Get to Know TJM: Our Favorite Monsters!

In the true spirit of Halloween, we asked our TJM family to name their favorite monsters. Here are our spookily great responses:

TJM's Favorite Monsters:

Vito Giammanco

My favorite monster has always been The Creature from the Black Lagoon!

I’ve always appreciated the creature’s unique design and the sense of mystery and suspense surrounding it. There’s something especially terrifying about not knowing what might be lurking beneath the water’s surface. An added bonus was discovering that the (1954) film was originally shot locally at Silver Springs, which makes it even more interesting to me.

The attached is an Inktober drawing from a few years back:

Shannon Moore

This one is a hard one because I struggled with monster in the literal sense or monster in the figurative sense . . . 

Literal sense:  Gremlins - an adorably feral raccoon with toddler-level impulse control and a Ph.D. in causing chaos.

Figurative sense:  Jigsaw - a misunderstood life coach who takes team-building exercises a little too far.

Rick Cundiff

I have to admit I’m a little confused. According to Shannon’s description, my dog is really a Gremlin. No wonder he hates to get wet!

As for my favorite monster, that’s a no-brainer: Cookie! He’s blue, he’s furry, he’s friendly and he appreciates one of my favorite food groups. What’s not to love?

Matt Fischer

My favorite monster is the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise. It is arguably the scariest monster in all cinema. From my first way-too-soon watch of Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3 on VHS tapes in the ‘90s, I have been a huge fan. There is something so eerie and primal about the Xenomorphs. They are just plain unsettling. As an adult, I still get absolutely creeped out by the “face-huggers.”

Justin MacDonald

My favorite monster would be the one I made up when I was a kid. When I was young, we lived near a wooded lot that I often had to walk through when I was VERY afraid of the “Squish Squash” monster.  My parents realized I was referring to Sasquatch, and my dad told me that monsters weren’t real, they were all in my head.

I did not understand, because the fear I had was real, not made up. So in my youthful mindset, the only rational response, if they’re all in my head, was to also make up my own monster bodyguard.

I don’t remember him having a name, but looks-wise, even though these characters were not around yet, I would put him somewhere between Sully from Monsters, Inc. and Draal the Deadly from Trollhunters.  I freely walked the woods when I needed to with his “protection” as well as a few 25-foot radius anti-monster grenades (random acorns and nuts I could toss).

Sean Bottass

I’m going to think outside the box on this one and say The Hulk! I mean, who doesn’t have a different side of them ready to burst out and cause a little chaos?  Minus the green part, I think we can all relate to that in some way.

If we’re talking Halloween monsters, though, I’d have to go with werewolves! There are so many different interpretations of them, from full-on wolf men to actual wolves and everything in between. I just think that makes them pretty interesting!

That said, Happy Halloween! May all the wolves bite!