Gary GianniCritiques

This volume contains three of the longer and more detailed of Howard's Conan stories. People of The Black Circle, A witch Shall be Born and The Hour of the Dragon. These stories have matured well and represent Howard at his best and Conan at a more mature and calculating level in his life.

Even though I still prefer the short stories, this was still way ahead of most fantasy in terms of setting the atmosphere and the sheer scale of the world-building. I love Conan as a character anyway but there's also a grim and gritty feel to the whole world including the other characters. They all seem so real that at times you can almost see their shadowy presence looming up before you.

Fantastic grim fantasy. Can't wait to get stuck into the 3rd one now.

Gary Gianni's Monstermen and Other Scary Stories was a real treat! I knew nothing about what to expect from this volume, (knowing nothing about the Hellboy series, in which these comics were originally released), so I went in with no preconceptions. I was seriously impressed. Here's why:

First, I LOVED the stories! The first 2/3 of this are different comics featuring a movie director named St. Lawrence, (who looks a lot like Vincent Price, btw, and who you would think belonged in the 30's expect for the occasional glimpse of technology), and his friend Benedict a member of the Corpus Monstrum guild. Benedict is an immortal knight and always wears his knight helmet and a tuxedo. (I need to learn more about the background of this character because he was a blast to read about.)


Together they fend off plagues of falling skulls, and other monstrous creatures.


Second, the last third of the book contains illustrated classic stories by the likes of Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and William Hope Hodgson. I LOVED these! When reading these short stories, I couldn't help but notice how the first 2/3 of the book carried the exact same pulpy, adventure feel that these classic stories originally created. I think Gianni did a beautiful job of carrying on that feel in his comics and in his illustrations of these pulp shorts. In a way, I feel like these were his way of paying tribute to what came before, while also making them his own.

Again, I went into this with no preconceptions. I came away with much admiration and respect. I'm going to eventually read the Hellboy comics and I'm definitely going to search out Mr. Gianni and see what else he has on offer, because whatever it is, I'm in!

Highly recommended, especially to fans of the classic pulp short stories and to fans of incredible artwork.

You can get your copy here: Gary Gianni's Monstermen and Other Scary Stories

*Thank you to Edelweiss and to Dark Horse Comics for the e-ARC of this volume in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.

Somehow I liked this volume considerably less than the other two. These longest tales feel like the drawn out versions of short hack and slash ones of the first volume, the plots seem less intricate than the ones in the third.