Low-Key Great: The Hit-Monkey Cartoon
You know what’s low-key great? The Hit-Monkey cartoon on Hulu. I just finished up the second season and I’m here to tell you that the showrunners go all-out for season 2! Honestly, I’m sure they were all surprised to even get a second season, so they really gave it their all. This show gets my highest recommendation!
Hit-Monkey is actually a Marvel cartoon, based on a fairly recent but now also obscure Marvel Comics character. He’s a monkey who wears a suit and is an assassin. I never read any of the comics, but Hit-Monkey was named way back in 2019 as one several shows being considered by then Marvel Television to turn random characters into shows.
Of that group, we only ever got M.O.D.O.K. — which was great! — and Hit-Monkey. The first season came out all the way back in 2021. I have very little memory of the season, but I’m confident I enjoyed it. And it’s just plain shocking that anybody involved greenlit this show for a second season an entire three years later! Marvel Television is no more, it’s all subsumed into Marvel Studios. There’s no M.O.D.O.K. season 2, for example.
But I’m not about to look this gift horse in the mouth!
This is just going to be a brief review/recommendation to go watch Hit-Monkey. The first season was good, from what I can remember, and the second season is damn great! The writing is awesome, the jokes are fun, the story really goes to some crazy places, episode-after-episode. It’s an ongoing, serialized story across the entire season, but they do something new and different each episode. The characters are a lot of fun and the voice acting is no slouch. Jason Sudeikis does not phone it in as the show’s real protagonist, Bryce, and then the likes of Olivia Munn, Leslie Jones, Stephanie Beatriz and Keith David round out an excellent cast.
The animation is awesome, the action is excellent, and it’s an adult cartoon with swearing and real violence, and that’s always a plus.
The show isn’t steeped in Marvel lore, so you don’t need to know anything to enjoy the show. There are a few minor characters throughout, like Fat Cobra in season one, and Lady Bullseye in both seasons, but it’s mostly a stand alone show that just happens to be based on a Marvel Comics character. It’s actually kind of crazy that, in 2024, we got a show starring Hit-Monkey, with Lady Bullseye in an ongoing subplot role. Madness!
Hit-Monkey is currently available to watch on Hulu, which I think is part of Disney+ now anyway, so all the Marvel stuff is in one place. Take it from me, this show is a damn fun watch!
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More Vox Machina Cartoon, Anyone?
On the one hand, I’m a big fan of the Critical Roll cartoon. On the other hand, I think I was so tired that I slept through a couple of the final episodes in the second season. I don’t remember how that season ended. But hey, it’s coming back for a third season, so awesome!
Looks fun! The Critical Rollers are going to hell! That’s their name, right?
Not that I’ve listened to any of their actual Critical Roll shows, but I like the Mighty Nein better and am really looking forward to that series! There’s a huge wealth of Mighty Nein animatics on YouTube that really show off the fun of those characters. So we’ll see when that gets a cartoon!
The Legend of Vox Machina returns to Amazon Prime on Oct. 3!
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The Sonic Movies Are Gonna Get Shadowy
We’ve got the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 out today, and it’s a really dark and sinister affair! Shadow the Hedgehog was after my time with the franchise, which ended with Sonic & Knuckles, so I’m not at all connected to the new critter on the crew. But the movie sure does feed into a probably very healthy Shadow fandom.
I mean…it looks cool, eh? I’ve never been the biggest fan of these Sonic movies. But the geek in me can definitely appreciate how they’ve gone whole hog into the lore and the characters after the first film. I can dig that. But yeah, I don’t care about Shadow, so this movie isn’t poking at my personal fandom interest. So hopefully Shadow fans are happy.
And at least Knuckles, my favorite character, still seems fun. His TV show was…something else. But at least we got a real, live-ish action Knuckles the Echidna TV show in my lifetime. That was neat in and of itself!
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 comes to theaters on Dec. 20.
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Nifty New Video Game Show Coming
This trailer landed last week and I’m only posting it now because I kept forgetting about it — but I promise it looks fun! Secret Level is made by the people behind Love + Death + Robots, and looks to be a series of short cartoons based on some popular video games. That sounds good to me!
Some of the games include God of War and Mega Man, which should be awesome. I would love a God of War short cartoon! And Mega Man in this hyper realistic style could be neat. I’m also a fan of some of the Warhammer games, so woohoo there! I’m not entirely sure of what other games will get shorts, but they’re listed. This could be a fun show! I enjoyed all the Love/Death/Robots stuff. So this looks good!
Secret Level comes to Amazon Prime on Dec. 10!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/24/24
Another week, another stack of interesting comics. Nothing too mind blowing came out this week, but I felt like reviewing some on my pile for funsies, like Nightwing and Ultimate Spider-Man.
Comic Book of the Week goes to the stand alone Power Rangers Infinity #1 because it’s just a fun, silly comic that I enjoyed.
Meanwhile, only a week until I’m on vacation and playing Star Wars: Outlaws! Can’t wait! I hope it’s good! Shame to hear we won’t be getting a second season of The Acolyte, but at least now I can watch the second season of The Rings of Power!
Comic Reviews: Nightwing #117, Power Rangers Infinity #1 and Ultimate Spider-Man #8.
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