Graham Nolan's Monster Island

It’s been a few weeks since I announced that I was taking a stress-related break from this blog. I’ll give a bit of an update towards the end of this post where things are with that, but the bottom line is, I think I’m ready to come back on a regular basis. And the first book I would like to talk about is an old favorite: Monster Island, by Graham Nolan. Partly because it’s a great comic, and partly to bring attention to the Kickstarter currently running to fund the creation of the next volume.

I first became aware of Nolan’s work on Airboy and The Prowler, from Eclipse Comics. (Both books that have been reprinted somewhat recently, and both are grist for future posts here.) He went on to achieve great popularity as the artist on Detective Comics, working with a favorite writer of mine, Chuck Dixon. If memory serves, it would have been around that time, in the late 90s, that he first published Monster Island, a one-shot Nolan both wrote and drew. 

In his introduction to the 20th Anniversary Edition of Monster Island, published through a Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, Nolan says that Monster Island was an intentional response to what he saw as the violent and overly sexualized comics of the time.He wanted to create an all-ages comic that both his daughters and his friends could enjoy; something that was pure fun. And I honestly believe he succeeded, which is why I still enjoy this story so much, 20 years later.

In many ways, this story wears its influences very prominently on its sleeve. A pair of navy aviators, Tommy “Duke” Mitchell and Kelly “Mac” MacGruder, crash onto a mysterious island where no island is supposed to be.

However, they soon discover that this is no mere island that happens to not be on any charts (and happens to possess some sort of force that caused their jet to crash). No, this is an island inhabited by… MONSTERS!

Seriously, between the title and the cover, that stuff should come as no surprise. However, Nolan’s skill as a writer and artist mean that the story is told well, with a great deal of warmth and heart. At 48 pages long, the story is paced perfectly. For example, the opening scenes, from the crash on the island through Duke and Mac’s initial explorations, build just enough suspense. But, since the story is called Monster Island, Nolan wisely gets to the monsters fairly quickly. 

Just as it’s looking like this will be a story about Mac and Duke trying to survive on an island of monsters, things take a turn for the weird(er).

And while this is not a story that depends on complex twists and turns, I don’t want to get too far into spoiler territory. I don’t want to spoil the fun. Suffice it to say that it really feels like Nolan is having a ball creating this story, throwing in jungle action, aviation excitement, awesome monsters, cool aliens, and even a fantasy princess with some attitude.

While Nolan cites the giant monster comics by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he deserves credit for designing monsters that look unique and original. He isn’t just trying to draw a Kirby creature or a Ditko beast. His monsters are weird in their own distinctive ways.

Similarly, the great adventure strip artists of old also provide inspiration, but this doesn’t look like Nolan’s attempt to draw like Milt Caniff or Roy Crane (who he names as another inspiration). Instead, that inspiration informs the art in the sense that the storytelling is exciting and varied, even during scenes that are just conversation, but also is clear and easy to follow. Having said that, one area in which Crane’s influence does stand out is in Nolan’s use of craft-tint for the shading. (Craft-tint, as I understand it, was drawing paper with two invisible patterns printed on it. If you painted on it with one type of developer, one pattern would show up. If you used another developer, a different pattern would show up.)

No spoilers, but when I finished this story the first time, twenty years ago, I felt satisfied that I had read a complete story that didn’t need a sequel. On the other hand, I had enjoyed it so much, and so enjoyed seeing a favorite artist create what was clearly a personal dream project with so much love and enthusiasm, I wanted more. So much so that when Pulp 2.0 reprinted the book—with additional extra features—in 2012, I purchased that immediately. (I still have the original self-published Compass Comics edition in a long box in storage, but since the new edition had a spine, I could keep it easily on my bookshelf). I figured not only would it be nice to have a new edition with all the special features, but maybe good sales would encourage Graham Nolan to produce another Monster Island story.

Well, he didn’t. But in 2018, Ominous Press launched a Kickstarter campaign to release a 20th anniversary edition of the book, with the art photographed directly from the original art boards, untouched. On its own, that sounded pretty keen. 

(You can judge for yourself; all the art in this blog entry is taken from that 20th anniversary edition, because it’s the only digital version I have. I can’t scan the pages, because my scanner isn’t working. Plus, the book is way too big for my scanner. For size comparison, here are photos of the box the book came in, with 13-pound Gizmo in it for scale.)

Perhaps more excitingly, the campaign promised that the book would include a brand-new short story paving the way for a sequel! Clearly, if there was going to be new Monster Island story material in this book, I had to have it.

The best news of all is that Ominous Press and Graham Nolan have just launched a Kickstarter for Return to Monster Island, a new, color, graphic novel. Plus, they are publishing a color edition of the first book. I backed that campaign at a level that will give me both. For those keeping count, the color version will be the fourth time I have bought the first Monster Island story, and I am fine with that. It’s just that much fun.

The 20th Anniversary Edition with the Pulp 2.0 edition, for size comparison

Gizmo added for scale

As you can tell from previous posts, I am something of a sucker for comics created by guys who came up through the ranks of Marvel and DC superheroes. While there have been any number of fundamental changes in the comics industry between when I first started reading comics in the early 1980s and today, I think a big one has been a shift in the direction of comics careers. Now, artists and writers tend to start out by establishing themselves on their own titles—and often their own creations—from Image or Dark Horse or smaller publishers. Having proven themselves in that arena, they are more likely to be hired by Marvel or DC for a superhero book.

My recollection from my earlier days is that things tended to go the other way: if a writer or artist started out with their own creations, like Scott McCloud with Zot, or Wendy & Richard Pini with Elfquest, or Paul Chadwick with Concrete, they would almost never end up working for Marvel or DC, but stick with their own things. Other artists—as far as I could tell—started with Marvel or DC, and eventually were able to create their own characters. Those are the creators and creations that particularly interested me, because I felt like I was getting to see an artist throw off the shackles of corporate-owned characters and produce a work of passion. Graham Nolan’s work on Batman and Hawkman was great, but he is just one of a number of artists working on those characters. Monster Island is his, and I believe it represents a more pure distillation of his sensibilities, just like Ron Randall’s Trekker or David Michelinie and Bret Blevins’ Bozz Chronicles (which may be returning as well). 

Similarly, my interest in creator-driven stories and series is a lot stronger than my interest in corporate-owned and driven stories. For example, while I really enjoyed Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America, that doesn’t make me want to read every Captain America story ever published. By contrast, no matter how many volumes of Criminal Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips produce, it will never be enough. There are a lot of cool stories Graham Nolan produced for DC that I haven’t read in decades, but none of them excite me as much as the possibility of new Monster Island stories. (At least three more, maybe, if his tease of future titles in the 20th anniversary volume introduction is anything by which we can go.)

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again, but I keep seeing comics fans whining and bleating online about how nobody makes the kind of comics they want to read any more. And invariably, the things they claim they are looking for can all be found in comics like Section Zero. Or Trekker. Or Monster Island. So, again, either it’s time to admit that what you really just want to read is Spider-Man from 1972, or quit flapping your gums and start opening your wallet to support these comics that are exactly the sort of thing you want to see more of.

So I definitely recommend checking out the latest Monster Island Kickstarter. As I write this, it has gotten about a third of the way to its goal with 26 days left. If you are looking for a well-written, well-drawn fun adventure comic with a lot of cool monsters, this is definitely the series for you.

In other news, I received the latest volume of Trekker, The Darkstar Zephyr, in the mail yesterday. I have written about Trekker before here and here. I’m sure I will talk about this book in-depth once I’ve read it, but it really made my day when I looked at the back cover and saw this blurb:

Creator Ron Randall had asked my permission to quote from my blog, but I hadn’t expected it to be printed on the cover of the book itself. This completely made my week. Possibly even my year. I’m feeling very proud. Regular readers of this blog know that I really love this series, so to have something that I wrote about it printed on one of the actual books… I’m over the moon.

Rumplestilskin update: Last time I posted, I was feeling pretty bleak about Rumplestilskin’s health. He wasn’t really eating, and that seemed to be because he wasn’t digesting anything he was eating, but instead vomiting it all back up after it sat inside him for three or four days. Fortunately, further testing has apparently ruled out some of the more dire concerns, like lymphoma. The vet prescribed Zantac (the same medicine humans take for similar tummy troubles) and it seems to be helping. His appetite has returned to normal, and he is keeping his food down. He seems to be gaining his weight back. His blood work indicates possible liver problems down the line, but at least the immediate worries seem to be alleviated, so that’s something. I will take what I can get.

Also, I am taking a voice acting class. My wife and I went to an introductory workshop, and I was interested enough to sign up for a four-week beginners class with her. It’s been a lot of fun, and I think this is something I want to try to pursue. I think I needed something like this, something that is more than just a hobby, because it has a goal in mind besides just reading or watching or collecting something.

That’s about it for this week. I’m going to try to get back to blogging on a regular schedule. I’m going to try to stick with every other Sunday for now, and see how that goes. So, if all goes according to plan, I will see you in two weeks!