Real Name: Unrevealed (see comments)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unrevealed)

Occupation: Explorer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Kid Kaiju (Kei Kawade);
temporarily Abominable Snowman, Blip, Bruttu, Crawling Creature, Creature from Krogarr, Creature from the Black Bog, Fin Fan Foom, Googam, Goom, Gorgilla, Green Thing, Insect Man, Klagg, Kraa, Metallo, Monsteroso, Monstro, Moomba, Old Man Logan of Earth-21923, Oog, Orrgo, Pildorr the Plunderer, Quogg, Rommbu, S.H.I.E.L.D., Sporr, Thing that Crawled by Night, Tim Boo Ba, Ulvar, Vandoom's Monster, Zetora, Zzutak

Enemies: An alligator, humans in general (including John and townspeople), Leviathon Tide

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Dweller in the Black Swamp" (in story title)

Base of Operations: Mobile;
   formerly the Black Swamp, near an unidentified Southern town, somewhere in the United States (possibly Louisiana)

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#11/1 (September, 1960)

Powers/Abilities: The giant one-eyed Monstrom had great strength (perhaps class 100) and durability--although he was apparently bulletproof, Monstrom feared fire.

Long-lived, and possibly amphibious, Monstrom had spent centuries under the waters of a swamp, where he had placed himself in an extended state of suspended-animation after his spaceship crashed on Earth.

Apparently not a hostile being, the highly intelligent Monstrom only sought the assistance of humans in repairing his spaceship after he revived; but because of his inability to communicate (per John, he only made "hideous guttural sounds" (see comments)), and his frightening (by human standards) appearance, Monstrom was misunderstood and regarded as a threat by Earthlings.

Height: 30' (by approximation)
Weight: 20 tons (by approximation)
Eye: Orange
Hair: None

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#11/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Monstrom is largely unrevealed, but "a thousand years ago," he was crossing the universe in his spacecraft. When his vessel somehow became damaged, it crashed to Earth and sank below the murky waters of a bayou (This area was located in what would eventually become known as "Black Swamp," somewhere in the Southern region of the United States of America).

   Unable to make repairs to his spaceship, Monstrom placed himself in a state of suspended-animation--he slumbered beneath the waters of the bayou, patiently waiting in the hope that humans would one day become advanced enough to assist him in repairing his spacecraft.

(Tales to Astonish I#11/1) - At one time in recent years, Monstrom revived and emerged from the swamp, where he was seen by novelist John and his son--Monstrom approached the pair of humans, and although John fired upon him with his rifle, the extraterrestrial suffered no injury. The lumbering giant continued to approach, but was momentarily distracted when he had to battle with an alligator--this gave John and his son the chance to run back to their home, where John got his wife into the family car, and the three speedily drove to the nearby town, with Monstrom is pursuit. John warned the citizens about the approach of the creature, and the townsmen quickly set up a barricade.

   Monstrom plodded into town and smashed his way through the barricade, and the panicked townspeople fired their shotguns at the cyclopean giant, but to no effect. Suddenly, a lightning bolt happened to strike a nearby telephone pole, causing it to burst into flames--the fiery display made Monstrom react in fear. Realizing that the giant creature was afraid of fire, the townsmen lighted torches and drove the unearthly behemoth back into the swamp. As Monstrom sank into the quicksand, the townsfolk felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment, for they thought they had defeated a menacing monster.

   But as the gigantic extraterrestrial sank back down to his damaged spaceship, he seemed to let out a moan of relief. Monstrom once again entered a state of suspended-animation, for he realized that Earthlings were still too ignorant, too barbaric--perhaps one day it would be otherwise, but not yet...not yet...

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Monsters Unleashed II#2) - The Inhuman Kid Kaiju summoned Monstrom--along with numerous other monsters--to an area outside San Diego, California in defense against the Leviathons.

(Monsters Unleashed II#3) - Monstrom joined the fight against the Leviathons. Earth's heroes watched the monsters summoned by Kid Kaiju defeat the Leviathons. After the battle, Monstrom and the other monsters were teleported back to where they came.

(Monsters Unleashed II#4) - Monstrom aided S.H.I.E.L.D. in fighting a Leviathon in Shanghai, China. Kid Kaiju later teleported Monstrom to New Orleans, Louisiana where Monstrom aided Old Man Logan against a Leviathon.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee (writer), Jack Kirby (pencils), and Dick Ayers (inks)

Big thanks to MD Carter for originally allowing me to borrow the main image from his website, The Monsters of Jack Kirby.

Monstrom's first appearance was reprinted in Fear#1 (November, 1970) and Chamber of Chills#18 (September, 1975).

Although his face seemed to be blank in the story, Monstrom apparently had a mouth (see Image#3), but he couldn't speak English... or perhaps his larynx was somehow injured--regardless, Monstrom's only dialogue in his first appearance consisted of "URKKK MMGG...", "GRRUGH! URGGKK!", and "AARGG--" (Not much of a conversationalist); also, he never actually identified himself as "Monstrom," so my guess is that novelist John used his creative writing skills to dub the extraterrestrial with that name.
--Ron Fredricks

Profile by Prime Eternal. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

Updated by Markus Raymond (Monsters Unleashed)

CLARIFICATIONS:
Monstrom has no known connections to:

John, Sara, and Billy have no known connections to:

Monstrom's spaceship

A spacecraft used by Monstrom "a thousand years ago," it was carrying him across the universe when it was somehow damaged. The vessel crashed to Earth, where it sank into the waters of a swamp.

Unable to rebuild the damaged spaceship, Monstrom placed himself into a state of suspended-animation, in the hope that humans would one day become advanced enough to help him make repairs.

Monstrom eventually revived, but when he made contact with humans, he was regarded as a threat and driven back to the swamp, where he returned to his damaged ship and once again went into suspended-animation.

--Tales to Astonish I#11/1

John, Sara, and Billy

John (last name unrevealed) was a novelist; to experience some "local color" for his latest novel, he moved his wife Sara and son Billy with him to a small town in "bayou country" down South (possibly Louisiana), where they rented a house near the Black Swamp. The townsfolk didn't take kindly to John and his family because they were "Yankees".

John started his novel, and things went along smoothly for the first couple weeks; but one day, Sara was concerned because Billy hadn't returned from playing yet, so John took his rifle and went to search for his son in the swamp. Deep in the forbidding quagmire, John found Billy, but the boy claimed he saw a monster under the water. Suddenly, from the churning waters, a mud-covered giant arose; as Monstrom started towards them, he began to make hideous, guttural sounds. John warned the giant to keep back, but he kept approaching--John raised his rifle and fired, but to no effect. When the monster was momentarily distracted by an alligator biting it, John carried Billy and ran back home to get Sara, then the family drove into town, with the monster in pursuit.

After warning the townspeople of the monster's approach, John joined the townsmen as they used torches to drive Monstrom back into the swamp.

--Tales to Astonish I#11/1

Townspeople

The inhabitants of an unidentified Southern town located somewhere in America (possibly Louisiana), they included Luke (last name unrevealed), an unidentified sheriff, and various unidentified citizens. When novelist John and his family moved into a rented house near Black Swamp, the townspeople didn't like them because they were "Yankees".

One day, John and his family came speeding into town, and John told the sheriff that they were being pursued by a giant monster--initially, none of the townspeople believed John, and the sheriff thought that it was only a scheme that the novelist dreamed up to get some free publicity. But when another townsman came running up and warned about a giant beast headed to the town, the townsmen realized that John was telling the truth.

The sheriff and the others quickly set up a barricade and grabbed their shotguns; but Monstrom easily smashed through, and the guns were ineffective against the unearthly behemoth.

When a lightning bolt happened to strike a nearby telephone pole and caused it to burst into flames, Monstrom reacted in fear; realizing that the giant was afraid of fire, the sheriff ordered the townsmen to light torches, then they drove the creature back to the swamp, where it sank into the murky depths.

The townsmen felt a sense of accomplishment afterwards because they believed they had defeated a menacing creature--they were unaware that Monstrom was an intelligent extraterrestrial who was seeking their assistance in repairing his damaged spacecraft.

--Tales to Astonish I#11/1

Alligator

One of the denizens of Black Swamp, it attacked Monstrom and bit his leg when the giant extraterrestrial was pursuing John and Billy.

Monstrom battled the reptile and apparently killed it, but this diversion gave John and his son the time they needed to run back to their home.

--Tales to Astonish I#11/1

images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p6, pan1 (Main Image - Monstrom breaks through barricade and rampages through town)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p1, pan1 (Headshot - Monstrom)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p5, pan1 (Monstrom (note open mouth) pursues John and his family (in yellow car))
Monsters Unleashed II#4, p13, pan4 (Monstrom battling Leviathon)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p7, pan5 (Monstrom and spaceship underwater)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p2, pan2 (Sara (left) and John (right) )
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p2, pan4 (John (left) and Sara (right) )
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p3, pan2 (John (left) and Billy (right) )
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p2, pan1 (three townsmen watch John and his family drive into town)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p7, pan1 (sheriff and townsmen light torches)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p7, pan2 (townsmen circle Monstrom with torches)
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p2, pan7 (alligator in Black Swamp; John calling for Billy (background))
Tales to Astonish I#11/1, p4, pan3 (Monstrom battles alligator)

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#11/1 (September, 1960) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters)
Monsters Unleashed II#2 (April, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Greg Land (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#3 (April, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Gerry Alanguilan & Michael Jason Paz (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#4 (May, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First Posted: 04/21/2003
Last updated: 02/25/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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