Review: Essential Monster of Frankenstien, Vol. 1

[Steve Miller]

Essential Monster of Frankenstein, Vol. 1
By Gary Friedrich, Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, John Buscema, Val Mayerick, et.al.
Three Out of Five Stars

This mammoth black-and-white reprint volume features some of very best comics plushing by Marvel... and some of the very worst. Basically, the tales within these pages that have Gary Friedrich credited as writer are true gems of comic story-telling, from the fabulous adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, through the inevitable battle between horror gothic horror titans Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster, through the tragic conclusion of the monster's quest to find the Last Frankenstein, the first 12 issues of the Monster of Frankenstein comic book are indeed "essential" reading. The stories are well-crafted, the 19th century setting refeshing (and particularly fun if you're a lover of Hammer films like me), the characters all interesting, and the illustrations for those tales, primarily by Mike Ploog and John Buscema, are also among some of the finest work those artists ever did.

The same is true of the first few reprints featuring Frankenstein's Monster from the pages of Monsters Unleashed. The saga of Frankenstien's Monster is moved into the modern day as an obsessive mad scientiest discovers the inert creature in a traveling sideshow and revives him with bizarre and tragic consequences. The initial stories were written by Gary Friedrich and illustrated by John Buscema, and these, again, are true comic-book classics.

But once Friedrich leaves as writer, the quality goes down the drain. With the exception of the final story in this collection, the episodes penned by Doug Moench are just plain awful, with Frankenstien's Monster facing off against a silly secret criminal organization and even sillier by-products of the efforts of modern-day monster-builders. I hate to say that Moench turned in bad work for the series, as he has written some of my favorite comics(Master of Kung-Fu, Six From Sirius, his run on Catwoman), but there is just nothing redeeming about his efforts on the Frankenstien series. (Except the very last story from Legion of Monsters. Moench and the artist he was teamed with on the strip, Val Mayerick, do their only decent work on that one.

All in all, about 1/3rd of this book is trash, but the good parts are really good, and I say it is a worthy addition to any fan of horror comics' bookshelf. Just skip the material that originally appeared in The Frankenstein Monster issues 12-18 and Monsters Unleashed issues 6-9.

[Joël of the FoS]

I have ordered it and will let you know when I it. Have you read Dracula in the same collection?

Joël

[Steve Miller]

I have ordered it and will let you know when I it. Have you read Dracula in the same collection?

Joël

Yep. All four volumes...

I'll probably be reviewing them, starting with Vol. IV, just because it's the most varied of the books, seeing that it draws from the black-and-white magazines.

I have a slightly different take on the series than I think you do. I think the first 40-50 issues of the 'Tomb of Dracula' series represent the very best American horror comics ever produced. The series starts to weaken around the time the supporting cast breaks up (Drake in South America, Taj in India) and completely loses its way after the second Doctor Sun scheme. The Domini bits are pretty neat, but overall, the series is far weaker toward the end than it is in the early days.


BTW, I got the sense you didn't know Blade originated in the ToD series. Have you seen the reprint collection of the Blade solo stories? ("Blade: Black and White") I don't think they're necessarily classics, but they're a far sight better than any modern Blade comics, or even the ones that appeared in the 90s ("Nightstalkers.")

I look forward to hearing your take on 'Frankenstein,' as well.

[Joël of the FoS]

Yep. All four volumes...

I'll probably be reviewing them, starting with Vol. IV, just because it's the most varied of the books, seeing that it draws from the black-and-white magazines.

I have a slightly different take on the series than I think you do.

Well I only read the first collection book, so if you say the others had better cratfted stories, I might be willing to get these.

You made me get Lenore, so I trust you ...

BTW, I got the sense you didn't know Blade originated in the ToD series. Have you seen the reprint collection of the Blade solo stories? ("Blade: Black and White")

No it was a surprise for me to see him in the storyboard.

I look forward to hearing your take on 'Frankenstein,' as well.

Sure, I will get it at the end of July.

Joël