Monsteroso

History: The alien that would be known as “Monsteroso” was actually an infant child that accidentally launched himself in the “lifeboat” of his parents' spaceship and crash-landed on Earth in the jungles of Africa. Hearing stories of the crashed spaceship, an American circus-owner went to Africa, hoping to find living aliens to display at his circus. Among the wreckage, he found the unconcious alien, which he thought to be dead because he heard no heartbeat. Calling the alien “Monsteroso”, he shipped it back home and put it on display at the New York Museum of Natural History. Monsteroso awoke, broke out of the museum, and ran amok through New York City. Climbing to the top of the United Nations Building, Monsteroso was shot by a harpoon/syringe loaded with a sedative, and he fell into the East River. A spaceship the size of a small city appeared, and two mountainous beings came out, revealling themselves to be Monsteroso's parents. The two aliens retrieved their lost child and departed Earth.

Height: 40 ft.
Demonstrated Powers: Monsteroso was strong enough to shatter stone walls. His skin was so tough that gunfire and tear gas would only irritate him. Being only an infant, Monsteroso had limited intelligence and could not communicate.

Comment: Monsteroso should not be confused with the character from the story in Tales to Astonish # 18 also called Monsteroso (art by Steve Ditko).

Comment: The theme of this story (alien menace revealed to be a child) was used later in Fantastic Four # 24 with The Infant Terrible.
Another similar character was the alien Gog first seen in Amazing Spider-Man # 103.

For another entry on Monsteroso, click HERE.

I grew up on Stan Lee stories and found this one to be especially strong. See also another tale about parents rescuing their child in “The Dangerous Doll.”
Are ANY reprints of these monster comics from Lieber and company being published these days? I ask because I haven't bought one since about 1966.

No, unfortunately Marvel hasn't reprinted any of their old Kirby/Ditko/etc. monsters stories since the “Monster Menace” 4 issue reprint series from about 5-10 years ago. Marvel was doing various reprint series in the mid 1970's (“Creatures on the Loose”, “Monsters on the Prowl”, etc.). I guess they feel it just wouldn't be profitable to do a reprints of these nowadays because they don't appeal to a wide enough audience, so sadly these stories remain in limbo.

But be sure to check out the Monsterblog “Never Reprinted” section, where you can see some scans of complete stories that haven't been seen in over 40 years (and best of all, they're FREE!)

I know that two movies, with similar themes, were done in the late 50's/ early 60's. One was “Gorgo” (a British Godzilla-clone). The other was a non-Godzilla Toho flick with “X” in the title. As in; why “X-actly” did the monsters in the latter film have to look like Gonzo the Muppet on steroids?

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