Michael T. Gilbert, �Mr. Monster�
I don�t know if other people do this, but I often find myself humming certain songs that I normally would find annoying, changing the words to make them more entertaining. Most of the time this simply involves adding the word �Monkey� at key points in the song, such as singing U2 and changing the words to �I Still Haven�t Found a Discount Monkey Store.�
Anyhoo, I�ve been doing that kind of thing today, only I�ve left out the monkeys, changing �I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night (and party every day)� by KISS. So while I�m shelving books and avoiding the crazies, I�ve had this song going through my head, except the lyrics went, �I got to fuck on a boat all night/and got blown twice the next day!�
Too much information? More than you needed to know? Guess what? Don�t care. Most of you are probably reading this at work, while you�re supposed to be, well, working. That�ll teach you slackers!
I picked up this book a loooooong time ago. I don�t know the author, I don�t know the character, it�s published by a company called Marlowe, which I�ve never heard of. For the life of me, I don�t remember why I picked this up. This is probably why it sat on my shelf for two-plus years. In fact, before starting this I seriously considered taking it back, concentrating on the other books that I knew I did want to read.
I�m glad I didn�t. Trying new authors is always risky and usually turns out bad, but this was great! I�m burnt out on the big name authors of comics, and of superheroes in general, which is what this looked like it was going to entail — Yet another reason for taking this back without reading it.
But the hero, Doc. Stearn (also known as Mr. Monster), whose job is to eliminate all monsters, is presented tongue firmly planted in cheek. Really, what this reminded me of was those old issues of MAD magazine superhero parodies like Superduper Man from the 1940s that you see in the reprints.
It�s not easy to be funny, absurd and satiric in the same book, and it�s even harder to keep up that level of quality for an extended period of time. Mr. Monster manages all this and more. You can't help but like a character that fights a horde of monsters who all say, �Booga Booga!�
Or at least I can't.
So now I�m wondering how I came across this book in the first place. Did I open it up and read a few panels? I don�t remember doing so. Most likely, I think I was just burned out on Kerouac and DeLillo novels and picked this up on a lark, or out of sheer mindless consumerism.
Let�s hear it for consumerism!
