Stanley and His Monster

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Stanley and His Monster was a comic about a boy, who instead of having a dog as his companion, had a monster. Nowadays this would spark comparisons to Calvin and Hobbes, but the two comics actually have very little in common. The main theme in common is like in Calvin and Hobbes, the parents firmly believe their child's companion to be imaginary. The series is more closely similar to Crockett Johnson's Barnaby comic strip of the 1940s, in which a young boy had a fairy godfather and many other supernatural companions, all of whom were believed to be imaginary by his parents.

1 First Appearance
2 Foglio Miniseries
3 Appearance In Green Arrow
4 References

[edit] First Appearance

Stanley and His Monster first appeared in DC Comics The Fox & The Crow #95 at the end of 1965. Eventually Stanley and friend took over the book, but not for long, as it was canceled four issues after doing so in late 1968. The story in these early days was Stanley was a 6 year old boy who had found his monster companion in a sewer. The twist with the monster was that he was as scared of the world as the world was of it. The monster, eventually referred to as Spot, came home to live with Stanley, with many wacky hijinks (and later, characters, such as a pair of bickering leprechauns) following. Not for too long though, as the days of such comics was coming to an end. Arnold Drake was the writer and Winslow Mortimer was the artist of this incarnation. The tone of this first outing of Stanley was pretty much in keeping with the comics for the fairly young of the day, like Sugar & Spike and other such titles. Very light hearted fare.

[edit] Foglio Miniseries

The next major appearance of Stanley and His Monster was in a four part series by Phil Foglio. Here the backstory is changed a bit so the monster is actually a demon from Hell who has turned good and escaped. This being a Phil Foglio series, all is played for laughs parodying the then new Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, with only a few dark overtones despite having to deal with things like Hell and damnation. Stanley's parents finally learn of their son's companion and initially want the monster gone. However when they become aware of his good nature, the couple decide that in a world of superheroes, magic, alien invasions among other elements, having a benign demon companion for their son is nothing to be excited about. This series came out in 1993.

[edit] Appearance In Green Arrow

Stanley and His Monster showed up again in 2001 in the Green Arrow series. This was a continuation of Foglio's version of the characters, but had a much darker tone than any previous appearances. This occurrence again had the monster being a demon known as the Beast With No Name, but here it was revealed that it had in fact been accidentally bonded to young Stanley by his demon-worshipping grandfather, the elder Stanley Dover, who was attempting to achieve immortality. Upon finding out what had occurred, the grandfather locked the younger Stanley into a large glass container and tormented him physically and by forcing him to witness horrific acts of murder. All in an attempt to bring back the monster.

Determined to find the demon, Stanley senior intended to transfer his soul into the resurrected Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow (who, at this time, was merely a soulless shell as his soul had decided to remain in Heaven) and use the JLA's resources to find the Beast. However, the hollow convinces the soul to return to him at the last minute, and Green Arrow whole again, fights alongside his own son, Connor Hawke, against the demons Stanley Dover had managed to conjure. The Beast With No Name appears amd eats the grandfather. The monster also erases the boy's horrible memories in order to restore his innocence.

Stanley and the monster did not appear again until Infinite Crisis where, in the sixth issue, they were part of a gathering of magic-powered heroes and villains attempting to summon the Spectre for aid.