Melvin Monster by John Stanley

John Stanley's beloved classic now available in paperback
Now collected in an omnibus paperback, John Stanley's Melvin Monster is
about a good-natured monster boy whose sweet personality belies his
monstrous appearance. Melvin just wants to be good, go to school, and do as
he is told. Melvin's sunny optimism makes him an oddball outcast in his
Monsterville community, where he disappoints his parents, Mummy" and
"Baddy," with his irrepressible sunny disposition, and also continually escapes
the wrath of their pet alligator Cleopatra who only wants to eat Melvin whole.
Gag after gag, the acclaimed mid-century cartoonist Stanley sets Melvin up in
fairly quotidian situations that spiral into hilarious ridiculousness, with a
ferociously frenetic comedic timing.
Charmingly naive, Melvin Monster draws its direct inspiration from the 1960s
monster crazeand the work of cartoonist Charles Addams and its television
adaptation The Addams Family as well as The Munsters, however, Melvin
Monster is all its own with Stanley's superior cartooning skills, melding pop
colors, expressive lines, and funny jokes on full display.
[ Melvin Monster ] features a cartoonist in Stanley who understands a trend
and how to put his own stamp on it. - Rob Clough; The Comics Journal
The stories never exceed ten pages, and are densely plotted, with quirky
elements that bear a uniquely hilarious touch. - Slings and Arrows
Melvin Monster is a bonafide hoot. . . This is the rare book that actually lives
up to its 'all ages' description. - Chris Mautner; Comic Book Resources

John Stanley (1914-1993) was a journeyman comics scripter in the 1950s
and 1960s. He is most famous for his scripts for the majority of the Little Lulu
comics produced by Dell, and is considered by many comics historians to be
the most consistently funny and idiosyncratic writer ever to work in the field.
He left comics bitterly sometime in the late 1960s, never to return.

Drawn & Quarterly
On Sale: Oct 17/23
6 x 8 • 312 pages
Full color illustrations throughout
9781770466760 • $39.95 • pb
Comics & Graphic Novels / Anthologies
Series: John Stanley Library