the local witches or demons?