A special double-post this time, since I've been absent for the past month. In the spirit of Halloween here is a helping of Frankenstein with some Melvin Monster for dessert. Much safer than begging for candy from strangers, right?
Here is Dick Briefer's "Hail, the King" from Frankenstein #8 (July-August 1947):
Here is "Mr. Rosenose" and "Crazy Klutch" from Melvin Monster #5 (October 1966) by John Stanley:
4 comments:
I've enjoyed a lot Briefer's story I've never read before.
I get surprise when I've seen that YOW! on second panel from page two. Wonder if Briefer came into contact with Stanley's work. I guess so. It might be just a coincidence, though. Who knows :)
I was surprised also by the OLÉ! female-vampire exclaims on page 8. Looks like Briefer was so free when it comes down to write his stories! Wish I know something about how he worked!!
Glad to have you back again!
By The way, it seems Fantagraphics is preparing a "book will travel through Briefer's complete Frankenstein series". Here goes the link:
http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Fantagraphics-Announces-Seven-New-Collections-of-Golden-Age-Comics.html&Itemid=113
Thax for sharing!
Hey, Gabriel! I'm looking forward to the Fantagraphics book as well. I've really wanted to read the wartime stories from Prize Comics; hopefully they will be publishing all of them from the beginning!
Doug: Glad to see you back! And with such style - I love Melvin the Monster! Stanley always had such great ideas - only JS would think of Mr. Rosenose. And Crazy Klutch - what great character design. What I love about Melvin is that Stanley always pulls it back from being too frightening for children - it remains, always, a comic where adults (like us?) can see genius and kids just see fun.
Great post! Keep 'em coming -- Mykal
I agree, Mykal, Stanley was one of the greats when it comes to the balancing act necessary for an all-ages comic. But gallows humor is pretty much a given when you're writing stories about monsters.
It's too bad Melvin didn't last longer than 9 issues (I believe #10 is a reprint of the first issue, right?) If it had, perhaps Melvin would have been as classic a character as Tubby or Lulu if he had the time to be as fully developed. And I also love the character designs in the book! All the monsters, monster kids, the witches, the guardian devil, the alligator, and especially Melvin's Baddy are just amazing!
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