Comic Book / My Boyfriend Is a Monster

My Boyfriend is a Monster is a series of stand-alone graphic novels united by a premise that is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Each novel centers around a heroine who finds romance with a handsome otherworldly being. The writers and artists vary with each story, apart from Janina Görrissen, who handled the art in both the first and fifth books, and Dan Jolley, who wrote the third and sixth.

• #1: I Love Him to Pieces: A Lovable Jock and a Hot Nerd bond in the midst of a Zombie Apocalypse.
• #2: Made for Each Other: A New Transfer Student discovers that another (handsome) new student is a Frankenstein's Monster.
• #3: My Boyfriend Bites: An Ordinary High-School Student falls in love with an Almighty Janitor, before she spies him drinking blood and transforming into a giant bat...
• #4: Under His Spell: Another Lovable Jock is swept up in an interdimensional Succession Crisis when she meets a young Fae Warrior Prince.
• #5: I Date Dead People: Girl Meets Ghost in her family's Haunted House, along with a few less desirable visitors.
• #6: Wrapped Up in You: Well, the series wouldn't be complete without a Mummy, would it?
• #7: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: Another New Transfer Student starts dating the school's Jerk Jock star quarterback, then learns that he has an unusual connection to her Nice Guy lit class partner.
• #8: A Match Made In Heaven: An aspiring artist falls for a New Transfer Student, actually meant to be her friend's guardian angel.

It is better than it sounds.

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Examples from #1 "I Love Him to Pieces":

• Action Girl: Dicey. She brains zombies with her baseball bat with the best of them.
• Adrenaline Makeover: Jack's response to seeing Dicey in a tattered sundress, wielding a baseball bat that she just seconds ago used to shatter a zombie's skull? "You look so hot."

• Batter Up!: Dicey. That she just happens to have a bat on a spontaneous date is lampshaded by Jack. It comes in handy, beating up zombies.

• Big Damn Heroes: Jack's Tabletop RPG friends arrive to save Jack and Dicey when things get dire.

• Deadly Prank: Nearly. While snuggled up with Dicey, Jack pretends to have turned full-on zombie. This almost earns him a baseball bat to the head.
• Distressed Dude: Jack, when the infection starts to worsen.
• Egg Sitting: Dicey and Jack meet after being assigned a Health Ed project to care for an egg together.
• Full-Name Basis: Dicey tends to call Jack by his full name.

• Hidden Depths: It is mentioned that Dicey is an Honor Society student.
• Lovable Jock: Dicey. Her baseball teammates as well, especially with them defending her from the team's sexist rivals.
• My Eyes Are Up Here: Dicey calls out Jack for "staring at her chest." It turns out he was focusing on her t-shirt, which featured an inaccurate picture of an emperor penguin.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Dicey seems to think so.
  Jack: "That's not an emperor penguin! Emperors don't have a crest. That's a rockhopper or some other Eudyptes! Plus, emperors outrank kings! That's at least ten times stupider than my t-shirt."
  Dicey: *glomp* "You're such a nerd. Don't ever change."
• No One Gets Left Behind: Dicey sets out to rescue Jack alone, in spite of the others' protests.
  Baron: "We have a saying in the game. 'Never split the party.'"
  Dicey: "Guys, Jack is my party."
• Oh, Crap!: Dicey and Jack's reaction to seeing the carnage caused by the zombies.
• One of the Boys: Dicey, the only female member of her baseball team.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The plague is caused by a mutation of the real-life parasitic fungus Cordyceps unilateralis, which attacks an ant's brain and causes it to attach itself to the top of a plant before dying, thus helping the fungus to spread its spores. Although this differs from the more-commonly-seen viral origin, the novel's zombies behave like typical Hollywood zombies.

• The Determinator: Dicey, who sets out to rescue an increasingly-zombifying Jack, armed with only a baseball bat.
• The Men in Black: The agents who come to escort Dicey and Jack out of St. Petersburg. They are definitely good guys though.
• Zombie Apocalypse: A mild example. While the town goes to pieces, the main focus is evacuating the uninfected while Jack's parents scramble to find a cure before it spreads outside of town. They seem to succeed, by the end.

Examples from #2 "Made For Each Other":

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Much like Bella, Maria seems to be able to stomach the whole Tom-is-a-monstrous-conglomeration-of-body-parts thing incredibly quickly and never lets it get in the way of her infatuation with him.

• Bittersweet Ending: Frank, Tom's father in spirit, is killed trying to save the other creations from a fire. When Tom says, "I've got nothing left," Maria kisses him and says, "You've got me."
• Cool Aunt/ Cool Old Lady: Maria's aunt Sophie.

  Sophie: "This is the 21st century, Maria! You don't have to wait for him to come after you!"

• Deadly Prank: Alex and Logan are killed by Hedy while pulling a prank that involves sending a CPR dummy down the falls.

• Dramatic Thunder/ Lightning Reveal: When Tom shows Maria what he is, and when they first kiss.
• Evil Costume Switch: Hedy starts dressing in goth/punk clothing when she becomes blatantly evil. She also dresses the minions she created this way.
• Frankenstein's Monster: Tom, Hedy, Mr. Graves, and of course the original. They are all super-strong and heal quickly, but are vulnerable to fire and are put into trances by music. They have no memory of their former lives and are essentially new beings created out of old parts.
• Manchild: Hedy. She is still fairly smart but has the maturity of a child.

• Papa Bear: Frank, the original Frankenstein's monster, toward his creations. It doesn't end well for him.
• Public Domain Character: The original Frankenstein's monster. He's not a bad guy.
• Punny Name: Franklin Stone, Mr. Graves, Tom B. Stone, Hedy Stone (headstone) (a possiblity pointed out by Maria when Tom explains Hedy's cover as Graves's relative) and Maria McBride, who is in love with a Frankenstein's monster. Shelly and Byron are probably also named after Mary Shelley and her friend and colleague Lord Byron.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Both Maria and Tom. For Tom, it is a trait of being a Frankenstein's Monster.
• Recurring Character: Guidance counselor Gary Barry, who also appears in My Boyfriend Bites and I Date Dead People.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Maria, when she follows her aunt's advice and takes her hair out of her face.

• Yandere: Hedy, who wants to Murder the Hypotenuse to get her hands on Tom.
• Younger Than They Look: Tom tells Maria he is only a sophomore, though he doesn't look it. Little does she know he's technically only two years old.

Examples from #3 "My Boyfriend Bites":

• Action Girl: Vanessa is shaping up to be, as mandated by destiny. Even before the end of the series, she enthusiastically dives into the plan of offing the vampires with garlic, pulling through even when it looks like Jean-Paul will be killed by it.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Vanessa admits she's drawn to people who need "fixing." Two of her ex-boyfriends were juvenile delinquents, a third was a basement-dwelling slacker, and her prospective new man is a janitor who drinks blood and shapeshifts.
• Almighty Janitor: Jean-Paul is a janitor who moonlights as some sort of supernatural cop and can kick some ass.
• Battle Couple: Vanessa and Jean-Paul, when they go up against the vampire pack during the climax.
• Big Damn Heroes: Jean-Paul for Vanessa. She rescues him from another pack of vampires later.
• Chekhov's Gun: Papa Jackson's House of Spice. It's initially mentioned as the reason the town smells kind of odd. Vanessa and Jean-Paul later raid it for garlic to use against the evil vampires.
  • Also, the fact that Mr. James is a Leo. Guess what the one detail that determined he was the vampire sacrifice and not Vanessa?
• Classified Information: Who Jean-Paul works for. So was the fact that he's a werebat, before he spilled the beans.

• Distressed Dude: Mr. James, who ends up kidnapped and nearly sacrificed by vampires in the climax.

• Meaningful Name: Vanessa Shingle. Her last name is an anagram of Helsing, as in Van Helsing.

• Our Vampires Are Different: Most that we see have weakness to garlic, stakes, probably sunlight and other classic traits, but given how different Jean-Paul is from the vampire horde he fights, it looks like there are several different factions of vampires with very different abilities. Until it’s revealed that he’s not a vampire at all, but a Were-Bat.
• Partial Transformation: Jean-Paul can change into bat form but retain his human head, for example. It's pretty horrifying.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When Vanessa kills a vampire with a pool cue, Jean-Paul tries to come up with a billiards-themed one but can't.
• Pygmalion Snapback: The moral of the story. Vanessa has a bad habit of trying to force people to make changes in their lives to help them best fulfill what she thinks is their potential. When she tries it on Jean-Paul, he stops her and tells her that people only change when they want to and that it's not right to force it on them.

• Recurring Character: Guidance counselor Gary Barry from Made for Each Other and I Date Dead People appears to counsel Vanessa.

• The Smart Guy: Stork, a languages expert who cracks the code about who the vampires will sacrifice.
• Werebeast: It turns out Jean-Paul is a werebat, not a vampire.
• Vampire Hunter: As a descendant of Van Helsing, it is Vanessa's destiny to be the world's most powerful monster hunter.

Examples from #4 "Under His Spell":

• Action Girl/ Badass Normal: Bethany. She takes down several Fae with just a metal bar and a sprinkler (relying on the information that the water in the area has slight amounts of iron in it).
• Battle Couple: Bethany and Allein, who together take down the Fae who hold Bethany's classmates hostage.

• Hand Wave: In-universe. Bynal and company taking over the school is explained away as the antics of a "drug-crazed punk rock gang."
• Insistent Terminology: They are the Fae, not fairies.
• Kick Chick: Bethany, appropriate in that she is a soccer player.
• Lovable Jock: Bethany. She's an enthusiastic soccer player who loves going out with her friends and falls for the sweet Allein.
• Not Quite Forever: Bethany gets a little spooked when Allein says he wants to be with her "today, tomorrow, and forever." She replies that she's only 16 and is not ready for that kind of commitment.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Lorin, Allein's father, if only because he vows to make sure that Allein's cousin is punished for attempting to kill his son and allowing Bethany to be brought to the Fae home world to heal.

• Succession Crisis: Allein is the next-in-line, as the king's son. His cousin hopes to become heir by killing Allein.
• The Fair Folk: They were driven away from the mortal realm. Some are resentful of it. Some thing they still got the better end of the deal.
• Warrior Prince: Allein, as a part of his Character Development. He starts off with the knowledge of how to fight but lacking the strength of will. By the end of the comic, he fights his evil cousin and crushes him under a car.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The Fae are weak to iron. This allows Badass Normal Bethany to make quick work of several of them.

Examples from #5 "I Date Dead People":

• Alpha Bitch: Alex, apparently, although we don't see much of her. Her biggest appearance does have her mocking Nick for "slumming with the nerds" and Nick criticizing her for doing nothing but talking about how much her shoes cost.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The ultimate goal of all ghosts that hang around, and what Nora and the psychic hope to trigger with the dangerous ghosts in the house. This also happens for Tom, helped along by Nora.
• Cessation of Existence: Appears to happen to certain nastier ghosts if they are too angry to pass on to the afterlife.
• Closed Circle: None of the ghosts can leave the house — everything beyond it is "nothingness" for them, according to Tom.

• Emo Teen: Nora's younger brother Aidan comes off this way.

• Haunted House: Besides Tom, the house is also haunted by Inge, two more violent ghosts, and some unknown malevolent force.
• Hot-Blooded/ Berserk Button: Nora's reaction to hearing that ghosts threatened her siblings is to furiously tell the ghosts off.

• I See Them, Too: At first, Tom makes it seem like it's remarkable that Nora can see him, setting the reader up to believe Nora will be unable to introduce him to her friends. But it seems none of her friends have trouble seeing ghosts, nor does anybody else.
• It Was Here, I Swear!: Subverted. Nora has no trouble showing the ghosts to her friends and family.
• Jacob Marley Apparel: All of the ghosts are shown wearing old-fashioned clothing, presumably what they died in. Tom specifically is shown wearing the same outfit as a ghost as he had on when he died in his flashback.
• Psychic Powers: Of the psychics called in to sense the ghosts, Katherine seems to be legit (she's able to sense Inge and Tom, at least). Her colleagues less so.
• Recurring Character: Guidance counselor Gary Barry certainly gets around...
  • Also, Mr. James the drama teacher, who was an English teacher in My Boyfriend Bites. Nora's dad refers to the "run of bad luck" Mr. James had in New Mexico, and he leaves in a huff after seeing Tom (probably because he's had quite enough of the supernatural already).
• Romantic Runner-Up: Nick. But he gets a chance with Nora after Tom Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence.
• Running Gag: "Am I invisible to X?" or some variation. It's first used when Nora fails to notice Nick trying to ask her out and used again later when Nora's friend is ignored by the director of a play she's in.
• Stalker with a Crush: Evidently, Peter for Nora. He can even be seen watching her undress in one panel.

Examples from #6 "Wrapped Up In You":

• Adults Are Useless: Played with. Garry Barry is incredibly unhelpful when Staci tries to ask him for advice on what to do about Faith's peer pressure (he seems to assume that when she's asking about a friend who has a problem, she means herself and not literally a friend). On the other hand, Mr. James offers quite a lot of good advice on the matter. Staci's mother tries to be there for her but has a terrible migraine when her daughter needs to talk about something. When Mr. James and Staci's manager don't believe her about the truth of her failed test and apparently cash theft respectively, magic made it all but impossible for her to back up her instances that she was innocent.
• Chekhov's Gun: The pendant Staci admires. Chuck buys it for her as a gift, and it later becomes his heart, representing how his love for Staci is the most precious thing to him.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While Faith is never exactly evil, she does abandon her best friend in favor of the three nerd girls/witches. She has enough when they use their magic to make Staci's little brother dangerously ill.
• Human Sacrifice: The reason Chuck was mummified. The end of the book also has Chuck answer questions in regards to the Inca view on human sacrifice, explaining how it was viewed as an honor.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Staci isn't happy that Chuck decides to go travel the world after the witches are taken care of, but understands that it's what he wants to do to understand how times have changed.
• Magical Inca: Chuck, which is the reason he ended up a mummy to begin with. He learned forbidden magic arts and was sacrificed by his family for it.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Faith's reaction to realizing that she abandoned her real friend to side with people who are fine with targeting Staci's brother as a part of their revenge plot.
• Offing the Offspring: Chuck's father ordered him to be sacrificed for using forbidden magic.
• Properly Paranoid: As a result of his various supernatural run-ins, Mr. James is shown carefully checking his classroom and car for monsters before he locks up and heads home.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The effects of the curse of bad luck put on Staci might not be elaborate, but they prey on a lot of anxieties adults and older teens face. She fails a test she knew she should have passed, she loses her job because the cash register came up several hundred dollars short on her watch, and her little brother gets sick with chicken pox. There's also Staci's concerns over her friend spending time with three girls who are a negative influence on her.
• Soul Jar: Chuck is kept alive by whatever item holds the most sentimental value for him. The witches hope to gain his magical powers by destroying it. Everyone believes that it's the knife used to bring him back from the dead. It's actually Staci's pendant, which she magically puts in his body so he has control of his own life.
• With Friends Like These...: Stacy has a lot of bad luck when it comes to being caught up in/blamed for the drama amongst her friends. Faith, her best friend, also forces her to make some choices she's uncomfortable with, acting like Staci is a terrible friend for not wanting to break into the museum and later ditching her in favor of the three witches. She does later regret her actions and helps Staci and Chuck fight the witches.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Gaining magic powers really goes to the heads of the three nerd girls.
• Would Hurt a Child: While setting about ruining Staci's life, the witches make her little brother sick with chicken pox.

Examples from #7 "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not":

• Affectionate Nickname: Lance calls Serena "Serena-kitten".
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Serena's parents. Her dad offers to accompany her and her friend to a school football game and her mom needs to be given several hints to understand that Serena wants her to leave so she and Cameron can work on their project.
• Berserk Button: Talking about Cameron to Lance. Cameron also gets unusually angry about Lance.
• Bittersweet Ending: Cameron is given an antidote to cure him of his Lance personality, but it's uncertain if it's permanent. He has to be moved to a special facility for further evaluation and thus can't continue his relationship with Serena. Two cheerleaders and a teacher are also dead, but Lance can't hurt anyone anymore and Cameron is free from the person exploiting him for financial gain.
• Clingy Jealous Guy: Lance becomes very upset at the thought of Serena not giving him all of her love and attention. It's implied that this is why he killed the cheerleaders - it angered him to see Serena getting along with someone besides him.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Edward. Among other things, he initially refuses to participate in a video chat because he's afraid of the government capturing his image.
• Domestic Abuse: How Lance's relationship with Serena quickly ends up, of the verbal and emotional variety. Among other things, he calls her a "stupid bitch" several times, blames her for his bad moods, scares her, and then makes excuses for his behavior, apologizes while insisting he still loves her, and gives her gifts to make up for it.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Henry, Serena's cat, hisses at Lance constantly.
• Genre Savvy: Mr. James has become this after showing up in so many previous stories. Not only does he comment on how there always seems to be a teenage girl involved whenever something supernatural happens he knows to bring along a second syringe full of his antidote, in case the first is destroyed (as it is). Serena's friends also show signs of this, immediately researching everything they can to help Serena figure out the deal with Lance and urging her to keep away from him when they learn about his history of violence.
• Hidden Depths: Garry Barry seems to be just as useless as in his other appearances, but he clearly realizes that Lance is trouble and warns Serena to be careful about him. He also seems to have the connections to get Cameron treated at a government facility, at the end of the story.
• Jerk Jock: Lance. Though it's not apparent at first, he has a violent temper and it's remarked that the affection he does show Serena is uncharacteristic of him. The reason he seems to have any friends at all is because he's so good at football.
• Kick the Dog: Or cat, in this case. After locking Serena's parents in a freezer and creepily grabbing her, Lance takes the time to punt Serena's cat over the horizon.
• Lovable Jock: Cameron. Though he doesn't do much jock-like in the story, the fact that he is an amazing football player is commented on often and he really is a Nice Guy.
• New Transfer Student: Serena has to transfer to school in the town of Rojo, after her parents move. She's really not happy about it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. James, who listens to Serena when she has problems and is genuinely interested in the well-being of Cameron and comes up with the cure for his condition.
• Renaissance Man: According to several people, Cameron is not just an intellect, but also a very good artist and football player. Unfortunately, when his football talent was discovered, he was all but forced to give up all his other interests.
• Serious Business: Football, for the town of Rojo. The Friday-night games seem to be the main source of entertainment for the town.
• Tragic Monster: Lance. As Cameron's evil alternate personality, he literally has no life beyond playing football. It's heavily implied that Serena is the only person who ever cared about him as a person. When Serena injects him with the antidote that would erase him from Cameron, he screams at her for wanting to "erase him too", while telling her he loves her more than football even. He ends up "drowning" in a vat of wine and, when one of his teachers tries to pull him out (said teacher being revealed to be exploiting Cameron/Lance for his own benefit), Lance refuses his help with an angry, "You've done enough to me!"

Examples from #8 "A Match Made In Heaven":

• Adults Are Useless: Julie's mom means well and really does try hard to care for and protect her daughters, but in the end, she still can't do anything about her husband kidnapping the baby. It's a justified case, though. Glory steps in to help because she figures that Big Al will act defensively if he sees his wife or Julie show up, but might be more open to someone he doesn't know as well trying to convince him. Zig-zagged with Garry Barry, who, true to form, is initially viewed as an annoyance by Glory but does make a timely appearance to calm down a ranting Mr. James.
• The Alcoholic: Implied to be one of the problems Julie's stepfather has. He's shown Drowning His Sorrows after kidnapping his baby daughter and one of the later conditions for him to have post-divorce visits with the baby is to go to AA meetings.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Downplayed with Glory's parents. They're hippies who named their daughter Morning Glory and work jobs that don't provide much income, but Glory loves them nonetheless. She only seems bothered by the fact that they make her call them by their first names.
• Big Brother Is Watching: A more benevolent example than most, but Gabriel's uncle is constantly watching and warns his nephew not to get romantically involved with humans. He can't even get away with kissing Glory.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Luci. She looks sweet and innocent, but is a fallen angel (and heavily implied to be the niece of Lucifer).
• Black Comedy: Luci possessing Glory's favorite manga-ka and trying to make her kill Glory is pretty much Played for Laughs.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Mr. James goes on a rant to Glory in the middle of class, Garry Barry runs in and takes him to calm down.
• The Fashionista: Glory and Julie do most of their shopping in thrift stores, so they've gotten to be very good at putting together pretty outfits from random assortments of clothing.
• Freudian Excuse: When Glory confronts Julie's stepfather over kidnapping Julie's little sister, he breaks down crying and says how his mother died when he was two and he never had a proper Christmas with his family.
• The Kindnapper: Julie's stepfather kidnaps her little sister, believing that his wife is in the wrong to keep his baby from him. Glory and his friends convince him to give the baby back.
• Makeover Montage: One is used for when Glory and Julie help Gabriel pick out a new wardrobe at the thrift store.
• Meaningful Name: Both Gabriel and Luci, who handwave it as being named after their uncles.
• Medium Awareness: Luci repeatedly insists that her name is spelled with a little heart dotting the "i" at the end of her name. There's a Running Gag of her interrupting whoever says her name with a regular "i" at the end to correct them with "It's Luci!" in the correct format.
• Missing Child: A lot of the conflict isn't from Luci, but from Julie's stepfather fighting over custody of her little sister and eventually kidnapping her.
• New Transfer Student: Both Gabriel and Luci, much to the chagrin of Mr. James (who by now is Genre Savvy enough to know that no good comes to him when new students show up).
• Oh, Crap!: Glory's reaction when she meets Big Al in a bar and tries to convince him to return Julie's little sister, only to realize that they're surrounded by his tough-looking friends. She presses forward anyway, and it turns out his friends agree with her!
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Julie's stepfather is only known as "Big Al". A minor example would be Morning Glory, who tends to just go by "Glory".
• Our Angels Are Different: According to Gabriel, angels have been around before any religion. They don't serve God, but instead exist to care for and protect humans. There are also fallen angels who split off after resenting having to care for humans, who seem to resemble demons quite a lot.
• Perpetual Poverty: Glory's parents help organize folk music festivals, which doesn't exactly leave them with a lot of money. As a result, Glory has to rely on thrift store shopping for her clothes.
• Promoted Fanboy: In-Universe fangirl example, when Glory's graphic novel is good enough to get the attention of her favorite manga-ka, leading to her being invited for tea and later to sit in on a workshop the manga-ka is hosting.
• Rich Bitch: One of the groups at Julie's school, who mock her for wearing second-hand clothes. Luci later joins in.
• Running Gag: Glory always comments on Gabriel and Luci's ringtones, with Gabriel's being so beautiful it drives her to tears and Luci's being some minor form of Brown Note.
• Solomon Divorce: An unwilling example. Julie's stepfather, for reasons never explained, only wants custody of Julie's baby sister and shows no interest in Julie herself. Julie's mother, meanwhile, doesn't want to give up either of her children.

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