Mall of America Mandrill
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 22nd, 2007
Click on image for full version of all the comic panels by Steven Stwalley.
I thought you may find amusement in a comic strip I drew that is appearing in the news weekly City Pages in the Twin Cities on the “Mall of America Mandrill.” I’ve been enjoying your site for some time and put a reference to your name in there (you can take comfort in the fact that I didn’t base the character’s appearance on you!). Enjoy!Steven Stwalley
I asked Steve’s permission to share his strip – please click on the above panel visible to see the entire story of Stwalley’s “Mall of America Mandrill,” from the Volume 28, Issue 1389, July 18, 2007 issue of City Pages, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. I appreciate Stwalley taking the time to draw this, and enjoy doing what I do that stimulates such humor and art.
What’s really funny to me is the intriguing coincidence I find in this comic. I’ve been to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, only once in my life, a few decades ago, as I recall. My friend and colleague, who was living in Bloomington at the time, Mark A. Hall, invited me to visit and go to the Mall of America to view an enormous Russian display on Siberian mammoths, including the complete body of a baby mammoth. It was a remarkable exhibition, and to find it in the Mall of America, well, I was quite happy to have seen it.
Now along comes Mr. Stwalley bringing a smile to my face with this amusing strip. What I think was strange was how the cryptozoologist named “Loren Moleman” vaguely reminded me of Mark Hall vs me. That was very Fortean.
Mark A. Hall
Loren Coleman
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Loren:
It has ben said that you are not really famous until you have been quoted and or appeared on national radio,TV, and been in a comic strip. Congratulations, you are now undisputedly a celebrity. (of course I knew that all along)
I don’t know, Loren. Kind of reminds me of Grover Krantz. Seems to be a little stocky for Mark Hall.
I might know what or who the Mall Mandrill is.