Doris Danger: Giant Monsters Amok

A sly, loving, and hilarious parody/tribute of late 1950s-era Marvel monster comics, Doris Danger: Giant Monsters Amok collects the best of the fictional Tabloia Weekly's stories of giant monsters starring that fearless reporter, Doris Danger.

Written and drawn as dead-on homages to the styles of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Dick Ayers, these 20 stories recount Doris's encounters with such monsters as "Ner-Nee-Nah," "Spwum," "Ho-Chee-Cha," "X, Son of XI," and many more.

But this is parody on a meta-level, as "editor" Rob Oder takes you behind the scenes and reveals the secrets behind these comics — the chaos, the "faster-faster/cheaper-cheaper" mentality, the never-ending deadlines, the despicable treatment of writers and artists, the contempt for fans, the blithe disregard for quality — all presented with an unctuous, sunny veneer of jocular "sophistication" to readers.

And that's not all. Doris Danger: Giant Monsters Amok mixes its faux giant monster history with illustrations ("pin-ups!") of giant monsters by actual comic book artists who wanted in on the fun: Arthur Adams, Mike Allred, Mark Bode, Tim Bradstreet, Jeffrey Brown, Sal Buscema, Geof Darrow, Colleen Doran, Michael Golden, Irwin Hasen, Gilbert Hernandez, Mario Hernandez, Peter Kuper, Michael Lark, Jae Lee, David Mack, Dean Motter, Bill Plympton, Esad Ribic, Steve Rude, Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Sprouse, William Stout, Herb Trimpe, and Thomas Yeates.

We'll let Stan Lee have the last word: "Chris Wisnia has performed the amazing feat of taking the minor masterpieces that Jack Kirby and I had done and looking at them through a carnival's distorting mirror."

Doris Danger: Giant Monsters Amok is part of the Fantagraphics Underground imprint.