Monster of the Day #1543

Another very nice cover. And the monster design evokes Giger while not seeming slavish.

I think the guy in the background is Sukia’s gay sidekick, who needless to say got *lots* of action himself. Hey, it was the ’70s. Ulula, the Vampirella-looking chick from earlier in the week who was actually a werewolf, also had a gay sidekick, so apparently that played for their audience.

  • While all of these covers this week have been well drawn, they’ve all lacked anything interesting about them beyond the sexual. For instance, this particular cover has two people who’s reactions read more bored than anything else.

    If this is standard fare for Italian comics, consider me unimpressed. Gimme a good Creepy or Eerie cover any day. Hell, I’ll take an EC cover, too. Give me passion, give me horror, give me characters that are actually involved with the situation. These guys don’t do it for me.

    Though I will admit, with a touch of chagrin, that I do find the stereotypical reaction of Gary/Blondie here pretty funny. With the lack of investment the two of them have over the Gieger reject, his campy expression seems to be more mocking than anything else.

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, the painting is great but I get less a ‘ohmygawd it’s a alien space monster that’s going to kill us’ and more a ‘oh krap we just mopped the floor and the alien peed on it’ vibe.

  • bgbear_rnh

    I would say something for everyone except I doubt many ladies bought the magazine, but at least gay a straight boys were catered to in one publication. That’s efficiency.

  • bgbear_rnh

    True, not all that much horror, but original. I have never thought of wood paneling in a spaceship.

  • Rock Baker

    I do question having a homosexual sidekick for sexpot character in a pornographic comic book, just based on what the presumed expectations of said comic were. If they were going to go that route, doesn’t it seem more logical that they’d use a lesbian character? I mean, given the way it’s advertised, you really wouldn’t think there’d be that many homosexual males or straight females that would be checking it out. And that doesn’t even take into account that the numbers of that specific group really don’t seem large enough to court with product anyway (in other words, straight males are really the only ones you’d expect would be reading it in the first place). Then again, I never claimed to grasp the deep weeds of the pornographic field.

  • Flangepart

    I though there was something odd about it…I mean, odd…the humans are way too disinterested in the situation for even the most jaded per-adolesent to say “Ay, let’s a check-a dat, out, capish?”

  • bgbear_rnh

    A mild shocked look like L’Alieno is Gary’s mother who just walked in on them. Good news. She may become a grandmother after all.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Could be he was mainly there for comic relief.

  • Ken_Begg

    I imagine it would have done less well in the States than in Europe, but then, it’s hard to imagine anything remotely like this being published here back then.

  • Rock Baker

    At least nothing sold over the counter. I believe Tijuana bibles go back to the 30’s, maybe the 20’s.

  • Rock Baker

    Yeah, I guess when you’ve already got hardcore pornography mixed with monster horror, anything goes!

  • Sandy Petersen

    On the other hand, it does have a female vampire named “Sukia”.