Months down the columns, years across the rows, with an annual total. In one glance you get consistency, the worst month, seasonal patterns, the length of losing stretches and whether the good year came from twelve solid months or one enormous one.
What to look for: how many negative months per year, the worst single month against the annual return, and any year whose result depends on a single month. A record showing plus 3% every month for four years should raise suspicion rather than admiration - real strategies are noisier than that, and unnaturally smooth monthly returns are a recurring feature of frauds and of illiquid marks.
It pairs naturally with the underwater-curve: the table shows the rhythm, the curve shows the damage.
Related: underwater-curve, rolling-performance-window, equity-curve, cumulative-return