The Flight of The Monarch

The Monarch reads Flight of The Monarch aloud

The Flight of The Monarch is the title of a book on The Venture Bros. It was apparently a tell-all biography about The Monarch, authored anonymously by Henchman 21.

History

The Monarch referred to The Flight of The Monarch as "a mean little tell-all book filled with nothing but lies and pictures of also-lies." It was presumably published anonymously by Henchman 21 after Henchman 24 told him The Monarch wouldn't find out about it. When The Monarch confronted his henchmen with the book, demanding to know who had written the biography, Henchman 24 quietly chastised 21 for putting The Monarch's face on the cover.

The Monarch read a passage from the book and commented on the photograph of himself making out with Stiv Bators and Lydia Lunch at the nightclub Danceteria before openly declaring he would kill all of his henchman if the author of the book didn't come forward within twenty minutes to admit his guilt. He then returned to his bedchambers to cry. An unnamed henchman fell through the bedroom door, passing out on the floor unconscious, a note reading "I did it." pinned to his skull with a Monarch tranquilizer dart. As punishment for the henchman's supposed "libelous slander" The Monarch replaced the henchman's blood with acid and dropped him in a tank of sharks (who wouldn't touch him on account of the acid blood), then lowered a giant hair dryer into the tank.

The killing of the "author" henchman did not end The Monarch's problems with the book itself. After reading it he became insecure about the voluminous list of Dr. Girlfriend's past lovers and confronted her about her sexual history, bringing up several incidents from the book:

A photo of her sitting on Monstroso's lap. Dr. Girlfriend responded that she was at a party and Monstroso's lap was huge, holding "like, five" people.
A photo of her skinny dipping with "Jim Foetus", which Dr. Girlfriend said she didn't remember.
A photo collage of Dr. Girlfriend with Phantom Limb, leading her to admit that she "worked for him" as Queen Etherea. The Monarch became enraged over how revealing her old costume had been, comparing it to a Frank Frazetta painting.

The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend's argument over The Flight of The Monarch ended with an indignant Monarch throwing his insulted girlfriend out of the Cocoon. He then buried his head under his pillow to cry.

Quotes

"Rifling through his pockets for change, The Monarch accidentally launches a sodium-pentothal-tipped dart deep into his own thigh. Upon hearing a girlish symphony of shrill wails a waitress comes to his aid."

Episode Appearances

Season 1

The Trial of the Monarch

Trivia

The artwork on the cover of the book was based on a sketch by storyboard artist Doug Lovelace.^[1]
Danceteria, the club where The Monarch was photographed making out with Stiv Bators and Lydia Lunch, was a famed New York City nightclub that operated in several different locations between 1979 and 1986.
"Jim Foetus" is a reference to Jim G. Thirlwell, aka Foetus, the influential underground musician who provides the official musical score for The Venture Bros.
Poet/singer/actress Lydia Lunch was a lover of and frequent musical collaborator with JG Thirlwell in the 1980s. The two performed together in the band The Immaculate Consumptive (with Nick Cave and Marc Almond) and released a three-song EP together called Stinkfist in 1987.
Stiv Bators was the lead singer of the seminal punk band The Dead Boys and the goth-rock supergroup The Lords of the New Church. He died in 1990 after a taxi struck him in Paris.