Okay, so they decided to call the comic "Universal Monsters: Frankenstein" but that's no catchy title now, is it? Purely for branding rather than trying to immerse us with captivating titles. We all know who Frankenstein is, anyway. Why, he's the scientist that created the monster, Frankenstein's Monster! To keep the post title shorter, I emitted the Universal Monsters side of things. But hey, this isn't about soullessness within corporations, it's about the fun of Halloween and the month of thrills to come! I admit I have been getting a bit too excite for the month a little earlier than usual, but it has been really fun to have this excitement for a holiday, and October tends to be one of my favourite months of the year due to the atmosphere. I recently read Ain't No Grave, and started the DC Halloween event for Batman's The Long Halloween; I'm still just getting started though! Creepshow's comic has returned for a short run this year too, with just one chapter out so far. But I don't think it'd be a celebration of the fun month of Halloween without reading something related to the most famous monster stories in history: Frankenstein. And to be honest, I was quite surprised that there was effort put into creating a comic for the story this year. And I'm already hoping there will be more to come.
The story starts off with the typical Frankenstein narrative, though with a slight twist added to it. We witness the grave robbing taking place in the dead of the night, two suspicious individuals searching for fresh bodies, to which they cart one off back to a laboratory. Though a child follows given it was in fact his father's body that was taken, having witnessed the whole ordeal. The same narrative structure takes place as we see the scientist reviving the body, proceeding in reanimation. Chopped-up limbs bundled into barrels, the cold and dark hallways of a strange castle-type building. That gothic atmosphere is still felt. For most of the first volume we are following the child throughout his exploration of the building, in search of his father. At the same time he's witnessing the body on the table, the rambles of a maniac talking about becoming God. A lot of this volume was more visual, less dialogue driven than I would've liked. But I think it was going for a quick story to get the ball moving. And that was clear with how fast it was to immediately display Frankenstein's Monster to us. Already animated, back to life and kept within the darkness.
I found the second volume to be much more interesting as its story went more into the backstory and process of developing the Frankenstein monster, to which it follows the story of a killer's brain being stolen and used without knowing. Described as an 'abnormal brain' over a regular one, to which the regular one was accidentally destroyed upon its attempted theft. That side of Frankenstein has always been one of its strengths: the accidental use of a criminal's broken mind being the fundamental flaw in the monster's design, almost implying that it would've been a great success had it been a regular, healthy brain without any psychological issues. Unfortunately, we see the negative outcome and how people are then faced with the problem of a zombie-like individual roaming the land, sometimes gentle, other times with the somewhat functional mind of a killer. The doctor and his associates in this story are aware of the monster's broken nature, leading to much discussion over what should be done. How he's capable of such harm if he breaks loose.
Mixed within the narrative are the moral dilemmas met with reviving a person, as well as utilising the many parts of other people, from the dead. The discussions over what has happened and whether it really is in the good for science. It looks into the idea of who really is the monster as well as how a person becomes one. Not as simple as just being a strange mixture of different people revived from the dead, but the chaotic minds that pursue such ideas in the first place. And the things witnessed in life that shape people's general mentalities towards life and others. It's an interesting story that's told through very little dialogue. I quite appreciate it for that, giving the reader plenty of questions that come from moments of dialogue rather than told directly to us.
So far it doesn't have a whole lot of action, nor is it really telling of where it's headed. It's a mixture of the traditional story alongside a few changes. The thrills aren't quite there yet with the use of Frankenstein, but the moments we do start to see him, the art is pretty quite and atmospheric. I'm quite curious as to where the rest of the story will be heading, it's still quite early on. But so far I'd say this is quite a fun read for the Halloween month. I am curious as to where the story will go from here on. Each volume seems to be pushing the story ahead, and there are more events unfolding, more horror and more thrills. I hope it remains that way!