Welcome back, Donist World Denizens! For those of you new to our site, I’m Donist, and I am joined by Donist World CFO the Reverse Obie* (my friends’ Boston terrier whose fur recently swapped colors) and by our marketing director/administrative assistant/party planner/pumpkin-flavor-for-everything advocate Tulip (my dog, Reverse Obie’s sister). It’s turning out to be a hot one today, Denizens. Whew, it sure as heck is. It’s in the mid-eighties and Tulip and Reverse Obie need to get out there and take care of some business. And by business, I don't mean maintaining our status as a Fortune 320,000 company, but you know…potty time. Boston terriers just don’t deal well with situations that are above 74 degrees and not dealt with around a swimming pool while sipping a mojito, but whatchagonnado. Anyhow, be kind to each other, mind your health and sanity, eat some tacos, keep your pets safe, cherish the ones you love, hydrate, and read some great comics before checking out
Daredevil Season 3 on Netflix. Thank you for reading!
*Obie, through his dabbling in arcane magiks mixed with ancient corrupt business practices, has had not just the colors of his fur switched, but a complete overhaul of his work ethic as well…I think I’m kinda okay with the mishap.
Not sure what “Comics Lust” is about? Take a look at the
Introduction to “Comics Lust” post or take a look at the static “
Comics Lust Table of Contents” page to jump to a topic.
Comics Lust
Modern Times, Modern Monsters (Part 2)
Ever since I was a little kid, I have been a fan of monsters and the things that go bump in the night. Where other kids had their Sesame Street, Electric Company, and Mr. Rogers, I had Godzilla, the Wolfman, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. My love of monster movies, toys, books, and of course comics is one I wear like a badge of honor whose pull only increases every time October and Halloween come around. So, bundle up if it’s starting to get cool, pour yourself a pumpkin beer, and prepare yourself for some comics that feature some truly amazing monsters, both great and small.
(Everythinged by Eric Powell, originally published by Avatar Comics in 1999)
I rarely mention the fantastic
The Goon, and I’m not sure why that is. It probably has something to do with the fact that it’s kind of hard to narrow it down to a specific genre. It’s a comedy, noir, drama, sci-fi, horror, gangster, zombie, monster, love story of revenge and friendship. Yeah, kind of hard to narrow down, but then again why would you?
The Goon is its own amazing thing that everyone should be reading. Basically, the Goon and his pal Franky are a couple of street toughs who shake down debtors to pay their dues and generally spend their time attempting to keep the peace around their little town. Unfortunately, The Priest, a diminutive and evil magic man has a horde of zombies at his command to stir up trouble. Then there are fishmen gangsters, giant zombie apes, an immortal man who hungers for undead flesh, robots, giant Spanish-speaking lizards, harpies, hobos, fish squeezings (don’t ask), and other monsters abound. But just when you think you have a bead on what
The Goon is about, Powell gives you the startlingly serious and heartbreaking treasure that is “Chinatown and the Mystery of Mr. Wicker” (which is volume 6 for those reading in trades). Originally released as a hardcover graphic novel, this chapter tells the origin of Goon and how he got the scars that permanently define his face. After you sob your ever-lovin’ heart out, it’s back to mayhem and weirdness and more of Powell’s gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous, art. Powell is a master of storytelling, character design, and of creating situations that have you rolling with laughter and occasionally bringing out the tears; I should probably mention he’s pretty damn good at drawing the ladies too. If you want to see hordes of zombies get the stuffin’ beat out of them or a fishguy take a knife in the eye while robots battle lizards, then
The Goon is wholeheartedly the mayhem you need in your life. Trades Vol. #0–15 are out in the wild...go get ‘em!
(Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, illustrated by Howard Porter, originally published in 2016 by DC Comics)
I am dreadfully behind on this fun series. I have only read the
first trade thus far, but plan on catching up through volume four in the near future. If you are a fan of the
Scooby-Doo cartoon, then this might be the series for you. If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic, monsters-take-control stories, then this might be the series for you. But if you like both, like I’m sure most people do, then you cannot go wrong with
Scooby Apocalypse. Imagine a world where Daphne is a struggling television show host and Fred is her loyal cameraman. And Shaggy used to work at a top-secret government compound where he frees a particularly brilliant, dog named Scooby-Doo, who is the result of a cruel science experiment. Then there’s Velma, a scientist who is somehow linked to the plague of monsters that have seemingly taken over the planet. Put them all in the fully-stocked, fully-armored, green assault vehicle—The Mystery Machine—and the Scooby gang will fix the world and stop all monsters with extreme prejudice. After flipping through this book, I definitely need to get back into the swing of this compelling story that showcases some particularly beautiful and vibrantly colored art by Porter!
(Written by John Arcudi, illustrated by James Harren, colored by Dave Stewart, originally published in 2014 by Image Comics)
If you’ve been reading “Comics Lust” for a length of time, then you have definitely heard me mention the greatness that is
Rumble on a few occasions. If not,
Rumble is the story of a bartender, his girlfriend, his layabout buddy, and a sword-wielding, murder-machine scarecrow who was once a warrior god and now hunts down all manner of monsters, demons, and elementals as he strives to restore himself to greatness. This humorous and visually stunning tale alternates between the real world and the past, moving the story ahead quickly as we slowly piece together how Rathraq fell and came to be confined to the body of a scarecrow. The numerous colorful and wonderfully designed monsters are a huge draw for this series that has
four readily-available trades, with a fifth and hopefully many more trades to come.
(Everythinged by Michael T. Gilbert, originally published in 1984 by Eclipse Comics)
So many comics, so little allowance… When I first became aware of Mister Monster, I totally wanted to pick it up seeing as how it featured a beefy, costumed monster hunter with a skull on his chest and wielding some hefty guns. How could I not want to read this book? Unfortunately, there were tons of other comics out there vying for my ever-precious dollars, and Mister Monster and I are still unacquainted to this very day. This is something I hope to change, but you have to realize that reading all the stories featuring this character is not going to be an easy task. Below are the main books, but realize there are TONS of anthology comics and guest-appearances out there that are too numerous to list here:
As I said, these are the main chunks of material featuring Gilbert’s horror and superhero satire comic book character Mr. Monster, but there are appearances and one-shots galore to be tracked down. And “tracked” down is unfortunately what it looks like you will be doing as there are only a couple random graphic novels that currently look to be out of print. Now, Dark Horse…how about a Mr. Monster Omnibus or two for us fans-in-waiting?
Well, you have plenty of reading to do and it looks like you need a refresher on that pumpkin beer, so I better let you go. See you next week and I hope you have some spooktacular reading ahead of you.
Comics Lust 10/20/2018
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