Just for Halloween…
Midnight Mass: Here there be Monsters
The first Midnight Mass mini series, from a few years ago, introduced Adam and Julia Kadmon – a married couple who live on the edge of a haunted wood and fight monsters. The monsters in question are a diverse bunch, who gain access to houses from gateways underneath beds and whose kind has been gradually driven into isolated areas by human civilisation.
While Midnight Mass was a disjointed eight-parter that crammed several story arcs together, Here there be Monsters is a proper six part story. Magellan, the messianic monster from the first series returns, this time planning to slaughter the inhabitants of a small town. Arturo, his petulant companion, is still bitter that the Kadmons drove him out of the house, which he and Magellan occupied. His refusal to spend another night sleeping in the woods results in the slaying of a human family and sets off a chain of unfortunate events.
Here there be Monsters continues to explore the Kadmon’s relationship focusing on Julia’s continuing efforts to learn magic and the couple’s mutual worry that eventually a monster will get the better of one of them. Meanwhile their secretary Jenny attempts to establish a social life and Adam’s elderly mother, recognising how misguided Magellan’s plans are and the repercussions they will have for all monsters, attempts to stop him before he goes too far.
The Monsters too are very human. One of them wishes that beds higher off the floor so that his antlers weren’t always getting snagged. They express amazement that humans use clean fresh water in their toilets and are mostly terrified of the Kadmons.
Their occasional acts of brutality are coloured with a kind of innocence, like they’re operating on a different set of values. A group of monsters ambush some hikers in the woods, who assume the creature in front of them is their mate, Sid, wearing a mask. One of the monsters, who has a human face stretched over his own, replies:
“I think I’m wearing Sid. I thought it would be good for a few laughs…but it’s too small.”
Here there be Monsters is an intelligent comic that does away with black and white notions of good vs evil, leaving an uncomfortable ambiguity. It’s easy to empathise with the monster’s anger at being marginalised and equally with the Kadmon’s efforts to stop them with the minimum of bloodshed on either side. A disturbing postscript suggests that author – John Rozum – has plans for further Midnight Mass stories and that life for the Kadmons may be about to change dramatically.
Last edited by backwards7; 2004-10-31 11:17 AM.
