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I should be honest right from the beginning that these favorite Frankenstein covers are not a thorough record of all Frankenstein comics ever done. I simply picked the ones I like. There is no attempt to be thorough, only self-indulgent.
Frankenstein, the novel, was published in 1818. written by a teenaged Mary Shelley, it was one of two horror classics to come out of a rainy summer at Lake Diodati in 1816. Lord Byron challenged his guests to create a story in the German tradition (ie: a horror tale). John Polidori, Byron’s doctor, wrote The Vampyre (1819), a novel that satirizes his boss as the vampire Lord Ruthven. For many years the work was attributed to Byron.
The other book has become even more famous: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. The story is well-known from films like Frankenstein (1931), starring Boris Karloff. Victor Frankenstein takes pieces of dead bodies to create his monster, brought to life with electricity. When Frankenstein rejects his Adam, refuses to make it an Eve, the creature murders his fiancee on their wedding night. Victor pursues his creation into the Arctic and final destruction of the master.
The comics didn’t adapt the Frankenstein story right away, since in 1931 the industry barely existed. Gilberton, a company that used public domain novels, was the first to draw the story in 1945. Robert Webb and Ann Webster did the art for the cover and story.
That was a one-shot for Gilberton, but prize Comics started a series about the artificial giant that set the standard for Frankenstein comics for decades. It was one of my favorite Frankenstein comics since I discovered later in life. Dick Briefer was the artist for the entire run, 33 issues from 1945 to 1954. Briefer’s Frankenstein is originally kind of cute (perhaps to make him more appealing to children?) but in later issues he took on a meaner “countenance”. (That’s for my brother, Tim. He doesn’t like Shelley’s over-use of that word. Only 12 times in one novel.)
DC’s Detective Comics had the first superhero comic facing off a caped crusader against the monster. Somehow it didn’t catch on.
Re-issuing Frankie in the 1960s saw dell do it first, then Gilberton in 1969 with a cover by Norman Saunders. Saunders was the king of Pulp cover decades earlier. His monster is quite human looking, kind of stiff. Marvel finally put out their version in 1977.
The next extensive series of Fraken-comics was The Monster of Frankenstein by Marvel Comics. This i my favorite Frankenstein comic of old. It ran 18 issues, from January 1973 to September 1975. The initial artist was the master, Mike Ploog, who also drew Werewolf By Night and Man-Thing. The series was written by Gary Friedrich. later artists included John Buscema, John Romita, Ron Wilson, Val Mayerik and Berni Wrightson.
After Marvel got ahold of the monster, he started showing up in superhero comics everywhere. (I guess they wanted to prove DC wrong.)
The horror magazines certainly didn’t ignore the monster either. He was painted by superstars Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Earl Norem and Neal Adams.
Marvel did not have an exclusive with Frankenstein’s monster. (No one did.) Don F. Glut put the creature itno his Gold Key series, the Occult Files of Doctor Spektor. Glut wrote a dozen new novels about the monster between 1977 and 2017.
I have to mention Berni Wrightson’s masterpiece, the Frankenstein illustrations from 1983. (If I don’t I will get tons of reminders from you fine folks.) Not a comic book but a portfolio, the original artwork has sold at auction for $1 million dollars. Yup, it’s that good.
The independent comic Doc Frankenstein gave us one of the first versions of Frankenstein’s monster as ghostbreaker.
DC snapped up the idea for their continuing adventures of the monster, first in Seven Soldiers then in Agents of S. H. A. D. E., a comic that deserved so much to NOT be cancelled.
I’ve never made any secret of my jealous love for Mike Mignola’s work. In 2015 he wrote and drew a four-parter called Frankenstein Underground. It was a nice addition to his line-up that includes Hellboy, Lobster Johnson and Lord Baltimore.
Some other random covers.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my entirely self-indulgent wander through my favorite Frankenstein comics. Please let me know which truly stunning comics I missed.
