Shocktober 10/30/31

I know I recently wrote about Dick Briefer's interpretation(s) of the Frankenstein Monster in comic books. The book pictured above is a collection of his first tales of Doctor Frankenstein's creation in our modern world. The series started out quite serious, then evolved into a more comedic take. Then? In the 1950s, Briefer took the monster back to his horrific roots. Quite a journey, really. All in the space of 15 years or so.

Shocktober 10/26/21

I know a while ago I mentioned Dick Briefer, a writer/artist in the golden age of comics who produced the first ongoing horror comics series, Frankenstein.

The series changed with the times, going from a scary monster in the early 1940s to a funny monster through the early 1950s to a horrifying, back-breaking monster in the mid-fifties.

The collection pictured above is from that last period, in which the Monster roamed the countryside, getting into various adventures/scrapes with people who refuse to understand the big lug. Some of the stories are heartbreaking. Others are horrifying. All are written and drawn by Briefer with substantial style and flair.

I had this collection ages ago, but lost it when I had to abandon La Casa Del Terror. (Have I mentioned that before? Seems like I have.)

But now? Most of the books I lost from that time are easily attainable now through either Amazon or eBay, mostly for affordable prices.

Now, if only I had somewhere to put them other than the store room at Mom's house.

Some day...

Shocktober 10/21/21

And now? Mego's latest--and, I believe, greatest--Frankenstein Monster figure.

Their first shot at the character back in the 1970s looked more like a jaundiced James Garner than the product of Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory, and their more recent effort looked sort of like Glenn Strange, but also sort of generic, like they hadn't acquired a license for anybody's face in particular.

This one? Is a spot-on likeness of Boris Karloff. And I'm proud to add him to my collection.

Shocktober 10/24/19

After Dracula and the Wolf Man...er, I mean Werewolf by Night...got their own comic books at Marvel Comics in the early 1970s, it was almost a given that Mary Shelley's famous creation would get his turn. And so he did, in a bimonthly effort originally entitled The Monster of Frankenstein and later retitled The Frankenstein Monster. The title changed made no difference in sales--whatever Marvel chose to call it, they called in "cancelled" after 18 issues (though stories did continue to appear in various Marvel black-and-white horror magazines for a few months more).

That's a shame, because it started with such promise, with writer Gary Freidrich and artist Michael Ploog basically adapting Shelley's novel for the first few issues, then continuing the story as the monster roamed the world, looking at first for revenge on his creator, and then just for some damn peace and quiet. No such luck, though--the Monster not only couldn't rest, he had to face off against Dracula (Marvel's take on the Count, anyway). Then? He got frozen and thawed out in modern times, where he fought/teamed up with the aforementioned Werewolf, as well as Spider-Man and Marvel's other resident lycanthrope, Man-Wolf.

The early issues drawn by Ploog were the best, though. He made the Monster more sympathetic and soulful than subsequent artists could.

Shocktober 10/17/19

The AHI Frankenstein waits for you...

Shocktober 10/6/18

This is the model of the Frankenstein Monster that stood in the living room of La Casa del Terror before my heart attacks. Now? It's tucked into a cardboard box somewhere in a storage unit.

But it will be freed someday. Yes, it will.

Thursday Is Bring Your Frankenstein Monster to Work Day

OK, I didn't really "bring" this sad-eyed Frankie to work today--I had him delivered.

I rather like this melancholy monster. He reminds me quite a bit of comic book writer/artist Dick Briefer's Frankenstein, who went from a serious, scary antihero before and during during World War II, to a funny, warm-hearted creature after the war, to a mute, back-breaking beast during the great horror comics boom of the 1950s.