BRIAN SAYS:
For this installment, the stories
that we’re going to deconstruct are four that can only be found in The Drunken Comic Book Monkeys in: Scary
Tales of Scariness: Reflux Edition. From here on out, we’ll just refer to
it as Reflux. What is Reflux? Other than that burny feeling
your insides get when thinking about either Chris or me? It’s the special
edition of The Drunken Comic Book Monkeys
in: Scary Tales of Scariness. This limited print run can only be purchased
directly from us at any of our various appearances (check here for where we
might be next), or
from our website, here.
What makes Reflux different from the
original edition? Well, we added three stories, rewrote four stories, and after
EACH story is a behind the scenes look of what we did or drank to come up with
the story. It’s like the special director’s commentary DVD of your favorite
movie. Why did we rewrite four of the stories? Well, we’re glad you asked.
One of the stories I decided to
rewrite was “The Drunken Comic Book Monkeys vs. The Wendigo.” Chris wrote that
story in the original version. He did a fantastic job with it, continuing our
adventure from our time in Tijuana chronicled in “Drunken Comic Book Monkeys
vs. La Chupacabra.” However, when we first brought up the idea of our
characters facing the wendigo spirit, we each had vastly different takes on the
subject. Chris portrayed the spirit much like Algernon Blackwood did in his
tale many years ago. It lent itself well for what Chris did with the story, but
my favorite versions of the wendigo were always the more Hollywood style – the
ravenous creature possessing a person, turning them into an insatiable
cannibal. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Algernon Blackwood version
of the wendigo. But after we released the original version of Scary Tales, we learned that many people
don’t know what a wendigo is, and even fewer have heard of Algernon Blackwood.
When we decided to do Reflux, I
jumped at the chance to tell a story using one of my favorite spirits not sold
in a liquor store. I also took the opportunity to make a few jokes about
Canada. Because, you know, Canada.
The other story I rewrote was “The
Drunken Comic Book Monkeys vs. Zombies.” This concept was actually what started
the whole nonsense of us writing ourselves as characters in horror stories. At
the time, I was not a fan of zombies. Over the decades, the typical zombie
story evolved from inept young people struggling to flee from shambling corpses
that can somehow utter the word, “Braaaaaaaaains,” to a more sophisticated
study of human nature where survivors could be more dangerous than the zombies
themselves. When Chris wrote the original, he did a fantastic job of taking the
zombie story to a unique place (the zombies in question were not actually
undead, instead they were under the mind control of the nefarious Potato
People) as well as tell a compelling story using dialog only, with zero
narrative. Even though I enjoyed his vision, I still wanted to see a
traditional zombie story filled with traditionally stupid characters. Namely,
Chris and me.
Since the characters of Chris and
Brian spent so much time in a restaurant thinly veiled in fiction called
Melons, I thought it would be funny if Chris and I won a “golden ticket” to
visit the headquarters. Little did we know it would be much like Willy Wonka’s
chocolate factory! Not only did I want to up the fun factor, but I also wanted
to add to the body count. Scary Tales
is a book about horror stories, and zombies are always eating people, so the
zombies in this version of the story eat people. Of course, they deserve to be
eaten since they do what the characters do in the zombie stories of yesteryear
that I detested – drop weapons right after successfully using them, or
sacrificing themselves for the rest of the group when there’s another option
that would allow everyone to escape unscathed. Of course, I also decided to
have fun with the source of zombie-making contagion. Yes, you guessed it – the
goat.
CHRIS SAYS:
…And cut. Ok, that’s a wrap, guys.
Good job and we can continue filming tomorrow… Oh, hi! I didn’t hear you back
there, you sneaky creepers! Thanks for visiting us on the top secret Fortress
lair… oh, wait… it’s top secret… so, what was Brian going on about? Reflux? Yeah, I know a thing or two
about that. Come on over here where we can talk.
Four stories from the original
collection got a complete makeover in Reflux.
Brian wanted to tackle Zombies and The Wendigo because he simply envisioned
them as something other than what they were in the original edition of the book.
And I’m glad that he did. He took both stories back to their more Hollywood
roots and it brought out more of that delightful lunacy that you all know as
The Drunken Comic Book Monkeys.
For my part, I wanted to try to
work a slightly different angle with “Spider.” The original is classical
zaniness and a favorite of ours to do at readings. I’m always a sucker to twist
up a good classic into knots, so I wondered what would happen if I made “Spider”
follow a traditional European fairy tale format, complete with a stranger and
gifts and all of that. As we had begun to work in Jeff Young more as an
antagonist, I thought it would be great fun to continue this theme (it wasn’t
until Brian and I met after the first round of story re-writing that we found
out that we had both taken this tactic). The framework of the story is largely
autobiographical as Brian had told me just weeks earlier how he had blown up
two mowers in a span of a few days. For someone who only mows twice a year,
this is no small task! Brian’s accountant, financial justification for the
events of the story… well, that just makes me laugh a little bit on the inside.
He’s read it. He still hasn’t denied that he would rationalize it similarly….
“The Blob” was a story for which I
had no reference. There is no literary equivalent that I’m aware of and I have
never seen the movies pertaining to it. I enjoyed Brian’s take on things (who
doesn’t love a good mad scientist?) and I stopped to wonder what
semi-autobiographical reference I could use in which we were mad scientists… hmmm…
oh, yeah… at one of our Fortress excursions we may have relived the good old
college days and some of our less than wise mixologies. At the forefront was
some good, old-fashioned, gummy candy. Couldn’t possibly cause any harm, right?
So I threw in a little Ghostbuster humor and mixed it with a few fifty piece
wing platters and voila! Speaking of gummy candy, I think it’s… ummmm… clean out
the pantry day! National holiday, you know. Gotta go! Bye!
