From: Alexx@world.std.com (Alexx S Kay)
Subject: Re: Annotated Stanley & His Monster #1
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 02:29:17 GMT

solovay@netcom.com (Andrew M. Solovay) writes:


>                The Annotated Stanley And His Monster
>                                   
>                          by Andrew Solovay
>                                   
>                  Issue 1:  How to Build a Tree Fort
>      Phil Foglio, Chuck Fiala, John Costanza, Robbie Busch, and
>                           Paul Kupperberg
[...]
>Page 2, panel 1: Los Angeles really sucks. 
[...]
>beanbag-chair behind the monster. I don't recognize the toys in the
>lower right corner or the coke-can-thing next to the lava lamp.

The toys definitely look familiar, tho I can't quite place them.  McDonald's
advertising tie-ins?  The coke-can-thing is a lamp.

>        Panel 3: As we'll see, "The Heterodyne Boys" are a spoof of
>Franklin W. Dixon's "Hardy Boys", an obnoxiously clean-cut pair of
>teenage detectives. 

The Heterodyne Boys have previously appeared in the Munden's Bar back-up to
Grimjack, issue 40, in a 6-page story entitled "Work Ethic", written & drawn
by Foglio.

>Page 3: Panel 4: "Gotham City a Swamp": Presumably refers to the
>incident in Swamp Thing (what issue?) when Swampy turned Gotham into a
>swamp to force it to release his lover, Abby Cable (who had been
>charged with "Crimes Against Nature"). "Mu Milk": Presumably a
>reference to "Go"del, Escher Bach", which popularized the word "Mu" as
>a Zen way to "unask" a question by rejecting the premise on which it
>is based.

No, "Mu" is the sound a cow makes, and is also the name of an excellent
indepent comic book publisher, who Phil has done some work for.  The logo
on the milk bears a distinct resembelance to the "Mu Press" logo.

>Page 4: Panel 1-2: 8-track tapes were the audio equivalent of Beta
>tapes.
>        Panel 4: "...by Charles Ott": The Hardy Boys books were (and
>still are) written by a number of different authors under the
>pseudonym "Franklin W. Dixon". Presumably "Charles Ott" is equally
>fictitious.

This one is ringing a *loud* bell, but I can't recall where I've heard the 
name before...

	Panel 5: Note Stanley's drawing of the monster on the refrigerator.

>        Panel 6: "Mystery of the Cast-Iron Glacier": This is a joke
>title. Glaciers are actually made of ice.

Also, anthracite is a form of coal.

	Panel 7: At the time this series was being written (though no longer 
by the time it was published), DC was publishing comic books featuring Doc 
Savage and the Shadow.

>Page 5: Panel 5: If this were a different Foglio book, we'd see
>Stanley's parents rip each others's clothes off and have improbable
>kinds of sex. No such luck.
>        Panels 6-7: The TV is showing "Star Trek: The Next
>Generation". They don't surrender as much anymore.
	Also, the Krell were a powerful alien race from the movie Forbidden 
Planet, which was one of the inspirations for the original Star Trek series.
>        Panel 7: Note that the page opposite "How to Build a Tree
>Fort" says "How to Find Gold". This will change.
	Also, the walls feature a drawing of Stanley and his monster 
(presumably by Stanley) and a barely legible poster of Buck Godot, another
Phil Foglio character.

Page 6-7: The Batman and Joker figures (and the thug?) are inked by Jim Aparo,
a well-known Batman artist.  The Joker shooting his henchman is a direct
reference to the Batman movie.

Page 7: Panel 5: Note the newspaper headline.

>Page 7: Panel 7: Note that the facing page now says "How to Magnetize
>Aluminum".

Page 8: Panel 5: For no obvious reason, Super-Turtle is crawling by on the
floor.

>Page 9: Panel 1: "Osh Kosh Mishagosh": Osh Kosh B'Gosh is a
>manufacturer of overalls and similar clothes. "Mishagosh" is yiddish
>for "craziness" or "silliness".
>        Panel 3: "Camp Wack-a-Boy": Many east-coast camps have
>Indian names. "Wack-a-boy" is a spoof on that.

According to tyg (and my possibly faulty memory of what he said), Renfrew was
Jerry Lewis's nephew in the DC Jerry Lewis comic book (which also featured
Camp Wack-a-Boy a a location).
	Panel 5: Joe Bazooka, of Bazooka gum, is visible in the foreground.

>Page 10: Panel 2: Clearly this takes place before Superman died, or
>after he undied.

	The Superman (and other heroe) figures were inked by Dennis Janke,
known for his work on Superman.

>        Panel 5: The entering heroes are (from left to right) The Blue
>Beetle, L-Ron the robot, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, The Martian
>Manhunter, Dr. Fate, and Power Girl. All of these are current or past
>members of the Justice League, except for Plastic Man; Stanley is
>presumably confusing him with Elongated Man, a member of Justice
>League Europe.

	Phil Foglio also wrote a Platic Man mini-series for DC a few year ago.

Page 14: Stanley is wearing a Flash t-shirt.

>Page 17: Superman, Dr. Light, The Blimp, Adam Strange, and Captain
>Marvel are all DC heroes or villains. Captain Alarm Clock is not.

Also, the Blimp i a member of the Inferior Five, who guested in the recent Phil
Foglio-produced Angel & the Ape mini-series, and are scheduled to have their 
own Phil Foglio mini-series coming oon.

>Page 19: Panel 5: The Storm is probably Nyx making her entrance.
>Demons often affect the weather.

Nyx's appearance may also be why the monster starts unaccountably talking about
Hell on the previous page.

>Page 22: We've never seen Nyx before, but I (for one) wouldn't mind
>seeing her again. (Preferably in that other Foglio book.)

As someone else mentioned, she appeared previously in a pin-up in the Amazing
Heroes Swimsuit Special, in a much nicer outfit (that is to say, none).

Alexx

Alexx@world.std.com
"A translation is like a mistress -- 
it is either ugly and  faithful, or beautiful and unfaithful."
		-- old Russian proverb
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