Young Monsters In Love #1

Leave it to DC Comics to not just provide it's devoted fan base with a Valentines Day special! A sappy love fest of unrequited romance between two unlikely paramours just will not do for DC! Nope! Instead, DC Comics has issued a holiday special devoted to cupids and chocolates starring some of it's most popular supernatural characters.

Why use monsters in a Valentines Special? Part of the quirky fun of many B-movie horror films is when the beastly main character falls in love with a beautiful damsel in distress. King Kong falling for Faye Raye. The Creature From the Black Lagoon lusting after Julia Adams. And who can forget Tor Johnson's deformed Lobo saving Loretta King from a deranged Bela Lugosi in Bride of the Monster? Creatures of the night and romance are B-movie box office gold!

While Young Monsters In Love #1 may take it's inspiration from the schlock horror films of the 50s and 60s, this special is full of A-list talent. It features over a half dozen stories written by some of the best comic book talent in the industry, topped off by Batman: The Animated Series' Paul Dini. Jeff Lemire, Steve Orlando, Phil Hester and many more craft stories of love, loss, and monsters. 

Some highlights include:

• 'Heart Shaped Box'- A House of Secrets quality story in which Swamp Thing enacts revenge against a team of mercenaries that interrupt Swampy's V-Day plans with a lady botanist.
• 'Be My Valentine'- Deadman helps a bullied child get some revenge against those who made it the worst Valentines exchange party of all-time.
• 'Dear Velcoro'- One of the Creature Commandos receives a Dear John letter in-between missions in Nazi Germany.
• Monsieur Mallah goes shopping for his Valentine, The Brain, by robbing a Lexcorp research facility in 'Visibility.'
• 'Pieces of Me'-Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. pens a letter to his Bride, highlighting the complicated history between the two lovers.
• And in 'Nocturnal Animal', Kirk Langstrom struggles to battle his own personal demon, the Man-Bat, in the light of his crumbling relationship with his wife Francine.

DC has a habit of turning one or two of their featured holiday stories into miniseries or regular titles. If the pattern continues, I hope that the powers that be will offer more Paul Dini penned Deadman adventures. I know that there's currently a Deadman miniseries written and penciled by Neal Adams. It's good, but Dini's take gave the character of Boston Brand a warmth and life not seen in over 30 years. 

Overall, Young Monsters In Love was an unexpected delight. I didn't learn about this special until just a couple of weeks ago. Every story was masterfully written. The artwork was varied but brilliantly crafted by talents such as Guillem March and Kelley Jones, whose 1950s sci-fi movie inspired poster cover was so very retro and awesome!

The only thing that I wasn't a fan of was the price. With a cover price of $9.99, that's still pretty lofty, even if this was an 80-page giant. But I am a sucker for holiday specials of any type and what was inside the cover was flawless fun! 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Review originally published February 13, 2018 on Outrightgeekery.com.