The Monster Of Frankenstein!

Though not as successful, Marvel's version of Frankenstein has always held a place of high esteem for me. It also is a series that underwent the most severe fall from grace. The classic story by Mary Shelly we all know, it's one of the most famous stories in all of English literature. The saga of the character on film and in comics is also pretty successful, with more than a few excellent movies made about these characters and several fine comics as well. Marvel's first few issues of The Monster of Frankenstein as it was first known is among those. 

In the first four issues of the comic Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog join forces to retell Mary Shelly's epic tale. They do so with gusto and more than a few alterations to fit their own specific needs for future storytelling. The saga is moved forward in time to the late 19th century for the reader and that is accounted for with Marvel tried-and-true frozen in ice gimmick. They will actually use it twice with the Frankenstein monster. Ploog is joined by inker John Verpooren after the debut issue and the two of them produce work which I think ranks among the very best Ploog created for Marvel. Verpoorten help give Ploog's pencils a heft they sometimes lack. 

In the fifth story the Monster heads out on his own and chances upon a seemingly helpless girl being burned at the stake by some angry villagers. Feeling empathy the Monster intervenes but learns later that was perhaps a mistake. 

The title changes to The Frankenstein Monster with the six issue, the last by Ploog. Here the Monster thinks he encounters the last living Frankenstein but once again he is frustrated when things are not what they seem to be. 

Then John Buscema joins the team and in tandem with Friedrich produces perhaps my favorite of all the tales in this series, a three-part encounter with Dracula himself. In a trilogy of mayhem which hearkens back to the old "Monster Rally" movies from Universal we see the Monster and Dracula mix it up a few times. We see the Monster fall in love and we see that despite a seeming victory he suffers a great loss. This one has frightened villagers, gypsy witches, and just anything one would ask for in a classic Frankenstein tale. 

In a fourth story drawn by John Buscema the Monster does indeed meet the last Frankenstein who assisted by immensely powerful giant hunchback Ivan wants to change out the Monster's brain to make him more obedient. One detail worth noting is that due to a bite from Dracula, the Monster had lost the power of speech. This makes him more like the movie versions, but it sadly takes away much of the power of the stories. 

But with the assistance of Ivan the Monster escapes those schemes leaving the castle after a terrific struggle. Frankenstein himself doesn't live long enough to see his own heir born. 

Doug Moench takes over on scripts and Val Mayerik handles the artwork as they quickly get the Monster frozen yet again. He will not awaken again until 1974 by some sketchy scientists, one of whom reminded for all the world of Dr. Sivana. These events tie into things already presented in Monsters Unleashed and the action picks up after that, with a mute Monster roaming the streets of the modern world. What could go wrong?

The next stop for the Monster is in Giant-Size Werewolf where he of course battles the furry star of that comic. By the end after a ferocious battle against a devilish cult he falls once again into the water amidst a flaming house. Moench and Don Perlin do the honors. 

The Monster's next stop is New York City and he gets mixed up mad scientist type, his worried spouse and their troubled teenage son Ralph Caccone who will become the Monster's sidekick for a good long while. Ralph's Dad cooked up a monster from spare parts and that beast kills the parents. 

Next the duo are intercepted by a private dick named Eric Prawn and soon after fall into the clutches of the last living Frankenstein (1975 variety) and his mammoth helper Zandor. 

Turns out Frankenstein is part of a larger outfit called ICON (International Crime Organizations Nexus) who want the Monster for too. Frankenstein wants to change out the Monster's brain yet again but Prawn helps Caccone and the Monster to escape for a short time until ICON arrives. But it turns out the previous Frankenstein was an imposter and the real last Frankenstein is a woman who is also a scientist. She wants to help the Monster. We are treated to a reprise of the Monster's origin and the images are from the movies not the book. The slow descent of the character is well and truly along. 

Lady Veronica Frankenstein helps the Monster some by giving him voice back, so he's not just some passive lump while others talk around him. The Monster without his voice is played too much like Man-Thing and that's not at all smart for the character in my estimation. ICON attacks again, this time with a robot named Berserker who battles the Monster until they realize they have common goals. 

In the final issue of the color run the Monster loses his buddy Berserker, and falls into the clutches of yet another Lady Frankenstein, this one named Victoria and this one wants vengeance. She's helped by a gaggle of half-men who wiggle all through the comic. 

Soon after he got his own color comic book, the Frankenstein Monster took up residence in Monsters Unleashed. To keep a distinction between the two series, the stories here were set in the modern day. Eventually the color series will coincide with this but for a long time there were two continuities, and I loved that fine at the time. The first installment features some fine art by John Buscema and Syd Shores with Gary Friedrich scripting as well. 

For several bloody installments the Monster's brain keeps getting switched in and out. It proves a distraction to him needless to say. 

Win Mortimer joins the art team as eventually the Monster gets his own mind back into his body, though it took quite a bit of doing. 

Doug Moench and Val Mayerik eventually take over the Monster's doings in the magazine as well as the color comic. Mayerik's art always looks better when he inks himself and I think he is particularly well served by black and white. 

The Monster is still mute through most of these stories which I think really limits the ability of the storytellers to stretch the yarn. He's presented most often a sometimes benign ally to those he deems worthy, but he is capable of horrible violence when provoked. Again, the goal seems to be make the Monster more like the one in the films and less like the verbose creature in the original novel. 

But the Monster's search for someone who will accept him on his own terms is frustrating to say the least. He often finds himself among others of a freakish physical nature. 

In the last Monsters Unleashed issue he tries to help a girl save people aboard a train but it all goes tragically wrong despite the best intentions. 

In the final story from The Legion of Monsters he almost thinks he might have found a spot of romance but actually he's merely being played by an assassin. The Monster's lot seems always to find sadness and even profound grief at every turn. He is a walking living dead man and that contradiction seems to be at odds with the entire world. 

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Marvel Horrors - Brothers Of Darkness!

In the early 70's Marvel made itself the hometown for horror. After a few decades of unrelenting pressure, the Comics Code of America had been forced to change its guidelines, guidelines mostly intended to expunge horror comics. When those alterations were made the door swung open for comic book folks to have at it. And they did with gusto. The second volume of Essential Marvel Horror presents several of Marvel's monstrous attempts at scoring a comic book hit. They'd done so with Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf by Night, but they saw more opportunities. That drive to find the next hit monster combined with the constant Marvel need to ride trends to distraction resulted in a few horror comics that blended classic horror with the rise in interest of black heroes. 

Marvel created their first horror blaxploitation character in the form of Blade who suddenly appeared in the pages of Tomb of Dracula to battle the eponymous vampire and would do so for many years. Blade is likely Marvel's most famous black character as a consequence of the movie trilogy starring Wesley Snipes. I hasten to add also that Blade's adventures are not in the collection under discussion. 

In Supernatural Thrillers #5 Marvel struck amber with The Living Mummy. This was a comic by writer Steve Gerber and artist Rich Buckler which reveled in the mummy movies which had been a staple of both Universal and Hammer film studios but bonded that classic terror with a black protagonist. The Living Mummy was actually an African prince named N'Kantu. N'Kantu was a noble giant who labored alongside his people who had been made slaves to build a pyramid for the Pharoah. In this story which had decided feel of a one-off we see the Mummy rise and rampage through the streets of Cairo having been invoked through the power of an ancient scarab wielded by a scientist named appropriately enough Doctor Scarab. He is joined by a young black couple who are menaced by the Mummy. By the end of this story the Mummy is out of commission.

Sales must've been good because by the seventh issue he was back, this time in NYC menacing the City that Never Sleeps. We learn more about N'Kantu's origins before he is swept off to another dimension suddenly. This installment begins Val Mayerik's long tenure on the series with Steve Gerber on the script. Because of this the Mummy feels a bit like a dessicated version of Swamp Thing in these stories. 

That feeling is even more pronounced when the Mummy meets a quartet of other-dimensional gods called the Elementals who drop him right back into the streets of Cairo. These four (Hydron, Magnum, Hellfire, and Zephyr) godlings evoke the powers of water, earth, fire, and wind. They want the Mummy to bring them the scarab which is still in the possession of the Living Pharoah. 

Tony Isabella takes over the writing chores as N'Kantu battles the minions of the Living Pharoah but fails to get his musty mitts on the scarab in question. 

The scarab has been stolen by a team of thieves named Old Dan and The Asp. Trying to find them and the scarab the Mummy gets involved in the local warfare which always seems to define the region of the Mid-East. 

The old team of Dr. Scarab and his two aides return as Zephyr turns on her colleagues to assist the Asp and Old Dan from harm. The Mummy and this erzatz little army brace themselves for what is billed as "The War that Shook the World". 

"The War that Shook the World" fills up the final four issues of the Mummy's tale in Supernatural Thrillers. Isabella writes the first two installments before John Warner steps in for the final two. Val Mayerik who is getting a plotting credit on most of his issues last until the penultimate issue when he is replaced by Tom Sutton. The war waged by the mad trio of Hellfire, Hydron, and Magnum largely destroys Cairo and the area around it before the city is whisked away to another dimension which allows our heroes to gain an advantage. Truth told it's hard for N'Kantu to hold his own in a comic which is swiftly filling with side characters. The fact that he can't speak limits him I guess, but like the Swamp Thing we end up focused on others despite his awesome presence. It will come as no surprise that the good guys win but not without casualties of many kinds. 

And then there was Brother Voodoo. Thanks to an essay written by Tony Isabella for Tales of the Zombie we know that Stan Lee first thought up Brother Voodoo and wanted to revive the venerable Strange Tales title. Roy Thomas stepped in to flesh out the character before handing it off to Len Wein who wrote all the Strange Tales stories. The costume was designed by John Romita with assitance from both Roy and John Romita Jr. it turns out. The art chores were turned over to Gene Colan with the hope that the Colan magic might strike twice as it had done before with Tomb of Dracula. It didn't. 

We first meet Brother Voodoo in the debut issue flying to Haiti but in flashback we learn of his origin. That tale takes up both Strange Tales #169 and #170 in which we meet Papa Jambo who had trained Jericho Drum's twin brother, who was killed in action. Now it's Jericho's duty to take on the role and as turns out his brother's ghost as well which dwells inside him and gives him greater strength. He's also impervious to fire and has other magical tricks as well. He defeats Damballah the Serpent God who had killed his brother and becomes a Voodoo version of Dr. Strange located in New Orleans and Haiti as well. 

We discover the reason Drum was flying back to Haiti in the third installment when Brother Voodoo must battle some "Zuvembies" (apparently despite loosening of restriction in the Comics Code, the word "Zombie" was still verboten in color comics) and their leader Baron Samedi. There is more to this scheme than mere magic when agents of the Advanced Idea Mechanics also get involved. With his victory in this issue the unusual origin tale comes to a close. 

The next issue has Brother Voodoo save a nurse named Loralee Tate, the daughter of the local Chief of Detectives in New Orleans. She has been selected by a cult for sacrifice and Brother Voodoo must battle to save her. The artwork in this issue is stellar. Dan Adkins had inked the first two installments with fine effect and Frank Giaoia did a dandy job on the third, but Dick Giordano's inks over Gene Colan's pencils in this issue and next are outstanding and makes me angry they didn't do more together. 

Brother Voodoo wraps up his four-color career (for the most part) in Strange Tales #173 where he battles to save Loralee from the cult led by the Black Talon. When the story closes it looks like both she and Jericho Drumm are soon to be dead. 

We'd have to wait for a story in Tales of the Zombie #6 to give us the finale. Doug Moench scripts using Len Wein's plot and Gene Colan is joined by Frank Chiramonte on inks. There are few twists and turns and a few risings from the grave before this last regular Brother Voodoo story comes to a close. 

Brother Voodoo's next stop is alongside Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #24 battling a Voodoo lord named Moondog. The two heroes take on cultists in the streets of NYC and as you'd suspect save the day in full-color glory. The story was written by Wein with art by Jim Mooney and Sal Trapani. 

The Brother Voodoo saga comes to a close in a story by Dough Moench and Tony DeZuniga in Tales of the Zombie #10. In this one Jericho Drumm is again drawn back to Haiti where more "zuvembies" are shambling around and menacing the locals. It's odd that despite the fact they can use the word "zombie" in this story since it's beyond the reach of the Comics Code they still use the oddball version of the word. Brother Voodoo has yet another desperate battle against the undead (for real this time) and saves the day but barely and not without some personal cost. But that's it. 

Both Brother Voodoo and the Living Mummy disappeared for the most part after these adventures. They were part of a wave of exploitation that ran its course both in terms of black heroes and comic book horror. Both of course have resurfaced from time to time and Brother Voodoo even became an Avenger (like everyone else) but that was after my time with modern comics. 

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