Monty (comic strip)
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Monty is the title of an ongoing American comic strip by cartoonist Jim Meddick, as well as of an earlier short-lived comic strip syndicated in 1983 and 1984 by Dave Cochran. The current series by Jim Meddick began life as Robotman in 1985, but changed its name and title character in April 2001.
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[edit] Characters
- Monty Montahue is the main character. Meddick states that this is an homage to Monty Python, one of his influences. He is an odd, optimistic nerd who often comes up with strange inventions. Contrary to popular belief, Monty did not invent Robotman. In fact Robotman lived alone without the character Monty for years (hence the comic's original title: Robotman). Robotman was from another planet and in 2001 he returned to outer space with a female robot. Monty doesn't have much common sense, has no taste in dressing and has a prominent nose but no chin. He loves to get into (often very nerdy) new hobbies and daily occupations, regularly failing because of a mix of goofiness and excessive self-confidence.
- Loco Ohno is Monty's on-again, off-again girlfriend and is similar to Yoko Ono. She has a cynical, artistic temperament very far from that of Monty.
- Dave-7, formely known as Mr. Pi, is an alien from Rigel and serves as Monty's straight man. Dave-7 lives with Monty. He's a very logical fellow, always deeply involved with studies of quantum mechanics and so on. There are occasional, ominous references to his race's plans to take over the earth. Nothing has, as yet come of them.
- House animals include Fleshy, the skinny, hairless and very Pink Panther like cat and Chimpy the talking chimpanzee. Fleshy is remarkable for his being the complete opposite of feline attitudes: he is goofy, fearful, unable to catch even the most innocuous of butterflies.
- Chimpy always tries to show his own superiority to (or at least parity with) human intelligence and culture, but in fact is not particularly bright. He has appeared less frequently in recent strips.
- Moondog is the only true friend of Monty. He's a chronic beer drinker, much like Barney Gumble of The Simpsons fame. His house is one of the biggest centers of entropy in the world. He lives with a cynical parrot named Pilsner. Pilsner is apparently intelligent, but he still hasn't managed to understand that the other parrot he sees in the mirror is himself.
[edit] Books
In spite of it's popularity, very few comic books have been made of the RObotman or Monty comic strips. The ones released are listed below.
- Robotman Takes Off: 1986 by Topper Book. Out of Print.
- Robotman: The Untold Story 1988 by Topper Books. Out of Print.
- Cyberpunktrek: With RObotman and his Evil Twin Bruce 1990 by Topper Books. Out of Print.
- Primary Crullers: A Robotman Book 1997 by Andrew McMeel. Out of Print.
- The Prehistoric Robotman 2003 by Plan 9 Publishing.
[edit] Plot milestones
Patrick Stewart, the actor who portrayed Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, once tried to kidnap Fleshy. It appears Stewart was his former owner. Eventually Monty manages to take Fleshy back, thanks to his abilities in race walking.
While attempting to emulate Spider-Man, Monty instead was bitten by a radioactive ladybug and became Ladybugman, whose superpowers include ladybug senses (the ability to sense when and where rainbows will form, which caterpillars are aggressive, when a leprechaun is lying, and when somebody is crabby and needs a nap), a hard shell, the ability to sew, the ability to instill guilt in others, the ability to flutter through the air, and the ability to emit a malodorous fluid ("Actually... he's always had that ability" - Dave-7).
[edit] References
- Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.
- Monty at Comics.com
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