Monster Allergy is an Italian comic book series created by Katja Centomo, Francesco Artibani (Paperinik New Adventures), Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa (Sky Doll, W.I.T.C.H.). Originally published by Disney Italia, the comic ran for 29 issues from October 2003 to January 2006.
Thanks to her father's new job, young Elena Potato finds her family moving across the city of Bigburg to the sleepy suburb of Oldmill Village. Desperate for something interesting to do in her new neighborhood, Elena's interest is immediately piqued when some local girls insist that the home of some kid named Zick (first name Ezkiel) must be avoided at all costs, claiming that he's a weirdo who talks to himself, and has to stay indoors all the time because he's allergic to seemingly everything. Also his cat is creepy as hell.
Though rebuffed on her first try, a school fight the next day sees the two become close friends, after which she soon discovers that her new BFF wasn't exactly joking about being able to see all the supernatural beings that are Invisible to Normals. Cue Zick and Elena working together to investigate all the strange phenomena going on in Oldmill Village, from a recent uptick in missing pets, to man-eating plants, to a sinister salesman who might just pose the ultimate threat to both humans and monsters alike.
The comic received an animated adaptation produced by French studio Futurikon that ran from September 2006 to August 2009, with comic co-creator Francesco Artibani acting as story editor. The animated series ran for 52 episodes across two seasons, and can currently be streamed for free on official YouTube channels in multiple languages: including English
, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.
In November 2015, independent publisher Tunué collected the entire series in a two volume omnibus, which included a final, unpublished 30th issue that serves as the Distant Finale. This was followed by a short-lived sequel series titled Monster Allergy Evolution in November 2016, which picked up from the events of Issue 30 to follow the exploits of Elena and Zick as young adults.
Provides Examples Of:
- Abnormal Allergy: The Hero Ezekiel Zeke has the titular allergy, which comes in handy considering that monsters in the series are Invisible to Normals and thus it works as an impromptu Spider-Sense.
- And Show It to You: Patty and Mattie absolutely love showing anybody they can their extensive scrapbook of dead cat pictures in the comic. And describing the scenarios in morbid detail.
- Attention Whore: Any member of the Gingi species, but particularly Chumba Bagingi, who was sent to an oasis for this.
- Big Eater: With a name like Bonz Eateverything, it's kind of a given for the species. Bombos are probably next in line, though.
- Bittersweet Ending: The comic book version (which started in 2003), and how. Do you remember Zick's desire to be normal just like everyone else? This backfires spectacularly in the ending. After he uses every single bit of his Dom power, and therefore loses it, in order to save Elena from Sinestro, when he's back in his house, he's kinda shocked to be now unable to see his monster friends as he used to. Elena calms him down by telling the monsters (as she can see them now, after Zick's mother gave her some of her own power) to make themselves visible. This may fool you into thinking it's a happy ending after all, right? Think again. As it turns out, when Zick asks why his dead grandparents don't show up, his mom tells him they just can't, because, ya know, they're ghosts and not monsters. Bonus points for it being
heartwrenching as well, if you're sensitive enough. As far as we know, however, this was only for the comic book: the adaptation changed it. Then, Elena justifies this by telling the readers it's just the beginning of another adventure, and "who loves us know it is". Cue the Sun.- Made worse in the Distant Finale (published in 2015, many years after the end of the series): Elena had to move away, and Zick, having discovered he wasn't aging, locked himself in his room and cut contacts out of shame. Thankfully, Bombo brings back Elena to shout some sense into him, and, together, find a way for him to recover his powers.
- Beta Couple - David and Annie, at least in the comic book.
- Bond One-Liner: Zick has one in the Season 2 finale The Hundred and First Door after the Moog Magister falls into the lava after failing to subdue him.Zick: So long, Moog Magister!
- Brought Down to Normal: Zick has ended up losing his powers in "The Devourer", but he gets them back in "The Last Tamer".
- De Powered: It's permanent in the comic book. Until he gets them back later on.
- Butt-Monkey: Teddy really gets into this in season 2 which includes cleaning up Dom Boxes as punishment for his misdeeds.
- Canon Foreigner: Season 2 of the cartoon introduces Bobby Clash, a new character that was not in the comic.
- Catchphrase: Elena's "Holy spit!" In issue 18, Zick even comments when she frustratingly switches temporarily to "Damned whistle!" while trying to stop Bombolo's pooing.
- In the Kids' WB! (US) broadcast of the cartoon, "Holy spit!" was Bowdlerised to "Holy sneeze!"
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Elena is jealous of Lay Mamery, a girl tamer.
- Compelling Voice: The Voice Dom, also known as the Tone of the Tamer. Some monsters, of course, aren't affected by it.
- Disney Villain Death: The Moog Magister has this in the Season 2 finale The Hundred and First Door as he falls into the lava after chasing Zick.
- Dirty Coward: Zick calls Sinestro this because he's supposed to go after his father, not him.
- A Dog Named "Dog": With only two known exceptions, all monsters of the Bombo species are named Bombo. And even the two exceptions (Bombolo and Borombo) have names that recall their species' name.
- Fantastic Racism: The Tamers, a race of humanoid monsters, were all exiled because some of them had abused their powers.
- Fiction 500: Averted for Magnacat. In the Season 1 finale, his company goes bankrupt after the failure of his last scheme, in the previous episode. Which shows what happens when your villains aren't as rich like Lex Luthor, even with supernatural powers to help them.
- Foreshadowing: Heavily used in the comic book:
- The real nature of the Tamers is hinted by Zick's character sheet listing a monster-like blood type and both his Zodiac sign (that only humans have) and his universal one (that only monsters have), and all full-blooded Tamers having yellow speech bubbles like the other monsters.
- Greta's character sheet shows her holding filled Domboxes.
- Charlie Schuster's character sheet lists his universal sign and says that they couldn't identify his blood type and favourite dish, hinting that he's actually an Imaginary Friend.
- Aunt Ermelia's sheet lists her years as "she says 66 years but she forgets many... About half", hinting to her being a witch.
- Fire Mask's sheet, that in-universe was written by Timothy, lists his secret identity as "Secret? I recognized him immediately!", heavily implying he had already appeared even before he shows himself as Magnacat.
- Group Hug: Elena gets into this as her reaction of finally seeing monsters.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Zick is half-Tamer from his father.
- Jerk Jock: David. In the comic, he turns out to be a closet bookworm who eventually falls for the class' resident Bespectacled Cutie.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Elena pulls this in "The Devourer" where she fooled Magnacat into thinking that she can't see him. Zick is also fooled by this.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Greta's ghostly parents and the Dark Phantoms, the ghost versions of bad people.
- Power Nullifier: Zick loses his powers after the Devourer absorbed it.
- Also, lavender actually will nullify a tamer's powers, as well as calm down monsters. Another way to subdue a monster is by kicking it in the head and following that with a kiss.
- Seers: Monsters can use astrology to see into the future, but only up to a half hour ahead.
- Wacky Cravings: When provoked, Bonz Eateverythings eat everything in sight, ranging from objects to other monsters and people. Also, Bombos, while more controlled and friendly, have shown to be able to eat just as much and then some, with our Bombo ending the first issue of the sequel by eating Zick's out-of-control and homicidal power.