I love monsters, but I hate horror; well, let me rephrase that, I like the idea of horror, but I can’t tolerate horror – ghosts, spirits, poltergeists and demonic children it all just does me in.
Which brings me to one of the reasons I like Dept. of Monsterology, one of the comics published by Canmore-based Renegade Arts Entertainment. It offers monsters, dinosaurs, demons, creatures of the sea and the air and the earth, ghosts, ghouls and vampires, and all without that spine-wrenching, nightmare-inducing horror.
And better yet, Dept. of Monsterology has finally returned after a lengthy sabbatical with the aptly named Volume 2, Sabbaticals. For those of you wondering what Dept. of Monsterology is all about, the short version is that it’s a comic that tells the story of the Department of Cryptozoology, Mythological Studies, Parapsychology and Fortean Phenomena at Dunsany College.
Unlike your typical university or college faculties, however, the study of monsterology is not for mere mortals. This line of enquiry requires some rather unusual talents, and the faculty at the Dept. of Monsterology have that in spades.
In this latest volume, Gordon Rennie, P.J. Holden, Steve Denton and Jim Campbell take readers from Scotland to the Pacific Ocean, Nepal and an unnamed location that is literally out of this world.
As the characters explore the globe and beyond, all in the name of science, magic, the spirit and the other, the team behind this comic operate outside all of the formulas. They instead move nimbly between horror and sci-fi themes, blending the more serious parts of the story with some serious campy parts. Bouncing from the serious and intense to the campy and off-kilter works well.
Rennie, the author, and Holden, the artist, have done such a good job of providing an innovative and unusual storyline with rich and captivating art that there’s no opportunity to say “this is stupid” or “this is completely unrealistic.” Instead, when Adolf Hitler’s clones, the Führerlings, appear riding dinosaurs, it takes nothing to say “right on” and “let it roll.”
Unlike Donald Trump, the stranger Dept. of Monsterology gets, the better it is. And there’s just enough horror, creepiness and suspense to give the spine a little shake without it being overplayed. This makes it great for the horror aficionado and lightweights that walk among us. It’s Alfred Hitchcock and Clive Barker tempered by the sci-fi and the campiness.
This mix keeps Dept. of Monsterology as my favourite among Renegade Arts’ increasingly diverse line of comics. It’s fun, imaginative and creative, and it also comes with kick-butt artwork. One panel that features a bottom-up view of a school of hammerhead sharks dwarfed by a pack of German Second World War submarines is exceptional.
As long as Rennie and Holden keep doing what they are doing, I’ll keep Dept. of Monsterology in my No. 1 spot; so roll on, Dept. of Monsterology, roll on.
Dept. of Monsterology, Vol. 2, Sabbaticals is available at Café Books in Canmore.
