From the never-ending box of promotional material…

§ February 28th, 2011 § Filed under advertising § 7 Comments

…comes this swell back cover ad from the fourth issue of the Eclipse Extra retailer giveaway, dated March 1985:


In a fair world, we’d be up to about issue 300-something of Mr. Monster by now. Of course, there have been several mini-series and spin-offs over the years, but there just wasn’t anything quite the like the demented energy and creative diversity of those original ten issues. And while I liked the “serious” Mr. Monster origin story in the series that followed, I had a bit of difficulty getting back into the not-so-serious version of the character presented in the stories published after that second series. Not that I was all “I demand my Mr. Monster be serious stuff now,” but…I don’t know, it just felt like something had changed. Maybe it’s not you, baby, it’s me…perhaps I’d just read enough Mr. Monster at that point.

Anyway, those old Mr. Monster comics were some fine books, even if the later issues didn’t quite grab my fancy the way those earlier ones did. But I’ll tell you, I’d still read the hell out of this crossover!

7 Responses to “From the never-ending box of promotional material…”

  • Thwacko says:
    February 28, 2011 at 5:24 AM

    I LOVE the old water color look of “independent” comics of that era.

  • Colin McMahon says:
    February 28, 2011 at 6:53 AM

    I was quite excited to see there will be Mr. Monster in the new Dark Horse Presents

  • JRC says:
    February 28, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    I also love and cherish those early stories.
    some of Gilbert’s best work.
    Loved the serious origin story too.
    A good example of how one character can work well in different genres.

  • buzz says:
    February 28, 2011 at 9:22 AM

    I remember the original series & this poster. MR. MONSTER was one of the better indie books from the 1980s, but like you say, sometimes you just can’t go home again.

  • Wayne Allen Sallee says:
    February 28, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Mike, I have a question, which I hope you’ll bring up on your blog. When you post these promos and action figures, have you gone into the back room looking for something completely different? That happens at my LCS every few months. They’ll move a box to get to something and find some poster tacked to the wall.

    @Thwacko, I agree on that water-color look.

  • Scott Rowland says:
    February 28, 2011 at 10:37 AM

    Ah, Mr. Monster! Good stuff! I liked the Eclipse issues the best, especially the great Mr. Monster/Airboy crossover, but the origin storyline was really well done.

    I think Gilbert was kind of stuck at that point. He had done the character so well at both the farcical and serious ends of the spectrum that doing additional stories just seems superfluous.

  • Mike McGee says:
    February 28, 2011 at 3:16 PM

    Mr. Monster was the best.