#stanley and his monster

[zahri-melitor]

And onto the reason I started this Stanley and His Monster read:

Find the Foglio fan out there who isn't looking at this and cackling. Oh Phil. Oh Phil. You have such a very specific art style and concept of how you want to put a story together.

[fantajoseph]

Love liking obscure characters because you can be like "I've read every comic they were ever in". Hate loving obscure characters beca. You know what. I think it speaks for itself.

[cantsayidont]

Sometimes, I think about the huge number of DC properties that will never see media adaptations beyond the Easter eggy variety (like the DC SHOWCASE animated shorts or guest appearances on something like BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD) due to corporate dysfunction — not the big-name superhero stuff, but things like:

KAMANDI, which could make a magnificent animated series.

ATOMIC KNIGHTS, which is less stupid than FALLOUT and has giant mutant Dalmatians the characters ride as steeds.

SILVERBLADE, a charming mid-80s "Maxi-Series" by Cary Bates and Gene Colan about a retired movie star who gains the supernatural power to transform himself into any character he's ever played.

STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER, a delightful kids' comic about a boy who adopts a huge red shaggy monster that his parents (who never actually see the monster) patiently assume is his imaginary friend.

CAMELOT 3000, a sci-fi spin on the Knights of the Round Table with King Arthur reincarnated in a high-tech 31st century world and transgender Sir Tristan.

Then I remind myself that at best, they'd just be reduced to the same hackish nerd show pablum as the various Arrowverse shows (probably by the same hacks), and that, as with STAR WARS and STAR TREK, an abundance of crap can very easily make something too infuriating to even bother hate-watching. So, maybe it's for the best.

[balu8]

Stanley and his Monster #2

by Phil Foglio and Chuck Fiala

DC

[smashedpages]

Remembering Arnold Drake on his birthday.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

Hi you are the only other person I can find who has ever posted about Stanley and His Monster, have you read the 60s or 90s run, or just the GA arc?

Sorry to disappoint, but none of the above unfortunately :( I just saw some covers and read the wiki entry. If I’m thinking of the same sketch, I don’t think it was originally even Stanley and his Monster when I drew it, I just fixed it up after the fact bc I wanted to use them for my Justice League Dark stuff that kinda stalled out

I saw you did a megapost on them, so I’ll definitely give that a look when I get a chance! I’ve been meaning to dive deeper into Stanley and His Monster for a while now

[doctorslippery]

Herbie Crespo

[doctorsiren]

More on that AU where Ford takes Stanley with him to Gravity Falls…I realized they’re kind of like the Winchesters if one of the Winchesters was autistic about cryptids

[c3realkilluhz]

-

[noodles-and-tea]

For the twins in time AU, I genuinely wonder what kind of people the young twins grow up into because of Stan’s/Ford’s influence. Especially if it takes years for the portal to get fixed.

(Sorry if it seems like I already sent this question, I don’t know if it got sent the first time I asked)

I haven’t fully fleshed out how Ford grows up in the past but I do have thoughts on Stan presently

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

I think you might have been a father to me, once.

You used to be more than just another man who hurt me in my life.

Reference pic!

[zahri-melitor]

iirc the writer's second choice was Willoughby Kipling (who was also created due to Morrison not being able to use Constantine in Doom Patrol). but Kipling was also off-limits

You're correct. Hilarious that they ended up having THREE separate grumpy English wizards with drug habits running around simultaneously as editorial wouldn't share.

Like this is so far past winking at the camera and into "they wouldn't let me have John Constantine mwahahaha so I will instead write and draw John Constantine and occasionally lampshade it is Technically A Different Character" that I dunno why they bothered keeping Phil's sticky fingers off either Constantine or Kipling.

[fantajoseph]

Okay. Stanley and his Monster metapost. Meaningless to anyone but me, let's go.

One of the first things we learn about the Monster is that he has had to wander the earth because everywhere he goes, he is rejected. Note the racism in one of these panels, POC don't really show up, but European characters do and "funny accents" is like. Half the jokes. Even Stanley has a lisp.

Stanley ends up taking the Monster in, under the false belief he is a dog. His parents let him, under the false belief said "dog" is imaginary. That is the dynamic the series is built on. The monster, later named Spot (there's a background detail where he used to be named Massachusetts after the only people who were ever kind to him, which deserves its own dissection) is a fugitive from a prejudiced world, hidden in secret in Stanley's house, afraid to tell him the truth.

Eventually he is joined by a ghost who claims to be Napoleon, and he and said Ghost blackmail each other: I'll say you're Napoleon if you say I'm a dog. Just a slight extension of the status quo. Where things get interesting is the last two host guests: a pair of fair folk, German and Irish, who make the subtext text. They smuggled into the country illegally and the problem they are outrunning that forces them to not reveal the other two is just straight up the immigration police.

Despite most of their depiction being stereotypical, the justness of them escaping immigration is never in question, there's literally an issue where they just torment an officer and get away with it. And they don't even lie to Stanley about it! He just fully embraces that his responsibility is to help them hide from the law!

Most issues, frankly, do not do much with these concepts. But the interesting one is the last issue of the original run (and quick shout out to the 90s version, where Spot was exiled from Hell for being good, only for centuries later angels decide to try and send him back "where he belongs", the parallels with asylum seekers, while unintentional, are pretty noticeable if you're looking). In it, every conceit of the status quo is played upon. His parents discover Spot, and reveal to Stanley, with tears in his eyes, he is not a dog. His parents punish him for bringing him into their home, and monster catchers take Spot away. But, at night, Stanley resolves. Even if Spot is not a dog, he is still his, and the child sneaks out at night to go rescue him. It ends up being a dream sequence, and Stanley hugs Spot (apparently now aware he's lying about being a dog!)

I know literally no one but me cares about these characters but godddd I could them work. Like. There's actually a very tight set of themes woven through the cast, stakes to raise and lies to maintain and reveal, and that ending could make a great arc.

[awtysm-cryptid]

You ever think about how Stan must've read about Ford's "Muse" and had to come to the realisation that his brother wasn't talking about a pretty lady but

HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE MURDEROUS TRIANGLE

[balu8]

“Having trouble with our pronouns, are we?”

Stanley and his Monster #2

by Phil Foglio and Chuck Fiala

DC

[acespeon]

say what you will about Dipper and Ford being the smart twins, but Dipper's first instinct at the beginning of the apocalypse was to punch Bill in the eye

he didn't get that from Ford he got that from Stan