Free Comic Book Day

I didn't load up on all the books at my local comic shops. The Drawn and Quarterly book was the best, with a Melvin Monster story and a Nancy story. Both are previews from the upcoming books, collecting some of John Stanley's stories.

The second book I picked up on Saturday was Dark Horse's anthology. I was interested in the Usage Yojimbo story, One Dark Stormy Night, by Stan Sakai. As always his comics are great and this short horror story was well done.

Pack up your decorations and put them safely into the basement. It's only 364 days until next year's Free Comic Book Day.

Melvin Monster; John Stanley

Here is a photo from the Drawn and Quarterly site. It is a tantalizing view of their first in a new series of books, reprinting the work of John Stanley. I was surprised at the size of the book. I wonder, will all the other future John Stanley books be this same large size?

The Drawn & Quarterly site also has a few sample pages of this upcoming book that you can download as pdf's. Their site states that the book will be out in March 2009; but Amazon.com lists the availability of the book as being in late April. My guess is that the book will be in comic book stores in a few weeks.

Melvin Monster Reprints

Odor is a powerful fuel for time travel. A whiff of some familiar food or flower can transport a person back, in their minds, decades. For us fans of comic books, that acrid smell of rotting newsprint is a pleasant perfume.

I enjoy the smell and feel of old comics; but I am happy that there are so many projects to reprint collections of some of the old books. There just isn't enough space or money for me to have everything. A new project from Canada's Drawn and Quarterly was recently announced to collect and publish Dell's Melvin Monster, by John Stanley. It looks like Fall of 2008 will give some new life to an old monster.

If you would like to read a vintage Melvin Monster story, go over to Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine. There is a full story from Melvin Monster #5 posted there. If you want another Melvin Monster story, go to the John Stanley site here.