Monster of Frankenstein #1.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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This very evening, the British TV channel known as Legend is showing Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, mere nights after it showed Bride of Frankenstein.

Truly, this surfeit of Modern Prometheusness can only be a cue for me to look at another stab at bringing the monster to life.

And, this time, it's one from fifty years ago.

It's strange to think that when I first saw the Universal take on the tale, that film was only forty years old but seemed far more ancient then than this take does now - even though this take is, at present, fifty years old. What madness is this?

The take is, of course, Marvel Comics' Monster of Frankenstein #1, a natural bedfellow for the company's early 1970s Dracula and Werewolf comics. Several years ago, I reviewed issue #15 of this series but have reason to believe the first issue's a very different beast to that book.

Rather peculiarly, we begin with sea captain Robert Walton IV and his quest to find the monster. Why he's seeking it, we aren't told, only that his great-grandfather had also encountered it. Presumably, his great-grandfather being the sea captain of the same surname from the original novel.

This Walton clearly has an unerring sense of direction because no sooner have we met him than he's found his quarry, encased in a block of ice in the Arctic where it, presumably, resides beside the blocks of ice that hold the Thing From Another World and Captain America.

No sooner have the vaguely rebellious crew got the ice cube aboard than Walton starts to explain its back-story to the cabin boy. 

From this narration, we learn of the monster's creation by Victor Frankenstein and of how the scientist, having created it, instantly decided to destroy it.

Needless to say, the creature didn't greet that plan with good grace and proceeded to murder Victor's brother and frame an innocent for the deed, causing her execution.

Deciding cowardice is the better part of valour, Victor flees to the mountains but the monster catches up with him and, now confronting him, is about to reveal what it's been up to since he last encountered it.

But that's where our flashback must end, as Walton's ship is suddenly gripped by the mighty fists of a storm that threatens to sink it and its crew.

At this point, the vaguely rebellious crew becomes determinedly rebellious and demands to throw the creature overboard.

But unbeknown to them all, even as they clash, in the ship's lower quarters, the storm's turmoil has shifted the block of ice too close to an open fire and, now, that ice is starting to melt...

As we all know, the original novel's a classic but how does this interpretation stand up?

It's OK but it does suffer from the decision to tell the tale of the monster's creation in flashback.

Granted, that's what the original novel does but there's a reason no one ever makes a Frankenstein movie that's faithful to the book. Thanks to this decision, it means neither the scientist nor his creation feel like they're the tale's protagonist and we never really get to know them or their motivations. Despite the comic being set at sea, this lends a distinctly dry feel to proceedings.

It also seems, at times, as though story elements have gone missing. For instance, we're told of the murder of Victor's brother William and the subsequent trial of Justine Moritz for the slaying but, apart from a single panel, early on, we've never been introduced to these characters, giving them an air of the shoe-horned.

Mike Ploog's artwork is suitably Ploogy and he admirably captures the sense of being storm-tossed, although this story is the first time it's ever struck me just how similar to Herb Trimpe's his style could be at times.

Meanwhile, Mike Gary Friedrich's script is, in all honesty, unremarkable. His dialogue often dominated by attempts to plaster over gaps and cracks in the visual story-telling.

So, overall, it's an unexceptional comic about which I don't have a lot to say.

I will comment, however, that its cliffhanger does make me want to read the next issue. So, I suppose that, in that sense, the comic's succeeded in doing its job.

Marvel Comics' Frankenstein Monster #15.

Mere weeks ago, I looked at that legendary day when Frankenstein's Monster, "teamed up," with the Phantom Stranger to tackle a pair of naughty demons who'd got out of control in a house that didn't belong to them.

But so awesome is Frankenstein's Monster that he can't be contained by one comic.

In fact, he's so awesome, he can't even be contained by one comics company and, so, just as, in the 1970s, DC gave us his adventures, Marvel did likewise.

But how did the Marvel version compare to the DC one? And who was best?

It's the present day and the creature's hanging around with a former gang member called Ralph Caccone and a private detective called Eric Prawn, the latter of which, we're told, sees himself as the new Sherlock Holmes.

Sadly for the trio, things are not currently elementary, because a man called Cardinal's just appeared with his henchman Zandor, looking to abduct the comic's star.

Frankie's clearly perfectly capable of sorting out the situation and is happily killing Zandor when Cardinal tells him that, if he doesn't cooperate, Ralph'll be shot.

Clearly, he's a monster with a conscience because he decides to go along with Cardinal's demands and he and Ralph are taken to a secret lab where it's revealed an organisation called ICON wants to create an army of resuscitated corpses.

The only problem is that the corpses ICON reanimates are almost totally mindless. Therefore, the organisation needs the secret of Frankie's intelligence and, to get that, it's going to have to remove his brain.

But, wouldn't you know it, before Cardinal gets the chance to do the deed, a man-pig mutant-thing bursts in, looking for revenge for its last encounter with Frankie.

Needless to say, it doesn't get that revenge and our hero gives it the good smacking it's asking for.

And that's it. The lab's been trashed, the bad guys have fled, the man-pig mutant-thing's been disposed of in the river and everything's done and dusted.

Except it's not.

Because that's when Prawn points his gun at the creature and Ralph and informs them they're going to Switzerland with him, whether they like it or not.

To be continued!

The truth is I can't properly compare Marvel's version of the monster to DC's because I've only read two tales featuring DC's version and, in each of those two tales, it felt like a different character from the other one. In Phantom Stranger #26's team-up, it was a primal force, driven by lust for vengeance, while, in Phantom Stranger #28's back-up strip, it was a pathetic wretch, blundering around feebly, only wanting to be left alone.

What is obvious is this tale has a far more contemporary and sci-fi feel than either of those DC stories, with the central character being a far more enigmatic creature.

It's also a much more inert creature, only acting when put in a position where it has no choice. The version in the Phantom Stranger crossover was a far more driven character. It was also, therefore, a much more dangerous one. You get the feeling that if you threatened to kill Ralph to get its cooperation, it'd just kill Ralph for you and save you the trouble. On the other hand, the version in Phantom Stranger #28 would have fallen into helpless despair and anguish.

So, I'm going to have to declare Marvel's version to be far less interesting and compelling than the Phantom Stranger #26 version but far more impressive than the Phantom Stranger #28 version.

Overall, with its secret organisations, schemes and plotting, this feels very like the Werewolf by Night and Man-Wolf stories Marvel were doing at the time, where other characters drove the story along, while the central character was basically just being present as bigger stories were being acted out around it. Obviously, as those strips were also produced by Marvel, that shouldn't be a surprise.

It's not what could be called an outstanding issue, feeling very much like a prelude to more significant events but it's perfectly readable and Val Mayerik's art does its job, with noticeable similarities to the work of Neal Adams, in places. As Mayerik's art's never struck me as being at all Adamsesque elsewhere, I can only put it down to Klaus Janson's inks.

But that's not all this issue has in store for us because it also includes a back-up strip of its very own.

It's a, clearly, ancient tale about a stage magician who, when he's fired because the audience has a tendency to boo his act, decides to get even with his former manager by setting his shadow on him.

Like all vengeance-driven magicians in such tales, this one's a total wally and quickly becomes the architect of his own downfall.

It's a somewhat insubstantial tale and is clearly only there because the main strip's come in short. It will not, I suspect, live long in the memory of anyone who reads it.

Phantom Stranger #26, The Spawn of Frankenstein.

I've only encountered DC Comics' version of the Frankenstein monster twice. One was in the backup strip of Phantom Stranger #28, and the other was in the main strip of Phantom Stranger #26 in which the monster and the book's star sort of unite to do battle with the forces of darkness.

As a child, the former of those two encounters didn't impress me in the slightest. For one thing, the monster was wearing a cape - and it wasn't even a flattering cape. For another, he seemed a very passive and spiritually anaemic being. Reading that tale, it was hard to see him as a creature who'd tear the head off Victor Frankenstein's bride in order to send his creator a message about parental responsibility.

But the latter tale was a whole different matter. Drawn by Jim Aparo and written by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman, this time, he was a far more rugged, dynamic and driven individual who seemed to be permanently on the lookout for a chance to inflict some damage.

Admittedly, you still couldn't see him tearing an innocent woman's head off but you could at least imagine him tearing a guilty woman's head off.

So, forty-odd years after first reading that tale, what will I make of it this time round?

The monster's out to reanimate a man called Victor Adams who, it seems, is responsible for the monster himself having been revived. Showing the spirit we all want from him, the creature's not doing this from gratitude but in order that it can inflict maximum torment on him. Mary Shelley would be proud of her boy.

But, to do it, he needs a laser gun.

To be honest, I don't have a clue how a laser can bring the dead back to the life but it's the 1970s and, in the 1970s, we have more faith in such technology than people in the 21st Century have.

The only problem is that, before he can do it, he's promptly possessed by two demons who get him to not only steal the laser but also abduct the wife of Dr Thirteen from the hospital bed in which she's currently comatose.

With stuff like this going on, it's not long before the Phantom Stranger shows up and he and Dr Thirteen set out to stop the creature.

Not that they actually do stop the creature. In fact, for all his big talk, the Phantom Stranger's about as much use as a chocolate fireguard when it comes to achieving their aims.

Fortunately, that's when the demons - who've now possessed Victor Adams and Mrs Thirteen - make their big mistake. They decide to try and kill the monster, Thirteen and the Stranger by blasting them with moonlight.

Suddenly the Stranger's up against something he can actually handle, mostly because it involves just standing there and waving his medallion around. By this means, he deflects the moon's light at his Hellish foes and incinerates them.

Then everyone's who's still alive leaves, seemingly having learnt nothing at all from the night's events.

To be honest, because I haven't read any of the issues which lead up to this tale, it's an extremely confusing read for me. I don't have a clue who half the people in the tale even are. Who is Victor Adams? Who is Rachael Adams? Why is Mrs Thirteen in a hospital bed? How does Dr Thirteen already know the Spawn of Frankenstein? Who are the demons? What do they want? What is the big house the story centres around?

All of this is mystery to me.

But, in fairness, my confusion doesn't really matter that much because the tale has two things going for it.

One is that it moves at a high pace which propels you ever onward.

The other is that it's drawn by Jim Aparo whose pencils and inks impose maximum dynamism into every panel, meaning comprehension's an optional extra, rather than a necessity. It's true that sometimes you can read a comic just for the pretty pictures.

So, there you go. That's my verdict. It's baffling, it's great and, like anything drawn by Aparo in this era, it's well worth the read.

It also has a Mike Kaluta cover, so that's an added bonus.

Random comics I have owned. Part One.

In the recent past, I've done posts devoted to such things as Batman comics I've owned, Superman comics I've owned, horror comics I've owned and Fantastic Four comics I've owned. But, hold onto your hats, dear World because I'm not through yet.

Here's where I launch an exciting new feature; where I post comics-that-I-can't-be-bothered-to-categorise that I've owned.

Can the internet take such a strain?

Only the next few minutes will tell.

It always seemed an odd thing for me that Jack Kirby was writing and drawing a comic based on 2001. Clearly, his love of grand concepts and visual spectacle made him a good fit for the title but the glacial sterility of the film seemed massively at odds with Kirby's action-packed instincts.

Was the comic any good?

I can't really remember. But I know, from my Googlings, that it did inspire some great splash pages from him, at the very least.

I don't like to be critical of a new hero but you know you're in trouble when, by your fourth issue, you're reduced to fighting Stilt Man, a foe whose devastating super power is having extendable legs.

This cover's by Jack Kirby. At the time, I never noticed. For some reason, I was convinced that all 1970s non-Kirby mags that had Kirbyesque covers were sporting frontispieces drawn by Rich Buckler doing his Kirby thing. Oh what a fool I was.

This one came in one of those sealed triple-packs Marvel were so keen on for a while. I'm not sure what the other two comics were that came with it. Possibly an issue of The Defenders and something else.

As for this comic, I have vague memories that it involved a Mary Whitehouse type character, trying to clean up the nation. If you're a reader who's unfamiliar with Mary Whitehouse, consider yourself very lucky.

I only had two issues of Nova - this being one of them - but encountered most of his adventures in the pages of Marvel UK's Rampage and Star Wars comics. I sort of enjoyed it when it was drawn by Sal Buscema but, like a lot of others, found it more of a challenge to read when Carmine Infantino took over.

More importantly, I seem to remember having one of my school exercise books wrapped in the cover taken from a spare copy of this issue.

DC's greatest villains get together to cause mischief.

At the time, I knew little of most of DC's villains. It did seem an interesting concept though and I always wanted to get my hands on the second issue; although I assume that, being villains, they never got very far in their dreams of victory.

I have absolutely no memory of the contents of this comic. The truth is I always preferred DC's mystery and horror mags, as Marvel just seemed to use their own equivalent mags to reprint old Lee and Kirby horror tales, which were never really my cup of tea.

I recall really liking this one, though don't recall what actually happened in it. I suspect that a large part of my enjoyment of this mag came from having read DC's unhealthy-looking 1970s take on the character and finding Marvel's more robust version far more in line with my tastes.

Plus, how could you not love that Gil Kane cover?

The thing I remember most about this one is the nipples.

Yes, Reader, it's true; Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241 was the first super-hero comic in which I ever encountered characters whose nipples protruded through their costumes. This may not sound like a big deal but, at the time, I was much impressed by such anatomical accuracy.

Other than that, the story was quite fun, with a distinctly retro vibe to the artwork - as the floating brain with eyeballs and tentacles might suggest.

There was also a Timber Wolf back-up tale that left you in no doubt he'd been remodelled to be more like Wolverine than ever before.

Frankenstein Unbowed.

Frankenstein's Monster shows his gratitude to
all those Steve Does Comics Readers who
voted for him.

I'm proud to announce, true believers, that the results of our sensational Frankenpoll are well and truly in - and a mammoth 100% of you agreed with me that Marvel's Bronze Age version of the Frankenstein Monster was better than DC's.

That's right, Marvelstein won by a walloping 2 votes to none. Take that, DC-Stein.

Battle of the Frankensteins.

Like any master criminal I'm never to blame when things go wrong. That's always the fault of my underlings.

Unfortunately, when it comes to this site, I don't have any underlings, therefore I'll blame my template.

You see, when I set this blog up, I never intended it to be a review site. Inspired by the Bronze Age Babies somewhat free-form approach, I saw it more as a place for me to drone on about any aspect of old comics that took my fancy. I could drone on about the adverts. I could drone on about which comics company's pages smelled nicest. I could drone on about Stan's Soapbox and anything else I wanted. I could be like an old befuddled relative sat in the chair in the corner, rambling on about how everything used to be better in the good old days, when artists knew how to draw and inkers knew how to ink, colourists knew how to colour, and comics were printed on proper paper - you know, toilet paper.

However somewhere along the way I rail-roaded myself into doing nothing but reviewing things.

I blame my template. When I just had the Minima Stretch, I felt I too could be more free-form but, once I had a more defined template, I felt I had to be more focused. So, this is where I put things right, and a brave new era starts for Steve Does Comics as, in between the reviews, I simply ramble incoherently.

That leads me onto the obvious subject of Frankenstein.

Now I know people'll be pointing out that it's not "Frankenstein" - as Frankenstein's the creator not the monster - but, as Mary Shelley's main aim in writing the book was to complain about men's lack of parenting skills, I suppose we should do as Mary would've wanted and view the creature as Frankenstein's offspring and therefore rightful inheritor of the name. In the 1970s, both Marvel and DC had their own versions of Frankenstein and, while various groups of peasants over the years have set the monster alight, neither comic book version set the world on fire.

I read the Marvel incarnation in their old weekly Dracula Lives comics but only caught the earlier stories. A couple of years ago, I bought the last ever issue of Marvel's Frankenstein mag and he was hanging around in some fields with a friendly robot. I don't have a clue what was going on and it was probably best not to know.

My experience of DC's Frankenstein was always more limited. I only knew him from two stories in the Phantom Stranger. In one of which he met the titular titfer wearer himself.

Armed with this expert knowledge, I have to say I always preferred Marvel's version. He had a cooler jacket and looked so much healthier. DC's, from what I can remember, always looked a bit unwell. Admittedly, I'd probably look a bit unwell too if I were stitched together from reanimated corpses but, despite this, I like to imagine Frankenstein being able to knock doors off their hinges without even trying.

Of course, Marvel had at least one other version of Frankenstein.

Back in the 1960s, the X-Men came up against the Monster, who on that occasion, turned out to be a robot from outer space. The depressing thing is that, although it's a terrible story and a stupid explanation for the Monster, the version of Frankenstein we got in that tale could have easily whupped the asses of both Bronze Age Frankensteins and still have had the energy left to tear his creator's bride's head off.

If there's a moral in that, I don't have a clue what it is. Maybe that Mary Shelley was right and the monster makes a better threat to humanity than he does a hero.

Templates, you see. Once they're laid down, it doesn't matter what you do, it's hard to break free of them.