October 20, 2005
Monster of Frankenstein: Marvel's Sequel To A Classic
Frankenstein’s Monster was the classic horror character that joined the Werewolf and Dracula in Marvel’s triumvirate. Monster of Frankenstein #1 was published in 1972 and took up the challenge of creating a sequel to the classic book. At the end of Shelley’s novel, the creature bade farewell to Sir Robert Walton (an explorer) in the Arctic Sea. In the beginning of MOF #1, we see his great-grandson, Robert Walton IV, finding the Monster—encased in a mountain of ice. He carves out a block surrounding the creature, takes him back to his ship, and re-tells the classic tale from Shelley’s novel to a midshipman.
The creative team was Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog. Friedrich made a great decision to essentially adapt Shelley’s novel in the first 3 issues. Friedrich resisted the Hollywood version of the Monster and instead used Shelley’s erudite version. By issue #2, Walton IV watched in horror as his ship burned and the Monster was revived. After rescuing Walton, the Monster narrated the tale of his creation, abandonment, and pursuit of his creator.
Mike Ploog was the best choice to draw this series. He excelled not only at drawing horror characters, but his style was perfect for a period piece. His enthusiasm must have been great, because he penciled and inked four out of six issues. His cover for MOF #2, showing the monster holding his dead bride has haunted me for years. I copied it using tracing paper at junior high school and received compliments for “my work” from lots of kids who didn’t know better.
The cover was reprinted on the back of F.O.O.M. #2 (Friends Of Ol Marvel), sans cover copy and text.
Only the first six issues of this title were of high quality. The third issue ends the flashbacks as the Monster kills Frankenstein’s wife; we see the Monster’s final confrontation with his creator. Issue #4 describes how the Monster was frozen alive, after a confrontation with an Eskimo tribe.
Issue #5 takes place fully in 1898, and it points the way to an interesting direction for the series. The Monster comes across a woman tied to a crucifix, on a boat that has been set aflame. He rescues the beautiful lady and discovers that a nearby village deliberately set out to murder her. The Monster fights the villagers and takes the girl away. Later, he discovers that the girl is a werewolf—after he’s killed the creature. It’s an interesting premise that could have been fleshed out in later issues: the Monster is willful, determined to seek justice, not caring who he needs to fight. In some ways, he’s like Conan. On the other hand, he’s terribly lonely and seeking female companionship—which can never be fulfilled. It could have been further developed, but plunging sales would dictate otherwise.
MOF #6 finds Mike Ploog doing the plot and full art chores. “In Search of the Last Frankenstein” The Monster is still obsessed with getting revenge on any surviving member of the Frankensteins; he’s traveled back to the Frankenstein castle. While the story isn’t much, Ploog’s artwork shows his enthusiasm for the character and the setting. Other writers on the series kept beating this horse to death, with Frankensteins popping up everywhere for the Monster to find.
The drastic turn for the worse began when Ploog left the series and was replaced by John Buscema in issue 7. Buscema’s work was great—I can only imagine he was happy not to be drawing superheroes. We witnessed a conflict between the Monster and Dracula that had terrible consequences. A woman—the Monster’s kryptonite—turned out to be one of Dracula’s vampy hos. She tried to suck blood out of the Monster and ripped his vocal chords. The Monster was left without a voice—presumably to make him more like the movie version. We were no longer privy to the Monster’s thoughts in captions or balloons. It was a jarring change in the series’ tone.
This was a prelude to having the Monster enter the modern era (1973)—in Monsters Unleashed. Also written by Friedrich, it makes references to the early issues of MOF. John Buscema and Syd Shores did a wonderful black and white art job on the first few stories. The Monster is discovered in a circus exhibit by a couple who’ve read Walton’s diaries. The couple has a terrible relationship, but they seek to own and revive the creature for their own profit.
The woman ignites a fire at the circus, which revives the Monster. The first story had promise, but later chapters devolved into a scientist transplanting his brain into the Monster’s body. Somehow the Monster could speak after the transplant—talk about plot holes!
The color comic series perked up a bit when Val Mayerik took on the art chores. Mayerik had a style that was unique and perfect for horror stories. Marvel crippled his work by pairing Mayerik with a series of incompatible inkers. Finally, in the final issue, Mayerik inked his own work. It was a great job—I think he could have saved the series if he had done it earlier. As nice as it was, I hated the stories, even as a kid. I kept buying each issue, waiting for the Monster to regain his voice. It finally happened in issue 16, but he wasn’t nearly as cool as before. MOF was cancelled with #18 and the Monster lumbered off into the mists of Marvel limbo.
The Monster of Frankenstein was one of the least financially successful horror titles at Marvel. The first six issues of the color comic were classics, and would make for a nice limited series run today. The later stories are hokey horror fun. There’s an Essential Monster of Frankenstein that reprints all the stories I mentioned. Ploog’s detailed line drawings look even better in black and white. Nuff said.
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