Attack of the Monstrology! (Ape – Tamlyn / Various)
Horrors rise from the deep, aliens descend upon humanity, and the cities of civilization are ravaged by maleficent monsters… Featuring nine stories (From artists at DC Online, Udon & more!), Attack of the Monstrology is an action packed thrill ride full of creatures inspired by classic B monster movies.
Anthologies are always an interesting specimen (meaning that is the most positive non-medical way), because if all of the content is the same then it’s not really an anthology… but if it’s varied (as we see here with Attack of the Monstrology [AotM]) then there are bound to pieces you enjoy and pieces you don’t enjoy so much. With AotM, there is much more to enjoy than not. In particular if you are fan of old school cheesy, rubber-suit-wearing monstrers and B-movie plot devices.
AotM takes on a full range of characters, plots and attitudes as it successfully bounces back and forth between the silly and the horrifying. My hat is off to Chris Tamlyn, the editor, who has put together a glorious tribute to the golden age of “tongue-in-cheek” sci-fi (look at me, spelling it correctly) and horror.
Click here for preview pages of the art.
Benjamin Franklinstein (Jungbluth / Schoening) was far and away the most “cartoon network” of the stories. Ben has transferred his brain inside a monster to stop it from rampaging and then nearly two centuries later he has to use his combined brain and brawn to stop a forgotten WWII meta-enemy. Not my favorite, but still enjoyable.
Destroyed! (Carlson / Doyle) This creative team shows that terror is really just dependent on your point of view. Is it two giant monsters attacking a city?… or is it emotional break-up? This was also a quick, light read.
A Day at the Beach (Anderson / Goodine) This was one of the most enjoyable for my taste… A good old fashioned beach love story / monster fest starring a Lovecraftian favorite with realistic yet stil pulpish art. I would like to see this team on more books together!
Dive! Dive Die! (Dyer / Tamlyn) This submarine pressure cooker makes it mark, but primarily due to the artistic talents of Chris Tamlyn
Bounty (Kelly) – This almost wordless story by Tim Kelly is an absolute gem! Gripping and solid in both story and art!
It’s Bean Craving! (Bermingham / Cruz) – Another solid story! This embodied the faceless terror genre spot on! Creatures are attacking a small town – they can’t be stopped! We don’t know why! Run for your lives! Once again, Would love to see this expanded into a whole series!
Creeps Detective Agency (Russell / Strang) – This seemed to have too much going on – a living mummy, Medusa and Jesus solve a gumshoe mystery together… didn’t quite work for me.
Tying the string of stories together were Galactic News Reels (Bergin / Tamlyn / Bryant), these told the ongoing trials of moon explorers as they deal with martians, zombies and eventually werewolves. Delightful in it’s send-up to the ridiculous plots of some thos early B-movies.
AotM is well put together and really worth a look!
grade: A-
