227 - Simian Isle

I have to admit that when I was considering doing a Monkey Day strip this year, I almost was tempted to do a strip that was tied-in to last year’s strip. However, on the forum, we have been chatting about Monkey Island. I have to totally admit being a fanboy of that series. A very awesome game with great playability and good humor. For all of the great games that have come and gone over the years, I have to say by far my favorite PC games are the Monkey Island series and “Day of the Tentacle”–all by Lucasart. Ah, those were the days when they made games other than Star Wars and shooters… *sigh* Yes, I know that’s an exaggeration, but it feels like that. Anyhow, getting all nostalgic about Guybrush Threepwood and his adventures, I decided I wanted to do something along those lines for Monkey Day, since we obviously parody him in this strip as the Monkey Mustafa’s assistant. After a bit of thought, I came up with this strip. While this comic is kinda randomly placed in the continuity to tie-in to Monkey Day, it’s not a random strip. It may or may not have huge significance, but rarely is something done arbitrarily in this strip. Jim and I are pretty serious writers, and we do plot a lot of stuff way out. I, for one, love to leave little threads all over the place, and then tie them up at a later day–in some obvious and some not-so-obvious ways.

I will note that much of the background art in this strip is from the first Monkey Island game. I really wanted to pay a little homage to “Threepbrush’s” desire to be a pirate–which of course was a major plot element in the Monkey Island games. I have to admit to thinking the pirate monkeys look pretty cool. As for our little monkey ninja, I would be remiss to merely mention those words without giving a nod to my all-time favorite monkey ninjas, Carl & Phil, who can be found over HERE (the site is going through a revamp, but check back soon–all 6 episodes are hilarious and must-see).