Written and Illustrated by Fred Kelly
Edited by Ramón K. Pérez
Afterword by Michael T. Gilbert
Published by Raid Press
If you were reading comics during the 1980s, there’s a good chance you encountered Michael T. Gilbert’s Mr. Monster!
The steroid-bulked, gun-toting, not quite right in the head character fought a most bizarre range of creepy-crawling aliens, dragons, other dimensional entities, etc. for several different publishers including Eclipse and Dark Horse.
The new book we’re looking at today, Mr. Monster, is not about him.
Well…in a way it is.
You see, Gilbert never claimed to have originated the character.
He always gave credit to Canadian comic book artist Fred Kelly, who had introduced Doc Stearne as a Doc Savage-type in Golden Age comics from north of the border. Michael just took the concept, exaggerated it, and ran with it.
At the same time, he made some of us long to see some of the originals and, if I recall correctly one was reprinted along the way. What this new book now shows us is that that ONE was the ONLY appearance of Fred Kelly’s Mr. Monster in a full story.
You get the whole history here, in multiple text pieces accompanying all of the original Doc Stearne black and white stories from the 1940s. I’ve read worse comics stories, but really these are nothing to write home about. But then, in his penultimate story, Doc picks up the nickname, “Mr. Monster,” and designs a protective outfit so he can continue fighting monsters going forward.
The final story is the only color story the original character ever had and the only one with him fully as Mr. Monster. It’s pretty good, leaving you even now wishing the series had continued.
Along with all the informative text about Kelly and Canadian comics history, there are 28 color/B&W full-page pin-up style illustrations by modern artists. There’s not a single name on the list of artists with which I, myself, was familiar, but about half of them are quite excellently designed and drawn (although a few look more like Gilbert’s revision).
I thought Mr. Monster was quite a fun and interesting book but I’m not sure if anyone unfamiliar with the character would really be able to get into it here. If, like me, you cherished the Gilbert version, you’ll like seeing his roots!
Booksteve recommends!
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