The Spirit of Frankenstein lives at ACG. Adventures Into the Unknown was the first true horror comic. Begun in 1948, the first two issues were written by Frank Belknap Long. These were a masterclass in how to write horror comics that later companies like EC Comics made famous. In the early issues, the writers experimented with different ideas. One of these was to re-invent the adventures of Mary Shelley’s most famous creation.
Choosing Frankenstein wasn’t that daring an idea. First off, the 1818 Mary Shelley novel was in the public domain. Secondly, Prize Comics had a popular Frankenstein comics since 1945. Drawn by Dick Briefer, it began as horror but slowly made the monster more likeable and even cute. The artist of “The Spirit of Frankenstein” was Charles Sultan. His design doesn’t borrow from Boris Karloff’s famous cinematic portrayal with famous make-up by Jack Pierce. Gone are the green-skin, neck bolts and obvious scars. Instead, he is drawn as a homely, large man with a bald head.
Adventures Into the Unknown #5 (June-July 1949)
Adventures Into the Unknown had all kinds of crazy ideas in it at the beginning. This comic is no exception. The monster is not made of the flesh of dead men but a robot housed in realistic plastic flesh.
The scientist who creates it is Daniel Warren with the help of his older assistant, Lambert Pardway. Pardway is jealous of Warren and plans a revenge. He is dying of a fatal disease. When he dies, he has Warren put his brain in the robot. Later the thing goes on a rampage and Warren thinks he can hear a voice directing it. The monster goes after Warren’s fiancee, Marcia Duncan, who sees the ghost of Pardway.
Warren destroys the link between the brain and the ghost by incinerating Pardway’s body in the cyclotron. The robot is reduced to a docile giant, ready for the next adventure.
Adventures Into the Unknown #6 (August-September 1949)
Warren is worried that some kind of spirit influence remains in the robot. Marcia suggests he try Dr. Daggett, a psychic investigator. Warren agrees but later chides himself for being unscientific. But he can see there is something lurking in the monster’s eyes. Marcia drives off to Daggett’s creepy house. Inside she finds it filled with scary portraits with moving eyes.
She overhears Daggett talking to someone about the monster. Daggett confronts Marcia (who has mysteriously received a name change to Holmes.) Daggett sends his portrait spirits to take over the robot. The thing goes on another rampage. Warren goes to see a colleague who suggests a shot of Dr. Marsden’s new serum might help.
Daniel manages to get the shot into the robot who then becomes good and defends the couple from Daggett’s evil ghosts.
Adventures Into the Unknown #8 (December 1949-January 1950)
Wanting more control, Warren visits Dr. Enslow for a machine to drive out the ghosts. Pardway’s ghost returns again to warn the monster.
When Daniel attaches the device, the monster turns the nob in the opposite direction, not driving out ghosts but attracting them. He is now powerful again with several spirits inside him. He goes on a rampage, heading this time for Oak Ridge and its nuclear testing facility. Daniel and Marcia follow in a helicopter.The monster plans to release radioactive gas and kill thousands, claiming their spirits.
Daniel manages to turn the dial down and drive out the ghosts.
Adventures Into the Unknown #9 (February-March 1950)
Daniel and Marcia go to the local prison to witness an experiment in mass hypnosis by Dr. Travis. Marcia sees that the minds of the prisoners were changed. While driving back from the experiment, the couple and Dr. Travis see a pair of haunting eyes.
Some kind of new spirit creature has appeared. When the phantom goes on a spree, Warren brings his robot monster to stop it.
Warren and Travis realize that the phantom was created by the hypnotized prisoners.
Adventures Into the Unknown #10 (April-May 1950)
Marcia’s friend, Betty calls in the couple when she begins to see strange birds around her place. Betty explains it started when she brought a vase back from her European vacation. When the vase is brought near the monster, the spirit in it, an ancient sorcerer with a bird’s body, takes over the robot.
The evil spirit sends the robot on a rampage. Betty and Marcia do some research and discover the vase is from ancient Egypt and belonged to Nefer-Ra, royal sorcerer of Rameses IV.
Attempts to stop the robot fail, as Nefer-Ra is returned to human form. He meets his end when the strange birds appear and attack him.
Adventures Into the Unknown #12 (August-September 1950)
A mysteriously Mr. Wayland Smith shows up at the lab. Marcia takes an immediate dislike to him. (Marcia mysteriously suffers another name change, now Davis.) Acid is accidentally splashed in Wayland’s face and he flees. Unfortunately, Smith is actually a two thousand year old spirit who becomes human for an hour every day.
He is indestructible, receiving a new body each day. When he returns his face is not scarred by acid. He takes control of the robot. Daniel valiantly fights with Smith, though he is powerless against the spirit’s might. But Daniel is bidding his time. Midnight comes and Smith’s hour is up.
Taking control of the robot, Warren uses it to defeat the ancient evil.
Adventures Into the Unknown #16 (February 1951)
We learn in this episode that the robot gets a dose of “Creatine” every day. Marcia catches the monster taking Creatine and it drops the bottle. Marcia goes back to the cyclotron, which Daniel s hoping to use to rescue some trapped miner. She has forgotten to clean up the spilled Creatine. It gets zapped and turns into a green monster with horns.
Warren returns to find the creature fighting the robot. The green thing flees. Experimenting with Creatine, Dan discovers that a high voltage current makes the solution explode. The monster meanwhile goes to the mine site to cause trouble. Daniel, Marcia and the robot show up. The robot fights the green beast and destroys it when he zaps it with fallen power lines. The resulting explosion blows open the mine. The miners are rescued.
The story ends with Daniel and the robot ready to fight any new terrors from the unknown. Those adventures remain unwritten.
“The Spirit of Frankenstein” was an appropriate title for this comic. Every episode involved ghosts in some way. The story began as a monthly attempt by evil ghosts to take over the robot, but by the end the monster becomes something of a ghostbreaker, a defender against the supernatural. The blend of ghost stories and robot tale is an odd one but not unique. Several stories at Weird Tales involved spirit taking over robot machines.
The Unknown Author
The author of these stories is not known. (The fact that Marcia’s name kept changing might mean more than one hand?) It would be nice to think that Frank Belknap Long, the same author who wrote “The Vapor Death” (Astounding Stories, October 1934), “The Ether Robots” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1942), “He Came at Dusk” (Weird Tales, January 1944), and It Was the Day of the Robot (1963) had penned these stories but the evidence is against it. Long’s contributions are well documented.
Conclusion
The idea of the killer robot began with Frankenstein so it is only fair that the two ideas be combined here. Many Pulp stories will say things like “That machine is another Frankenstein!”, which is wrong-minded on two fronts. First the scientist is Frankenstein, not the monster, and two, the original monster was not a robot but a man made of dead men’s bodies. This comic, like so many that came after the 1931 film, blurs the lines on who is Frankenstein and what the creature was made of. Today, any out-of-control technology is often called a “Frankenstein”.
All the comics mentioned are available free at DCM.
