Synopsis:
The monster lives! A stunning collaboration between the premier horror artist in comics history and the co-creator of modern classic 30 Days of Night!
Inspired by Mary Shelley’s immortal gothic horror tale, Frankenstein Alive, Alive brings new life to the Promethean monster, courtesy of Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and Bernie Wrightson (Frankenstein, Swamp Thing). Victor Frankenstein’s cobbled together creature continues his adventures, embarking on a journey to discover his own humanity. Collecting the four-issue series along with an extended gallery section of never-before-seen layouts and pencils by Wrightson, all scanned from the original art. Additional art is supplied in the final chapter by Kelley Jones (at Wrightson’s request), who stepped in to complete the series upon the comic book legend’s untimely passing.
Review:
Frankenstein Alive, Alive popped up on Prime Reading and I thought it looked really interesting. Even though I’ve never read Frankenstein, what I do know about the story is fascinating. It’s one of the only classics I would consider reading.
This story is a continuation of the original and it was certainly interesting, even though I found the first chapter a little confusing. I get that ‘Frank’ was in a freak show, but I didn’t understand how that fit into the rest of the story. I probably didn’t comprehend what was going on properly, so that’s entirely my fault.
Sadly, it’s very obvious where the new illustrator took over. The change in style and quality was jarring. Kelley Jones isn’t a bad artist by any means but the level of the detail the previous chapter had compared to the last is a little crazy. It felt like the horror style had been sapped completely and that’s really a shame as the art is where this graphic novel really shone.
As I mentioned briefly in the paragraph above, the level of detail in every single page (bar the last chapter) is incredible. You can almost feel just how passionately Bernie Wrightson felt about this story. The character design for Frankenstein’s monster was seriously cool and the settings blew me away. I haven’t read many horror themed graphic novels but I definitely want to read more now.
Frankenstein Alive, Alive is a great quick read to pick up for Halloween or any time if you feel like it. The story shows a human side to the monster that never really gets explored and the art work is incredible.
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