Stanley and His Monster: Difference between revisions

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* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Stanley's parents are at first bewildered, concerned, and freaked out by all the crazy things that happen... but by the final issue they've come to terms with it.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: DC wouldn't let Foglio use [[John Constantine]], so he created an almost-identical character named Ambrose Bierce and hung a lampshade on it. And they wouldn't let him use [[Neil Gaiman]]'s [[Sandman]] in a dream sequence, so Gardner Fox's original Sandman appears instead (but talks and acts as if he were Gaiman's King of Dreams).

* [[Chekhov's Armoury]]: Justified -- When Stanley is preparing to go rescue Spot, Ambrose Bierce has him pick "Everything he thinks they will need", simultaneously casting a spell that creates a causality loop in which whatever Stanley picks will be exactly what's required. But it forms a kind of [[Plot Tailored to ~~The~~ Party]] as Stanley and the Monster will be unable to leave Hell until all the items are used.

* [[Chekhov's Armoury]]: Justified -- When Stanley is preparing to go rescue Spot, Ambrose Bierce has him pick "Everything he thinks they will need", simultaneously casting a spell that creates a causality loop in which whatever Stanley picks will be exactly what's required. But it forms a kind of [[Plot Tailored to the Party]] as Stanley and the Monster will be unable to leave Hell until all the items are used.

* [[Creator in Joke]]: The references to the Heterodyne Boys in the first issue were this at the time, though [[Girl Genius|they've become more famous since]].

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Played with. Foglio seems to be seeing how many references to [[Vertigo Comics]] he can work in without the story ceasing to be light and fluffy. (Also, the cover of the first issue depicts [[Darker and Edgier]] versions of the characters, knee-deep in skulls -- being day-dreamed by an editor while Foglio pitches the light and fluffy mini-series to him.)

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* [[Occult Detective]]: Ambrose Bierce

* [[Self-Inflicted Hell]]: Played with. [[The DCU]]'s Hell is whatever you expect it to be, and Stanley is an innocent little kid whose knowledge of Hell comes entirely from Saturday morning cartoons and Spot's stringently self-censored stories -- so as soon as Stanley enters, Hell becomes cute, brightly-colored and harmless, with the demons forced to behave as if they were stupid and easily-outwitted. (Ambrose Bierce explains this trope; but not to Stanley, since it only works because Stanley doesn't know any better.)

* [[Talking ~~With~~ Signs]]: Used by the angel Duma ([[The Voiceless]]) to communicate.

* [[Talking with Signs]]: Used by the angel Duma ([[The Voiceless]]) to communicate.

* [[To Hell and Back]]

* [[Treehouse of Fun]]: The first issue, before the main plot kicks in, revolves around Stanley's attempts to build the world's best ever treehouse, following the instructions in a book of Fun Things For Boys he finds in the attic, without his parents finding out.