Since it is October and the spooky season starts for most of you, I would like to write about the monster comics of Marvel and DC. I know that this could be a large endeavor so I am going to be a little more focused than I am usually. Both companies have had plenty of monsters in their comics, mostly in their anthology series. Heck, Marvel was known for monster comics before a little book called Fantastic Four came out, which even had a giant monster on the cover. I am going to highlight the archetypical monsters like vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and the like. I can write another entry that focuses on the old giant monsters from Marvel and DC but I would rather focus on more recognizable monsters types.
Let us start with Marvel comics and their monster entries. During the 50s and early 60s Marvel was known for monster comics yet as soon as the superhero comics started they fell to the wayside. In the 70s they decided to bring back the horror, they revived old titles and created new ones. I will warn you that I may miss some titles or characters. Yet these are the monsters that made an impression on me as a comic reader.
Starting off with one of the longest monster run that Marvel had, with 70 issues, Tomb of Dracula. You would think that they could not keep up with stories for Dracula but they did. Usually the stories were either him battling vampire hunters or dealing with supernatural entities or problems on his own. He would cross over with other monsters like Werewolf By Night. He also became a villain within the Marvel universe by battling Spider-Man, the X-Men and even Howard the Duck. One of the bonuses of this book is that we received the best vampire hunter, Blade. Don’t forget Dracula also has a daughter, Lilith.
The next iconic monster is the werewolf. Marvel actually had two of them. The first and more popular was Werewolf By Night who had a 40 plus issue run. Moon Knight’s first appearance was in the pages of his book. He has also got his own special in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which was pretty decent if it was not ripped off from another movie. The second werewolf character is J. Jonah Jameson’s son Man-Wolf. He first appeared in comics in the Amazing Spider-Man comics and also had a small run in Creatures on the Loose. Both werewolves were both heroes and forces of nature. They were never inherently evil.
There also is the undead characters. Including the Monster Frankenstein who is basically the same character from the movies but in the books, but with adventures. He dealt with other monsters yet still battled Iron Man, Spider-Man, and even the X-Men. There was also the Living Mummy who appeared in Supernatural Thrillers. He was a warrior that was mummified and paralyzed so he was aware of being in a tomb. When he was released from his tomb, he was rightfully crazed yet after a while he regained his consciousness. He even teamed up with the Thing. Lastly for undead characters is Simon Garth the Zombie. He is a zombie reanimated by voodoo and an amulet. A lot of his “life” is spent searching for the amulets. There is also the Marvel Zombies as well who were created by Mark Millar but “fleshed out” by zombie king Robert Kirkman.
Lastly for Marvel horror characters are the demons. Ghost Rider can be lumped in with this but I want to focus on a different character: Helstrom the Son of Satan. He had his own series but I remember him mostly in the Defenders comic. He was a demon but he fought for the side of good. He even married Hellcat and has a sister named Satanna. Usually if one of the heroes has to deal with the minions of Hell, they call on Helstrom.
Now on to DC. Sadly, they do not use the typical archetypical monster types. For instance, Marvel actually used the Dracula name but DC went a different route. They have I… Vampire which came from the House of Mystery. He battled his vampiric urges; I was never the biggest fan of this character so I do not know that much about him or even care. Yet that is how DC dealt with vampires. In current comics now they have a series called DC vs Vampires where some of the heroes got turned into vampires.
Another archetype they went in a different direction is Frankenstein. Early incarnations of him are pretty much the lumbering monster fighting the heroes with other monsters. Yet Grant Morrison took him in another direction where he is one of the current Seven Soldiers. He is more of an intelligent warrior. He later heads the agency S.H.A.D.E with other archetypical monsters.
Lastly are the swamp creatures. I did miss in Marvel the Man-Thing who was never used well by Marvel in my opinion. Yet DC got this right with Swamp Thing. In the beginning he was an agent of vengeance like the Crow of sorts. Yet when Alan Moore took over, he put some mythos behind the character. Those books are the best horror books of that time, I highly recommend them. Another swamp creature is Solomon Grundy. Not really a hero but a force of nature. He was a murdered man who was resurrected by the swamp. With so many different Earths in the DC universe there are so many differing origins.
I know I might have missed some characters but these are ones that stand in the forefront of my mind. I also forgot to write up anything about monster teams but I am going to hold that back for another blog entry. Maybe an entry about crazy teams from comics. I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings.
Stay spooky kids!
Mike
