Monsters Unleashed! #10 - Marvel

An odd cover graces this issue of Monsters Unleashed!--courtesy Jose Domingo--this one being a little more passive that the usual Violence About to Happen scenario.

The inside covers "They Might Be Monsters" feature is by Tony Isabella and Pablo Marcos, all about the first time jungle explorers discovered an insane beast later identified as a...gorilla.

The opening story stars the Frankenstein Monster and is called "The 11:10 to Murder", by Doug Moench and Val Mayerik. Frankenstein stows aboard a train, where he, along with a woman who has also stowed away, stumble onto a plot to assassinate the president, who happens(!) to be on the same train! Despite this unwieldy, no-way-do-I-buy-this premise, the story is quick and clever, and a lot of fun to read, with a light enough ending that tells you Moench knew just how ridiculous this story was, too.

Next is "Beauty's Vengeance" by Moench and Sanho Kim, a fairy-tale-esque story of a fisherman who comes across a mermaid and is totally consumed with her, to the exclusion of everyone else in his life. He learns his lesson about being obsessed with outer beauty and not looking inside.

The third story, "The Serenity Stealers", stars Tigra the Were-Woman, and is by Chris Claremont, Isabella, and Tony DeZuniga. Tigra saves a man from a giant, rat-like creature, and discovers that he is just the slave of mystical-looking woman who lives in an underground layer(ohhh, that's who's on the cover!).

Despite all the serious goings-on in this story, Tigra retains a flip, whatever tone in her dialogue and attitude, very reminiscient to Spider-Man which makes the story fun to read--she keeps undercutting everything before the silliness factor goes through the roof.

A very solid issue, with all three tales being pretty enjoyable. The middle story is a nice tonal break from the more Marvel-ish stuff in the first and last ones, making for a fun and diverse set of horror yarns.