Trading cards
The earliest Monster in My Pocket items were trading cards painted by Jan Sheets and Jenice Heo. They appeared in 1989, with no credit other than for the Morrison Entertainment Group. The Sheets/Heo art also appears on a great deal of the other material.
Paintings were made for at least the first three series as well as the Dinosaurs, though only the first was released in the U.S. Cromy of Argentina released all of these, including prismatic chase cards of many of the series 2 and 3 characters. These were also released in a sticker album format, including a series 1 only edition in the U.S. from Panini. Both were accompanied by sketch art depicting cartoons of the characters.
Comic books
A comic book series written by Dwayne McDuffie (initially working from a plot by Craig Mitchell, R.L. Stern, and Tim Bogart), and drawn primarily by Gil Kane and Ernie Colón (with Nelson Dewey[3]) was released by Harvey Comics in 1991. It ran for four bi-monthly issues, despite an open ending and promises that sales had justified making it monthly.
In this series, a spell by Warlock intended to shrink the monsters who did not side with him was botched by Ogre, resulting in the shrinkage of all the monsters who were then flung, within boxes with roomy interiors, to Los Angeles, California. The good monsters ended up in the home of ne'er-do-well high school student Jack Miles and his studious younger brother, Tom, in Burbank. The series ended with both sides battling inside a dollhouse bought for a little girl named Theresa, who was scared away by Spring Heeled Jack. They also dealt with Frank Rook, The Exterminator (a parody of The Punisher), and Swamp Beast helped them defeat a Tyrannosaurus Rex who would grow when exposed to any form of radiation, such as smoke detectors and microwave ovens.
Beginning with the second issue, Universal Studios began receiving credit in the indicia for the use of Frankenstein's Monster, Mummy, The Invisible Man, and The Phantom of the Opera, although the characters originated in public domain literature and bore no particular resemblance to their cinematic counterparts at Universal. Marvel Comics reissued the comic stories in newly-formatted annuals, and World Publishing (an imprint of Egmont Publishing) followed by a Monster Wrestlers in My Pocket annual—which had no continuity with the previous series—in 1995, with a cover dated 1996.
Clearly depicted with the evil monsters were Medusa and Spring-Heeled Jack, the two most prominent evil monsters after Warlock, along with Ogre, Cerberus, Minotaur, Windigo, Cyclops, Zombie, Siren, Ymir, Karnak (probably Maahes), Tengu, Bigfoot, Spectre (Grim Reaper), Sebek, Charon, and Ghost, though the evil monsters were most often shown in amorphous crowds. Dr. Jekyll is twice force-fed—first by Warlock, then by The Monster—the potion that makes him into Mr. Hyde, but he turns maverick, not much more willing to support Warlock than Vampire.
The "Sid's Bits" editorial in issue 2 of the comic contains a partial listing of good and evil monsters; included in the evil side is a character identified simply as "The Electronic Monster". There is no known figure in the series bearing that name.
Video game
A video game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992 by Konami. It had the same essential concept of the comic book, although it altered the personalities of Hobgoblin and Gremlin, initially the good monsters but now appeared as villains, to the extent that Gremlin was a boss.
Warlock, wanting to have power and rule over all the other monsters, creates a shrinking spell to use as punishment for any who chooses to oppose him. As time goes on, all of the monsters choose to join his side - except for Vampire and The Monster. However, the spell was miscast - causing all of the monsters to shrink in size. Warlock sends out his henchmen, led by Spring Heeled Jack, Bigfoot, Kraken, Gremlin, and Medusa while Vampire and The Monster are watching TV in the Miles home. They must fight their way through the upstairs and kitchen of the home, the street, and the sewer; they emerge in a construction site and an Orientalist garden before fighting Warlock at Monster Mountain, although that is not the end of the game.
Vampire and the Monster's abilities in the game are the same (though 2-player simultaneous action was an option): they can make an attack that can extend slightly beyond their bodies with a bit of a blaze, and they can make a double jump from the height of their jump, something that has since become a common move in many video games.
The remaining good monsters from the comics—Werewolf, Vampiress, Golem, Swamp Beast, The Phantom of the Opera, Jotun Troll, Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, and Mummy—made no appearance whatsoever in the game, although Werewolf did appear on the cover.
Animated special
In 1992, there was an animated special, Monster in My Pocket: The Big Scream,[5] produced by Hanna-Barbera and directed by Don Lusk from a script by Glen Leopold, where Vampire (now with ample hair in a late 18th-century-style ponytail, voiced by Rob Paulsen) became the leader of the villains, and Invisible Man, now named Dr. Henry Davenport (even though he was called the Invisible Man in the intro and was referred to as such by Vampire, voiced by Paxton Whitehead), was in charge of the heroes. Swamp Beast (voiced by Frank Welker) was a mindless villain among the other changes, such as the formerly white-furred Werewolf (although by the fourth issue it had been changed to brown) becoming the Jamaican "Wolf-Mon" (voiced by Stuart K. Robinson). The other good monsters were Big Ed (The Monster, also voiced by Welker) and Mummy (voiced by Marvin Kaplan), while Medusa (voiced by B. J. Ward) remained among the ranks of the evil monsters. A few others, like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Cyclops, were shown for a second or two during the prologue.
The prologue showed that the Invisible Man and the other good monsters had managed to capture and imprison all of the bad monsters in Monster Mountain, now a prison guarded by the good monsters rather than a meeting place (as it had been in the comic book), and Vampire tried to escape by shrinking himself. But the spell backfired and caused everyone of the monsters, as well as the good monsters, to shrink to one inch high and blows the shrunken mountain to Los Angeles. This time, their human host is Carrie Raven, daughter of Edgar Raven, a famous horror writer. The evil monsters learn they would grow at the sound of screams, while the good monsters grow with laughter.
Commercial tie-ins
There also an audio cassette of original music along with a cover version of Bobby Pickett's "Monster Mash" titled Monster Rock, produced by Rincon Children's Entertainment for BMG Kidz in 1992. The songs were written by a person with the last name of Byrd, James McDonnell, Peter Pope, Randy Petersen, Robert Irving, and a person with the last name of Quinn. Pope, McDonnell, Petersen, and Irving played the keyboards, George Bell played saxophone, and Barry Scott and Charles Dickens played guitar, with Dickens providing drum programming and engineering. Singers were Jake Vesprille, Michael Hunter, Gigi Young, Barry Scott, Jimmy McDonnell, Mary McDonnell, Rory McDonnell, Peter Hix, Katrina Perkins, and Bob Joyce. "Saturday Night at the Boneyard" was the only song to mention monsters from series 2 or 3. The other songs are "Monster in My Pocket", "Witches Brew", "Monsters", "Can't Do a Thing With My Hair" (Byrd/McDonnell), "Do the Boo", "Full Moon Blues", "Boogie Man Boogie" (Byrd/McDonnell/Pope), "Monster Party" (Petersen/Irving/Quinn), and "Party in Your Pocket" (Pope). John Weems, Joe Morrison, and Ralph King were the executive producers.
In 1994, the monsters received a popularity boost in Mexico; they were part of a promotion from the Sonrics candy company. This promotion consisted of boxes full of candy, a random monster figure, and any of the following: trading cards, mini-comics and mini activity books. Part of this promotion was a collector set modeled after Monster Mountain available by phone order, but oddly the company kept saying by phone there was no such offer.
CGI series
In 2003, Peak Entertainment in the United Kingdom partnered with Mainframe Entertainment to produce a CGI-animated series that changed the concept considerably.[6] It dealt with monsters trapped in a "Tapestry of Terror" that was shredded in battle with the now-good Warlock and his evil brother, "Morlock". They looked identical save that where Warlock's hair and clothing were white, Morlock's were black. A few good monsters, including Vampiress and The Monster, side with Warlock and his young apprentice to recapture the monsters, including Vampiress' evil brother, Vampire. One addition to the series, according to its bible, was Mothman, which had previously not been represented. The series was picked up by GMTV in the United Kingdom with Cartoon Network eyed as the broadcast partner in the United States, but was ultimately never produced.[6]
At MIPCOM 2019, France's Cyber Group Studios unveiled plans for a CG-animated series produced with Morrison Entertainment Group.[7]
