The legend of Doc Stern, Mr. Monster, begins in this collection of first appearances by Michael T. Gilbert and William M. Loebs. In the early 80s, Gilbert refurbished a one-shot character from a 1940s anthology to craft one of the most over-the-top characters in all of comics history. (Yes- reboots were happening even in the 80s. But they were good back then!)
The legend of Doc Stern varies from issue to issue. Was he the lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse? Was he trained by mysterious monks in the art of war? Regardless of his origin, Mr. Monster has one goal in life- to destroy all monsters. But Doc Stern seems to help the creatures of the night more than he winds up extinguishing them!
This book opens the case files of Mr. Monster. From a reluctant werewolf to a living trash heap; these ghouls boggle the imagination. And they also straddle the line of good taste.
Michael T. Gilbert was firmly set in the camp of 1980s creators such as Frank Miller and Alan Moore (who penned the foreword.) Miller and Moore were renegades who saw the Rambo-eqsue excesses of the Reagan Era and made it even more violent and absurd. Helping Gilbert with this is Bill Loebs. Long before he took the reigns of Wonder Woman, Loebs cut his teeth on Mr. Monster and he did a fantastic job! Loebs is so much like Frank Quietly or any of the usual gang of idiots from MAD Magazine as he puts so much fine detail into his work. Being a satire, Loebs peppers the panels of Mister Monster with dozens of tiny jokes. And I so loved his Will Eisner-like experimentation with titles and credits.
This is a wild collection of stories. I've got to admit, these tales are extremely creative. The dialogue is insipid. Some of it might be parody. But it's some pretty B-movie level stuff. But I loved the encompassing brilliance here. It's like an issue of Wolff & Byrd: Counselors of the Macabre but on steroids!
Lastly, I need to brag. I bought this book new. Despite being published nearly 20 years ago, I found this book, shrink-wrapped at a comic book store in Greensboro. Having the book on his shelf for decades collecting dust, the owner gave me the book for a good discount. But that's not what I want to brag about!
Inside the book was a limited edition book plate that was signed and numbered by Michael T. Gilbert. While that itself was cool, what made it cooler was that this book was numbered 1 of 999! I've gotten low numbers before. I think a 7 or maybe 11 was my record. But never a #1! This was an awesome unexpected addition to my collection!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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