Do The Monster Mash.

Both Marvel ad DC have gone all Monster this week with The Hulk Monster Size Special and Superman Batman vs. Vampires Werewolves, how can on resist.

First off its DC Comics effort

Batman vs. Vampires Werewolves which with the aid of Kevin Van hook (Writer) And very Gene Colan style art by Tom Mandrake.

And a fine effort it is too, its not going to win any Eisner nominations but having said that is well written and well executed, and that art, now no one is ever ever going to do Gene Colan as well as Gene Colan, but Tom Mandrake is a fine artist in his own right and I would like to say that I see this as more of an homage rather than a direct copy of style, still it is very nice to look at.

The story starts like many with a murder, but unlike other murders, it seems that the cause of death is not by any means natural, that is if you consider being half eaten as natural. Followed by a woman attacked by a ferocious beast, Batman and Superman will have to eventually face off with the denizens of the dark, just to mention that Superman doesn’t actually turn up in this first issue, we wont get to see him until the second issue, we do get an appearance of Wonder Woman which gives a slight Trinity feel. Still its not a bad read, and it caught my attention.

So lets say its an 8/10 then.

Lets move on to Marvels effort on the Monster front with

Hulk Monster Size Special #1 which is by various writers and artists.

I don’t know about you but as a kid I always used to feel like I had something worth having when I used to buy a giant size, especially if it was all new with no reprints, which this is.

Now unlike DC, Marvel has its very own stable of Monsters to chose from, and although based on the classics they are very much recognised as Marvels, Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, The Monster of Frankenstein and Goom all making appearances.

The first story written by Jeff Parker and illustrated by Gabriel Hardman sees Banner attempt to help a descendent of Dr. Frankenstein himself achieve the cellular regeneration of the original monster, its not a bad story, but its not really that good either, adequate and entertaining, so that will do nicely

Followed by

Hulk By Night written by and Illustrated by Lucio Parrillo, The art is very nice and the story although short is nicely paced and very credible, did I mention that The Hulk meets Werewolf Jack Russell? No, well he does. Now on to the two page Goom story,

Gomm’s fairy Tales by Writer Paul Tobin and Artist Dave Williams ,

Now you wouldn’t think you could do much with two pages would you, this is worth it just for the Dave Williams art, fantastic.

Onto the final story by Peter David and art by Gabriel Hardman called Blood Count,

This features Dracula and is done in an illustrated novel style, not my favourite of formats but I don’t mind it in small doses.

Over all it’s a nice package and worth picking up if you fancy something different to read on the train, plane, or toilet.

This also scores a solid 8/10