Monster of the Day #1036

OK, this gets away from this week’s bug theme, but look at that. LOOK AT IT!!!

  • bgbear_rnh

    An armed society is a polite society

  • All this action, the mildly confused monster, and for some reason my eye catches “Zimbo the Ape Man”. Why in the name of God would you call your ape man Zimbo? There is absolutely no good reason for doing it.

  • bgbear_rnh

    I was drawn the roller coaster and its impossible contortions for the era. I ran a roller coaster for 5 seasons at a seaside amusement park. We never had a giant cephalopod attack while I was in charge. Darn proud of that.

  • The ride sort of reminded me of the one in Beast from 20000 Fathoms. But now that you’ve pointed it out, that one hill on the left looks too steep on the left side, whether you’re going or coming.

  • bgbear_rnh

    I did not say we were without our dinosaur attacks but, it was just a routine nuisance like the occasional drunk.

    Coasters of the era were mostly wood so, sharp drops and turns like that would over stress a structure. On the hill where you are being pulled up by a chain, you are limited by the stress on the lift motor and ease of evacuating a stuck train.

  • rtpoeman

    They must be using the air guns from the “Shoot the Star” game….

    And if you can believe the perspective, none of them are aiming at the creature.

  • Flangepart

    Uh…now exactly is Mr. Tentacle being upright? Is he standing on his front ‘tents’…Or is he he kinda floating along ala Dogora?

  • bgbear_rnh

    That is a lot of red to knock out. There will be no winner here I am afraid.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I keep thinking the monster just wants hot dogs. And who doesn’t want hot dogs? They are the key to interstellar understanding between intelligent beings. Hot dogs for everyone!

  • Eric Hinkle

    I’m not too sure what’s going on here aside from a monstrous octopus attacking what must be the most well-armed carnival in the world. Man but the SF pulps could be crazy.

  • bgbear_rnh

    “Giant” hotdogs no less.

  • Luke Blanchard

    A monster very much like this one appeared in the “Supergirl” story in ACTION COMICS #358, but not on the cover. The story was “Superboy in Argo City”. Once again both issues were edited by Weisinger. The monster can be seen on the cover of FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR #3, in which the story was reprinted.

  • Rock Baker

    My first thought was the giant wasp in the Gigantics line.

  • Rock Baker

    Oh my but that is a thing of beauty!

  • Gamera977

    Maybe the octobeast is an OSHA* inspector shutting down the dangerous coaster?

    *Octopus Safety and Health Administration

  • The Rev.

    Did you ever have extraterrestrial mouths come and try to eat the roller coaster?

    *wonders if anyone will get that one*

  • I sort of thought the big dips like that were a relatively new thing.

  • Until you just mentioned it, I’d never even heard of the Gigantics. Did I miss out.

  • Chris Metzinger

    I think even the folks at this gun fair, here, would know it’s more effective to dial 911 than to simply fire shots at the sky in hopes that someone will come investigate (I wanna make a little replica of this monster for my three year old daughter. She’d freaking love it!)

  • Marsden

    The face reminds me of Gleep and Gloop.
    Is the green the sky or just a neutral background color? The monster has no visible means of support. And everyone is shooting up over it. Hmmm…. is this some kind of Macy’s day parade gone wrong situation with a big helicopter carrying the “monster” into the roller coaster?

  • Rock Baker

    For sheer coolness, there was never a better series of plastic model kits than the Gigantics. They were scientifically accurate models of a tarantula, a mantis, a scorpion, and a wasp, suitable for science fair project models. What really made them cool, though, was that they came with bases which included miniature buildings, people, and cars. The completed diorama featured a giant bug demolishing a city street, a carnival, a power station, or a railroad depot! Even cooler, the boxes were done up with pulp-style art and screaming newspaper headlines along the lines of HUGE TARANTULA CRUSHES POWER STATION! Magical stuff. First issued in the early 70’s, and reissued sometime in the late 90’s I think.

    Although he’d be short one day, I think Ken should do the series as MOTDs.

  • I looked them up when you first mentioned them, and man did they look fine! Sort of wish I knew about them when they were re-released. My (admittedly toy ad DVD cluttered) desk top would look better with one on there.

  • The Rev.

    Holy @#$@, I actually have a couple of the rereleased ones. I know I have the mantis; I can’t remember if I have the scorpion or the tarantula (knowing me I got both). I never saw a wasp.

    They were fantastic. I’ll have to look for those next time I go back home.

  • Wade Harrell

    I totally I had all of those when I was a kid (in the 70’s). They were great because they could be an accurate representation of real animals OR they could be monsters. That pretty much shaped my career path…

  • Luke Blanchard

    The story was “The Indestructible” by Robert Arthur. An interior image of the critter (showing the same scene) can be found at the Dark Roasted Blend website by googling “Indestructible” “Robert Arthur” “Dark Roasted Blend”.