Monster Allergy is an Italian comic book series from the same people as Paperinik New Adventures, Sky Doll and W.I.T.C.H., whose protagonist is Ezekiel Zick, a boy allergic to monsters who lives in a house that is actually a 'taming oasis' for misbehaved monsters, who are invisible to normal people. The monsters actualy live in a suspended city above the town of Bigburg, and they are sent to the taming oases for crimes such as being overly flatulent or playing the violin badly, both big crimes by monster standards. They are supposed to reform under the eye of Tutors, monsters who take the appearance of cats when in the human world, Keepers, humans who can see monsters, and Tamers, monsters that appear human and can command other monsters. Zick's best friend is Elena Potato, a newcomer at the town, and she finds out about the monster world. As the series progresses, Elena gains the ability to see monsters from Zick's mom, a Keeper named Greta.
The original comic ran for 29 issues from October 2003 to January 2006, and, after being picked up by independent publisher Tunué, received a 30th issue (also working as Distant Finale) in November 2015. A sequel titled Monster Allergy Evolution started in November 2016.
The comic has an animated adaptation, co-produced by Futurikon/RAI Fiction/ZDF Germany
and animated by Rainbow SpA. It later got a English dub by Cinélume featuring Montreal based actors, which aired on Kids' WB! in America. Nowadays, the series can be streamed on official YouTube channels in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.
On June 4, 2019, Insight Comics re-released Monster Allergy in Englishnote , making it available for the first time for North American readers.
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 I 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
