Monty is an American comic strip created, written and illustrated by cartoonist Jim Meddick. The strip began as Robotman starting February 18, 1985. The title changed to Monty in 2001.
Robotman
The comic strip began as Robotman on February 18, 1985. It originally depicted the exploits of a small robot from outer space visiting Earth, living with the ordinary Milde family.
Robotman originated as a character created by British musician Peter Shelley. Shelley later worked with United Feature Syndicate in an attempt to push Robotman via cross-marketing toys, records, videos, and other merchandise. In 1985, DIC Enterprises produced a 90-minute television special called Robotman & Friends.
The syndicate desired to have a comic strip featuring the character; they had asked Bill Watterson to incorporate the character into Calvin and Hobbes as a condition of syndication, but Watterson refused. The job was then passed on to Jim Meddick, who created the family setting and the other characters. As the strip progressed the design of Robotman changed considerably as Meddick's style evolved. Within about 18 months after the strip debuted, the merchandising of the Robotman character had declined, and eventually the comic strip was left as the only active license for the character.
In the 1990s, Meddick changed the strip so that instead of the Mildes, Robotman began living with a geeky inventor named Monty, introduced in the January 20, 1993 strip.
During contract negotiations, the syndicate approached Meddick with a request to change the name of the strip to Monty and to deemphasize and remove the Robotman character from the strip. This was due to an ongoing difficulty in marketing the strip with the name Robotman. (For a brief period, the strip was rechristened Robotman and Monty.)
Robotman was gradually phased out of the strip through a farewell storyline in 2001 in which he left Earth to find love on the planet Diskelion. The series continued as Monty in April 2001, with Robotman's place in the strip being taken by space alien Mr. Pi.
Storylines
As the website announces, the comic strip "spoofs suburbia, trashes tacky TV shows and offers absurdist commentary on everything from hosing down spider monkeys to the latest conspiracy theory." Monty Montahue, the brainy, bumbling bachelor who's unlucky in work and love, is the star of the strip.
Explains Meddick, "I've tried to create the comic strip equivalent of Monty Python's Flying Circus. The name 'Monty' is a nod to the influence that show had on my humor. In my cartoon just about anything can happen — this way, the ideas and characters always stay fresh."