Stanley and Monster (part 2 of 4)

[icon_uk]

Following on from Part 1, may I present the continuing adventures of Stanley and his Monster, as envisioned by Phil Foglio in 1993.

Yes, this is the one with the scruffy blond dissolute urban magician, oh, and a Foglio created sexy demoness.



I make no apology for spending two pages of my allocation on this scene, I just love it....







For those unfamiliar with the name, it's (presumably) a pseudonym, taken from the satirst Ambrose Bierce, who, amongst other things, wrote "The Devils Dicrtionary" which, despite it's title, is a satirical piece of humour, rather than anything paranormal.

But I digress, as the Monster, left alone in Stanley's treehouse finds himself confronting something scarier than JUST a demon, she's a demoness who was also his ex!!



Nyx says she's been dispatched to bring him back to hell. The Monster tries to explain how his outlook has changed, especially since they had a relationship.



Nyx is incensed by this... THING, feeling pity for her, and for making her feel BAD about being a demon. Let's just say it gets rather violent, involvling slashing claws, elbow spikes, spitting fury and the threat of an extra large bottle of industrial strength hair remover.



At this point Folgio plays his one-per-story "Insanely convenient plot twist" (He says so in the footnote) and a bolt of lighting strikes the tree-fort, allowing the Monster a moment to escape. Back at the Dover's Stanley worries about his pet...



Hmmmm....

Ambrose appears at the door, claiming a flat tyre in the rainstorm and having a convertible with the roof stuck open. Of course, he's invited in.


Ambrose is instantly alert, NO-ONE without some magical experience would have heard of John Constantine...

So now he's knows he's in the right house, there IS a demon, but he doesn't know who it is (though a trick backfiring waterpistol full of holy water proves it's not Stanley). The Monster arrives back at the house and assumes that Nyx must have beaten him there and is using a disguise spell. There's only one thing to do...





Love that line! :) (Also, again, a very Bloom County feel to Ambrose for some reason)

Meanwhile can you spot Nyx's cunning disguise...



It's been a few years since she's been on Earth, alas.

So Ambrose and the Monster start talking and the Monster explains his situation (And the Monster clearly doesn't mind Ambrose's cigarette habit.. though I wouldn't recommend doing it in front of Stanley)


The disguise didn't work so Nyx assumes her true form, and starts attacking Stanley and his family (Bear in mind that Mr and Mrs Dover have until now led completely normal lives. One's first experience to the outre side of DCU life being Nyx manifesting in their living room is not an easy introduction)

Thanks to Nyx trying to use the waterpistol and getting a face full of Holy Water, and the Monster basically walloping her (as noted, he's a fundamentally peaceful being, UNLESS Stanley or an innocent is endangered) she's out for the count... for a short time.

Nyx had used a sleep spell on Mr and Mrs Dover, so they're out of the loop for now...

Ambrose offers to destroy Nyx, but the monster demurs, Nyx meant a lot to him once upon a time, and he can't bring himself to see her killed. So a plan in hatched, and when Nyx recovers she finds that Bierce has been busy.



Okay, note to DC Direct: Monster plushie.... NOW dammit!

When Nyx threatens to destroy the Monster and Bierce (Who she assumes is John Constantine too), Stanley intervenes, which is brave, VERY brave, but not very wise.



So Nyx departs with the Monster and returns to Hell, there she presents the Monster to Remiel and Dumas (Love the shirt)



It's at this point that the fact that the Monster is NOT under a binding spell, but an illusion spell, and it turns out that Nyx has brought one of Stanley's old toys to Hell, rather than the Monster. The angels are not best pleased by this...

Back on Earth, the Monster emerges from behind the couch (Yes, it's too small for him, but it's a power he has, he usually sleeps under Stanley's bed after all, and Stanley never questioned that because everyone knows there are ALWAYS monsters under the bed, it's just his is friendly). He knows that the illusion won't hold for long, and Ambrose offers the Monster the use of a protective amulet he always carries to make him invisible to demonic scans, more out of habit than anything else.

Things get more confusing in the last page, when Mr and Mrs Dover now having recovered, walk into their living room, to discover Bierce, Stanley AND a nine-foot tall red, shaggy Monster all present!

Whoops!

To be continued, obviously.

Comments

[aelflar]

"Having problems with our pronouns,are we?" XD it made me snicker (and that`s problematic, considering some of the people around me are trying to work...)

This is insanely fun, love the humour here!

[gehayi]

You know, I love that there's a Disreputable Urban Magicians' and Sorcerers' Union. Also, I love Ambrose's offhand description--"You learn the basics, you have a hideous experience in a graveyard, they give you a trenchcoat and steal your razor--like an assembly line, really." (Which, considering the frequency with which the Badass Longcoat trope shows up, actually makes a lot of sense.)

Ambrose's "Having trouble with our pronouns, are we?" line is priceless.

Poor Mr. and Mrs. Dover. They're not having an easy time of it, are they?

[icon_uk]

Poor Mr. and Mrs. Dover. They're not having an easy time of it, are they?

That'll teach them to have kids! One moment it's nappies and childproofing the locks, the next it's demons from hell scorching the living room carpet.

[gehayi]

Yes! And it's SO hard to get the scorch marks out--hellfire is impossible when it comes to cleaning and repair. You just can't fix it. SO annoying.

[btravage]

Well considering how many JC ripoff/homages there all running around the DCU (at last time I checked there was something like 4), I'd believe him.

[gehayi]

This page lists eighteen...though not all in the DCU.

[q99]

This needs to be collected :)

[icon_uk]

From your keyboard to DC's monitor screen...

Y'know, that loses something in updating...

[nezchan]

Ah, the details. Like Spaceman Spiff being part of the angels' double throne, or the bottles in the bar being labeled as vowels (the last is more of a "sometimes" drink). Great stuff.

[icon_uk]

Good Lord, and Hobbes is over on the left of the throne too... I cannot believe I never noticed those before!!

[nezchan]

You've really gotta look when you're dealing with certain artists. I remember reading an interview with Richard Pini when Phil was doing Myth Adventures (which I'd love to see scans of here) and he mentioned the sinking feeling of horror he had when a background character was spotted with "This space for rent" on the back of its jacket...and the WaRP graphics phone number.

Needless to say, they went over ALL his art with a fine toothed comb after that.

[icon_uk]

I did have some Myth pages up on s_d1.0 when I found out Robert Aspirin had died, time to repost perhaps.

[darkblade]

So this is the source of the "they give you a trenchcoat and steal your razor. It's like an assembly line really." quote.

[icon_uk]

Imagine how much less fun it would have been if they HAD been allowed to use John Constantine!

[jkcarrier]

As you say, it probably worked out for the best. Although the idea of the actual Constantine having these shenanigans as part of his canon would be pretty amusing too.

[leorising]

A friend of mine has this series, he's going to let me borrow it. Yay! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[philippos42]

Yes, the opening two pages were probably the best two to post.

Oddly, I always took it that it was the writer Ambrose Bierce, but decades of hard magical living had changed his appearance & shrunk his frame down to a more Constantinian appearance. :shrug:

[icon_uk]

There are some indications that it is... and his claims that he's not. You decide! :)

[nezchan]

"The brat-child," Thomas asked Paul and the green-robe in an aside, "is she really of unnatural age?"
"I don't know, Thomas," the green-robe said. "Thirty-five years ago when I first saw her she was of the same apparent age as now. Remember that almost everything is possible."
"Remember also that she lies a lot," said Paul.

-- R.A. Lafferty
Past Master

[halloweenjack]

This is very nice, but I still want a XXXenophile-style outtake where Nyx and Stanley's mom get it on. That's just how I roll.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, well, I wouldn't really hold my breath on that one. :)

[leikomgwtfbbq]

I like Bierce. XD

Also, I soooooo want a Monster plush. *____* I'd love it and cuddle it forever~

[tacobob]

Ahhh! This art makes my eyes sad!

[icon_uk]

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? (Sorry, it's somewhat ambiguously phrased)

[tacobob]

bad.

All the guys look like Rod Stewart (In his different life stages.)

[icon_uk]

Mr Dover certainly doesn't, and as Constantine is supposed to always look like Sting, I rather like the idea that Bierce looks like Rod Stewart (even if I don't agree that he does here) :)

[psychopathicus_rex]

You know, as a concept, 'Jellomancy' actually sounds kind of interesting, assuming it's what I think it is. Making a sort of 3D sculpture of the workings of chaos, so you can examine it at leisure? That's pretty cool - unless, of course, he's just talking about using the way a batch of Jell-O wobbles as a means of divination. Either way, even if it fails, at least he'll have a snack on hand for later...
A question here - are those things on Nyx's head horns, or ears? They're placed like horns, to be sure, but the way they're drawn reminds me more of ears. True, she's got what looks like earrings in the area where ears would normally be, but on further examination, those MIGHT just be things to keep her hair held back.

[icon_uk]

psychopathicus_rex honey, I think that that might just be overthinking things a tad, even for us. If it makes you maybe they fucntion as horns AND aural receptors.

And agreed, Jellomancy is a fun notion, just cracky enough to be good nonsense (and no worse than mnay forms of "divination")

[psychopathicus_rex]

I can't help it - these things just bug me. I'm a detail-oriented person.
Really, Jellomancy - or rather, my version of it - is not all that different from certain branches of science. I mean, pathologists and paleontologists and whatnot make plaster casts of bones and footprints and so forth - it's not inconceivable that a magician could make a model of chaos patterns using Jell-O.

[icon_uk]

I know what you mean, but I think as soon as you start using words like "magician", I think you cease to be able to make comparisons with science. There's a reason it's jellomancy, not jellotology. :D

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, yeah, of course, but it's not unheard of in fiction to apply scientific principles towards the use of magic. Anyway, if it's a mystic principle you want, what about 'as above, so below'? Chaos is, by definition, constantly moving and changing and in flux - it's not inconceivable that something all wobbly like gelatin would be able to shape itself into a model of it, if the right spells and so forth were said.

[icon_uk]

Oh indeed, the concept of jellomancy in the comic is perfect, it's just a little real-world bugbear of mine; I used to work with someone who got astronomy and astrology confused as terms, and argued homeopathy was a science, and it drove me absolutely nuts.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Ah. Yes, that can indeed be annoying. (Although I'm not sure just what you'd classify homeopathy as - I agree that it's not a science in and of itself, but I'm not sure what else it falls under.)

[icon_uk]

Although I'm not sure just what you'd classify homeopathy as

"Faith", if I'm feeling kind, though "delusion" seems like a better candidate.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I don't know about that - homeopathic medicine has worked very well for me, when I've taken it. I remember back when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, I got prescribed this painkiller that I didn't have a very good reaction to - I think it made me nauseous or something; I can't remember. I would have been extremely uncomfortable over the next few days if it weren't for homeopathic medicine.

[icon_uk]

Then I admire your faith, but as it stands, there is no current scientific proof for the effectiveness of homeopathy and rather a lot proving it's no more effective than a placebo.

As and when a homeopath can come up with a set of consistent scientific rules regarding the nature of homepathic cures, and quantify "The memory of water" and "The law of similars" then I will maybe start reconsidering it to be a science, otherwise I have to view it as being a placebo at best.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Believe you me, my 'faith' ain't that strong. My Mom is a great believer in homeopathic medicine, and has recommended it to any number of people, some of whom have been very skeptical about it, and it's always worked on them just fine, from what I can tell. I'll admit to being cheerfully ignorant as to just HOW homeopathic cures work, but I know that they do - I've seen them work, and they've worked on me, including in cases where I was too pain-befogged to 'have faith' in ANYTHING. 'Current scientific proof' isn't everything.

[icon_uk]

No it's not, but it's a bloody good place to start. :)

Especially in anything involving a claim about biological and chemical effectiveness and, generally, homeopathy fails before it even starts, with it's principle that "The more you dilute the active compound of the remedy the more effective it will be. Up to and including the point where the likelihood of having ANY of the active compound in the sample you are taking is heading towards zero." That's not just bad science, that's lousy logic.

As I said, if it works for you, mazel tov, but the balance of review and research is against you.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, all I can say is, what works works, even if the scientists say it shouldn't. I've been the subject of a lot of alternative medical practices in my day, some of which made me go 'what the...? How the hell is this supposed to work?', and they've all, well, WORKED. I've got keratakonis (I think that's the spelling) in my left eye - basically, a slight lump on the surface of my eyeball - and at one point, my eye doctor was saying I might need to have surgery, which would have been very expensive. Well, I went to this 'alternative practitioner', you might call her, and she gave me some stuff to take - just basic herbal pills - and the next time I went to the eye doctor, guess what? No more need for surgery - the lump had gone down dramatically. The doctor was impressed to the point where I believe she has now recommended the 'alternative practitioner' to a number of her other patients. And trust me, I wasn't a credulous believer in the alternative lady; frankly, at the time I thought she was a quack - she diagnosed me by putting me on a table and balancing bottles on various parts of my body, for cryin' out loud - but she knew her stuff, and I've been to her several times since. I have not a clue as to just HOW what she does works, but it does.
It looks like we'll have to agree to disagree on this issue, and that's fine - it's not like I'm poo-pooing your belief in science or anything - but as far as I'm concerned, 'standard' medical treatments are not the be-all and end-all of medicine.

[icon_uk]

Oh I'm not knocking all herbal medicine, that had a long and noble history, and much anecdotal and research evidence behind it.

It's homeopathy specifically (Well, that and some of the more outré concepts like crystals having innate healing powers) that I have no regard for, but clearly YMMV.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Yeah, well... try it some time. You may be surprised, and at any rate, it can't hurt you.

[icon_uk]

Oh, I used to share a house with a firm believer, and she never managed to convince me despite some strong efforts, nor did her friend who claimed to have some form of innate healing ability. Suffice to say I never managed to feel the "heat transfer" that she claimed I should.

And sorry, the "it can't hurt you" isn't quite true either, since if people allow the placebo effect to over-ride seeking medical help, it can be distinctly dangerous.

[psychopathicus_rex]

It sounds like you may have been prejudiced by an airy-fairy roommate. I've never heard of 'heat transfers' or anything of the sort - I just take the stuff like regular medicine.
And what I meant was that it by itself can't hurt you - as far as I know, no one has ever overdosed on homeopathics. Anyway, to each their own.

[icon_uk]

No more than you might have been prejudiced by a mother who believes firmly in it.

No, the old joke goes that the hospitals have a special name for OD-ing on homeopathic medication; they call it "drowning".

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, anyway, when it gets right down to it, you don't believe in them, I do, and it doesn't look like either of us are going to be changing the other's mind, so we might as well wrap this up. I'm just saying that in MY experience, they work - end of story.