In a world plagued by zombie cowboys, squid pirates, abominable snowmen, mustachioed skulls, movie phantoms, and fat, flying demons, only millionaire film director Lawrence St. George and his associate, Benedict of the venerable guild of Corpus Monstrum, have the capabilities and the wit to bring these horrors down
Gary Gianni is an American comics artist best known for his eight years illustrating the syndicated newspaper comic Prince Valiant. After Gianni graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1976, he worked for the Chicago Tribune as an illustrator and network television news as a courtroom sketch artist.
Gary Gianni's Monstermen and Other Scary Stories was a real treat! I knew nothing about what to expect from this volume, (knowing nothing about the Hellboy series, in which these comics were originally released), so I went in with no preconceptions. I was seriously impressed. Here's why:
First, I LOVED the stories! The first 2/3 of this are different comics featuring a movie director named St. Lawrence, (who looks a lot like Vincent Price, btw, and who you would think belonged in the 30's expect for the occasional glimpse of technology), and his friend Benedict a member of the Corpus Monstrum guild. Benedict is an immortal knight and always wears his knight helmet and a tuxedo. (I need to learn more about the background of this character because he was a blast to read about.)
Together they fend off plagues of falling skulls, and other monstrous creatures.
Second, the last third of the book contains illustrated classic stories by the likes of Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and William Hope Hodgson. I LOVED these! When reading these short stories, I couldn't help but notice how the first 2/3 of the book carried the exact same pulpy, adventure feel that these classic stories originally created. I think Gianni did a beautiful job of carrying on that feel in his comics and in his illustrations of these pulp shorts. In a way, I feel like these were his way of paying tribute to what came before, while also making them his own.
Again, I went into this with no preconceptions. I came away with much admiration and respect. I'm going to eventually read the Hellboy comics and I'm definitely going to search out Mr. Gianni and see what else he has on offer, because whatever it is, I'm in!
Highly recommended, especially to fans of the classic pulp short stories and to fans of incredible artwork.
Bertram is an immortal who runs around in an armored helmet and a tuxedo fighting monsters with a horror movie director who looks like a bald Vincent Price. Together they investigate the macabre. Loved the quirky, dark mood of the book. Gianni's pulpy art fits in well with the concept. The "Other Scary Stories" in the title are prose short stories that Gary Gianni drew illustrations for.
Received an advance copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Approximately 70% of this book is Monstermen tales. With the last section being the "other scary stories". The Monstermen are a fraternity, I guess you'd call them, that are out to save mankind from demons. This portion of the book is in graphic novel format. The stories feature Lord Benedict, a centuries old knight (I believe) who now wears a helm all the time and his companion Lawrence, a creepy movie director. Benedict is relating his various adventures to us which likened to Holmes & Watson, only doing paranormal cases. The stories are a good mix of Sherlock, Indiana Jones and Cthulu. The art is incredibly detailed b&w sketches that remind me of etchings found in Victorian literature. The environment is unsettling as everything is portrayed as being Victorian, the buildings, the clothes, the language, vehicles, etc. but every now and then modern technology will pop up to remind you this is present day in this world. Suddenly someone pulls out a cell phone, or a Victorian office full of computers, or a tractor and other heavy machinery in the background. The rest of the book is a compilation of proper text short stories which we are to believe Benedict is sharing with us around a fireplace with our brandies. The illustrations in this section are spectacularly wonderful. I think Gianni's work is more suited to illustration than "comic" format. These are all old turn of the century stories which were right up my alley. (3/5)
1. The Gateway Monster by William Hope Hodgson (1910) - Fantastic! An excellent example of a ghost story from this era. This is the first "Caranacki, the Ghost Hunter" story of which Hodgson wrote several. Caranacki is a "real" ghost hunter and in the evenings gathers round the fire and regales his acquaintances with tales of his adventures. This is a typical haunted room story. For some hundred and fifty years, the Gray Room has not been entered because violent disturbances occur within. Caranacki investigates and using his knowledge and ability to perform incantations discovers the source of the disturbance. I want to read the rest of these stories! (5/5)
2. A Tropical Horror by William Hope Hodgson (1905) - Excellent sea monster story! Written in the form of a person giving a narration of previous events we hear the blood-curdling horrific events of when his steamship was attacked by a sea serpent. Has a lot of action and tension along with gruesome description of the carnage. Liked this even better than the first story. (5/5)
3. Mother of Toads by Clark Ashton Smith (1938) - Wow, this was surprisingly lurid! I can imagine it causing quite a stir when first published. While not the greatest story it certainly was compelling. The story of what happens to a young apothecary caught in the clutches of an old, fat, toad-like witch commonly referred to as the mother of toads. (3/5)
4. Old Garfield's Heart by Robert E. Howard (1933) - I actually haven't read a lot of Howard, just the occasional short that comes up in these anthologies. I liked this a lot. Not a lot really happens but a tale is told of an old man who has been in the county since before the white men came. This night he is deathly ill and the doctor and his apprentice visit him only to find his heart as healthy as a horse. The old man tells a strange tale of his heart and his inability to die. (4/5)
5. Thurnley Abbey by Percival Landon (1908) - An old-fashioned ghost story. A man meets another on a steamship trip and finds the other has a strange request of him. So they sit down to drinks and the man tells his story, complete with quite a scary ghost. I enjoyed the telling of the tale but it was left with no explanation so left me wishing it had lasted long enough to have a resolution. (3/5)
This is a magnificent combination of two things I absolutely adore -- Gary Gianni's "Monstermen" series (which began life as a back-up feature in "Hellboy" comics) and classic Weird fiction from the age of pulp.
The first 3/4 of this beautifully-bound hardcover book are tales of Gianni's eponymous heroes, who seem to exist in a world suspended somewhere in-between the modern age and the 1930s (the closest parallel I can think of is the "Dark Deco" world of "Batman: The Animated Series"). These men (who include an actor who looks a lot like a bald Vincent Price, an engineer who bears more than a passing resemblance to the Deadly Duplicator, and an immortal who never appears without his tux and knight's helm on) are dedicated to maintaining the fragile balance between the forces of light and darkness, with the understanding that darkness is always going to be a bit stronger and light needs all the help it can get.
The final 1/4 is a collection of classic Weird fiction short stories by such luminaries as William Hope Hodgson and Robert E. Howard -- classics that obviously served as the inspiration for many of the preceding "Monstermen" tales, and which are illustrated by Gianni himself. It's impossible to hate this section of the book, especially since I was first introduced to Gianni through his work on the recent illustrated collections of Howard's work (specifically The Bloody Crown of Conan, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, and The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane). I can definitely understand why other (less-observant) readers might have thought this portion was simple padding, and I must admit it came as a rather nasty surprise when I turned the page after the first 3/4 to discover a selection of other authors' prose... But the inclusion of these stories demonstrates that Gianni is open and aware of their impact on his own writing, and I firmly believe that that is their purpose here.
I highly recommend this book and hope to see many more "Monstermen" tales in the future.
Fun tales and fantastic illustrations, both with a decent amount of eeriness, creepiness and gothic elements but with some fairly comic moments incorporated. I particularly enjoyed the torso/head people, they had such a good mixture of oddity and sympathy and weirdness, and the storyboard with the raining skulls actually made me chuckle, I loved those.
The only negative point about this graphic novel was the galley download I received was quite blurry and grainy and this made it incredibly difficult to read any of the text. This was a shame as I did enjoy this graphic novel but just could not read it very well. I also could not read any of the ‘other stories’ at all near the end as the text was far too close together and due to the substandard downloaded version I had made it impossible to make out the words very well. I would like to read this in paper form just so I can actually read the full thing.
An advance reader copy was kindly provided through Netgalley.
This was an interesting collection. The first half consisted of five graphic /comic stories by Gary Gianni. His Monstermen series was introduced as a companion to the Hellboy series. Lawrence St George is a film maker and hunter of the supernatural. Partnered with Benedict, an ancient knight who can’t die, they search out and stop a variety of demons from taking over the world. They are quick stories reminiscent of those from the early days of movies. St George looks a bit like Vincent Price. I would believe these are set in a time such as the 1930’s if it wasn’t for the occasional glimpse of a computer or other technology now and again. I rather enjoyed these. I do prefer color to black and white but the drawings gave it a spookier, old movie feel. There’s enough action to pull you through and enough character development that you feel like you know the characters towards the end. I look forward to more Monstermen stories. The second half of the book didn’t delight me as much as the first. It was stories but not told in graphic/comic form. Personally, I think it disrupted the flow of the book. Not that the stories were bad but they felt like they should be a separate book. The stories were illustrated by Gary Gianni but not written by him which made it feel more like a separate book. Had they been additional stories about Monstermen maybe I would have felt differently.
This is a great book. It starts out with a collection of short comics staring Benedict, and Lawrence. The two friend fight all kinds of supernatural threats. It's a lot of fun.
The second part is a collection of short stories by some of pulp fiction's greatest authors. Gianni provides amazing art for each of the stories. They too have a supernatural slant to them.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised and excited to find a few new authors to explore and a great artist in Gianni. I can't wait to read something else.
Beautiful art and fun stories inspired by classic, supernatural pulp fiction. For those who like this sort of thing (and you know who you are) I can't recommend this enough.
I've had this book for a couple months but I waited until finishing the hellboy series before reading it. (not entirely sure why but still) it's actually a rather important series in regards to hellboy history. 3 of these stories were hellboy backups, 1 was included in the hellboy Christmas special and 1 which was published as a one-shot included a hellboy story as a backup. Anyways the first thing you'll notice upon opening the book is the strikingly beautiful penned art it's really a amazing and if you art is what you read comics for then this book is a must have. The writing on the other hand is a little bit more hit and miss, generally the longer the story is; the better the writing (which makes me desperately pray for a Monstermen mini-series but alas...) Despite some shortfalls I enjoyed every one of the stories. I would rank them as: Silent as the Grave. The Skull and the Snowman. O Sinner Beneath Us. Autopsy in B-Flat. A Gift for the Wicked.
Now onto the "Other Scary Stories" A collection of a couple classic Ghost and Monster stories accompanied by a couple dozen Gianni illustrations. They were a good introduction to each of their respective authors even if all of them were about 1/5th longer than they probably should have been but a nice little bonus. There was a bit of tonal dissonance given how serious these stories are very serious verses the comic's distinctly pulp sensibilities but that's a bit of a pointless nitpick. I would rank them thusly: The Gateway of the Monster Thurnley Abby. Mother of Toads. Old Garfield's Heart. A Tropical Horror.
Tykkäsin kovasti. Välillä tuntuu, että ei jaksa enää näitä sarjiksia lukea, kun kaikki on samaa harmaata massaa, mutta tämä iski. Vähän tässä on keski-ikäisen sedän nostalgista intoa, tässä on saavutettu vanhan ajan tunnelmaa, mutta kuitenkin ”modernilla twistillä.” Olen myös hieman heikkona okkulttisiin etsiviin (vaikka jos hiuksia tahtoo halkoa, niin tämä ei nyt kaikkein etsivin etsivä ole, koska nopeasti kaikki muuttuu tappeluksi. Enemmän Buffy kuin Carnacki).
Huomaa, että hra Gianni on piirtänyt Prinssi Rohkeaa vuosia, piirrosjälki on yksityiskohtaista ja kuvituksenomaista. Siksi ei ole kauhean yllättävää, että kirjan toinen puoli on hra Giannin kuvittamia vanhoja novelleja (vanhoja tuttuja, uusia tuttavuuksia). Sivuhuomautus tarinasta ”Mother of Toads”: kun itse alkaa olla aika vanha, niin alkaa tuntea myötätuntoa vanhoja noitia kohtaan, vaikka ne nyt kuinka rupikonnamaisia olisivatkaan (Ajattelin laittaa tähän kaksimielisen vitsin, ehkä parempi, että en laita). Nuorten poikien juttuja! (Paitsi, että C.A.Smith oli yli neljäkymmentä tuota kirjoittaessa! Taas väärässä!)
Tarinat ovat vuoristoratamaisia pyrähdyksiä, mutta ei se haittaa. Välillä on epäselvää, millä vuosikymmenellä mennään, ilmeisesti heillä on kännykät, mutta valokuvat pitää silti kehittää? Mutta möröt ovat mörköjä.
As someone completely new to the story and characters, coming to this without the possible context of the other stories they are associated with, I found this collection dull and a little confusing. Little or no context, background, or history is given to the stories or characters, so I didn't understand who this guy in the helmet is, why he hangs out with this B-movie actor, and what exactly their partnership is for. The creator failed to make me care about anyone or feel for any plot, because the characters and plots were often so vague. The art didn't help, either: the dark, scratchy etching style often made images tricky to interpret, which slowed me down staring at panels trying to figure out what exactly is happening. I wasn't even halfway through when I started skimming, and even then I couldn't be bothered to finish.
I've adored the scratchy pen-and-ink artwork of Gary Gianni since I first encountered the MonsterMen as a backup story in early Hellboy comics. He's also known for a decade-long run on Prince Valiant, and has illustrated classics like Tarzan and Conan.
This is a collection of his MonsterMen stories, inspired by supernatural detectives like William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder. The urbane Benedict, always seen wearing a medieval greathelm and tuxedo, solves hauntings and other supernatural terrors.
Gianni's linework is reminiscent of classic engravings by Albrecht Durer or Gustave Dore, packing detail and motion in every page. Rounding out his MonsterMen stories, Gianni includes short stories by Hodgson, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and Perceval Landon, complete with Gianni illustrations.
Some well drawn and well written short stories of our protagonists fighting supernatural deformities, in similar fashion as Hellboy. “Other scary stories” collect short novels in prose at the end of this book. Some of them were great as well. They generated a short list of horror authors I will check out more from
El estilo del arte me parece fantástico pero no pude encontrarle la vuelta al texto, me aburrió y lo terminé abandonando. Una pena, quizás lo vuelva a agarrar en otra oportunidad.
Background: Gary Gianni's Monstermen and Other Scary Stories is a collection of stories ranging from pirates, to zombies, to skulls, and phantoms and ghosts of all kinds.
Review: The copy that I received via electronic edition was very fuzzy and difficult to read, however the pictures were marvelous in every way! I think that aside from the fuzziness there was also a few parts where I was very lost in the storyline...and I read a lot of graphic novels so I am not sure it was my inability to move to the right boxes... All of the different types of scary beings were well executed and overall it was a decent read. Zombies, pirates, skulls and creepy crawlies, how can one really go wrong?
In this graphic novel, Lawrence St. George and his associate, Benedict, fight the ghouls, ghosts and monsters of the world.
I found this graphic novel to be kind of hard to follow. The overall story was pretty interesting, but I think I expected something else when I read the description.
I loved these stories, which I came across in the back of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series. They weren't necessarily masterpieces of plot, but the line art was just so wonderful. I'm not sure I would have been able to focus on the dialogue, in any case!
Rocked! Amazing. I'd read some of this previously but the collection is totally worth it. The story, characters, and artwork are superb. If you like mystery.. as i Agatha Christie type mystery, you would like this (although the medium makes it feel a little rushed - would not have minded more pages!). There is some great period references throughout. Totally worth it...
Excellent stuff! Fans of Hellboy should check this out. The majority of the book consists of the black and white graphic novel The MonsterMen, but also includes short stories by William Hope Hodgson, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and Perceval Landon, all of which feature a few illustrations.
The occasional nice moment, but I find the artwork a bit busy and the writing doesn't have a great sense of pace or structure. It's a mood piece that doesn't add up to all that much.