Hunh, I think I would have liked this better if I’d known going into it that it was based on the classic movie and not the novel. I know, I know, the “Universal Monsters” bit should have given it away but the Universal bit is in relatively small text on the cover there. I guess I just default hard to literary versions unless explicitly told otherwise, especially since the movie version is, in my memory, less dominant than the book.
This comic book retelling does bring fresh insight to the movie’s story, however, as it examines what makes a monster from a slightly more literal angle than its predecessors. The book begins with a boy grieving not only the loss of his father, but also the circumstances that that loss has plunged him into. Having run away from the home where he’s been placed, Paul is by his father’s grave in the rainy night when he hears voices. He quickly hides but manages to see that two men, Henry Frankenstein and Fritz, are digging up and stealing his father’s corpse.
Paul stows away in their wagon, and is brought to the tower where Henry is intent on bringing life to a creature cobbled together from human parts. Much of the rest of the story is told through Paul’s eyes, barring the flashbacks that seem disorienting at first but make perfect sense once you figure out how they’re all connected. Those aside, the book stays faithful to the original cut of the movie, at least until the end. While I do think the book’s final scene is a better closer than the film’s wedding toast, I didn’t understand who the guy talking to Paul is supposed to be: if you’ve read the book and know who, please do share in the comments!
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire