Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Volume 2: Son of Satan's Ring

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

by Matt Kindt (Writer), Jeff Lemire, Alberto Ponticelli (Illustrations)

The mysterious organization known as S.H.A.D.E. protects the world from its most dangerous supernatural threats. But what happens when the threat comes from within S.H.A.D.E. itself? Frankestein and his Creature Commandoes must investigate suspected double-agents in their own field offices. Their first stop is the Untropolis--an exact copy of Metropolis that floats upside down in the 4th Cloud above Superman's hometown. Will Frank and company be able to stop the threat to S.H.A.D.E. before the organization gets capsized from the inside?

Critically acclaimed writer Jeff Lemire (ANIMAL MAN) and Matt Kindt bring you the second volume of FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E., one of the breakout series from DC Comics--The New 52!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Horror, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I didn't like Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Vol. 1: War of the Monsters. In fact, if I read my review of that one correctly, I said something along the lines of..
won't be picking up the next volume.

Well, I'm a liar. What can I say?
And the cover for this one was shiny and new...must touch...so I reached out and snatched it up.
Free comics at the library! You don't turn a gift like that down!

Anyway, I enjoyed this! It was (my opinion) a vast improvement over the 1st volume.
Frank still waffled between spouting poetry and making that hrmmm noise, but at least I felt something for the characters this time around.
Also, you get his origin story in Secrets of the Dead. Not to mention, you find out what the falling out with Ms. Frankenstein was over.
Juicy!
Ok, not juicy, but I can definitely see why she was so pissed.
For me, it was these missing pieces that really pulled this title out the Land of Iffy.

The last bit of the volume is part of the Rotworld crossover with the Animal Man and Swamp Thing titles. It' all Frankenstein's journey, and no repeating issues (filler) from the other titles. Good stuff, even if I knew the outcome.

I'll definitely read the next volume if I get the chance!

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

*one mild spoiler*

I would only give about 2 stars for the writing, but a good solid 4 for the art, so ended up at 3.

Jeff Lemire, author of the first Frankenstein volume, pens the first two issues collected here, and they are not that satisfying, as we see the son of Frank and Lady Frank, but get very little in the way of introduction to why the son is so troubled. It seems rather rushed.

Then Matt Kindt takes over the scripting chores. Telling the origin of Frank, the incursion into Untropolis and the suspected mole housed in the Graveyard of Leviathans, then the whole Rotworld tie in...yi. Just messy. Kindt on more than one occasion uses a narrator to move the story along, and then the expose of the mole is just terrible because we didn't know him in the first place. Who cares?

Then the Rotworld issues are just boring as fuck because there's no real context outside these issues of what is going on. I suppose all the cool action is over in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, but here Kindt just puts Frank and crew through the motions, kinda like those old issues during Crisis on Infinite Earths. At least there you had the Monitor spouting off, but here, it's all Frank with very little additional information.

The last issue really shows what could have been done with the book, as Frank and the Creature Commandos take down a terrorist unit with a bio-weapon at their disposal. Artist Ponticelli gives a couple of visual cues back to the Fred Carrillo art from Weird War Tales (Frank riding a missile a la Dr Strangelove), and the story is just fun, beat 'em up adventure.

It's worth the read, because Frankenstein and S.H.A.D.E. are such interesting subjects, but Kindt chose some rather unconventional story-telling methods that don't work well here at all.

[Brian Garthoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this volume really captures how this series died with a whimper. I liked Lemire’s issues, Kindt’s were tonally very different and hamstrung by them jamming in a Rotworld event that makes it read like hell. Then it just sort of stops! So no resolution on the characters themselves which is a bit of a shame since Lemire’s start was very character driven.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

After the abysmal first volume of this series, I thought I'd given up on it. Then I saw that Matt Kindt took over from Jeff Lemire in volume 2, and figured I'd give it one last try. Not worth it! Despite the change in creative teams, this already bad series somehow manages to get even worse.

First, we open with Lemire's final two issues writing Frankenstein (yet another very weird choice from DC's collections department, who seems to love cobbling together New 52 trades that make no thematic sense). The same problems plague these final two issues as did the first 7. Lemire is all setup and no payoff. He's been building to some big reveal about Frankenstein's son, and how he's gone rogue and seems to be a super intimidating Big Bad. But... no? He's just an easily-dispatched monster with seemingly no brain? He literally ties this whole story up in one issue. It feels like he just gave up in the middle of writing this arc.

Then, once Kindt takes over, things get worse. Kindt seems to be a writer who loves to tell us what his great ideas would've been if he could've come up with a narrative structure to house them. Instead what we're left with is a narrator literally just listing off "cool ideas" for several issues, none of which connect, influence the current plot, or ever payoff. It is the single worst example of "tell don't show" I've ever seen, no kidding. It made me throw the book down in frustration, literally.

And I'm never picking it up again! It's that bad. I can't bring myself to waste any more time on this horrible garbage. What should've been a very bonkers, Grant Morrison-esque mashup of sci-fi and horror themes is instead an overflowing stew of half-baked ideas and empty characters. This is genuinely the worst New 52 comic I've read, and that's really saying something. Avoid it!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 2 takes us to a place SHADE doesn't want us to go, into their inner works. Betrayal most foul and an insider who is burning the institution down from the inside. Also Frankenstein's son is featured here, and has to be dealt with.
The Rot has come, and it turns all living life against reality. It is primal and powerful, destructive and hungry. Frank just happens to not be alive in the normal sense, so is suited superbly to war with this foe. He, his wife and the Creature Commandos go into battle expecting to lose and indeed it is close.
This book was as good as the first and again a surprise to me. I would love to read more of this stuff and I hope in the future we see more!

Danny

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yaaaaawn.

The first two issues of this volume, like the last two issues of the first one, are where this series really hit its stride, balancing the creature-smashing with the personal drama of Frankenstein and his wife. Then, it all goes to hell.

Matt Kindt is a writer that I've given multiple chances to impress me, and every time I do, I come away burned and regretting I bothered, and I think this is the final straw.

His opening story, 'Son of Satan's Ring', is not just an unfortunate title, it's also pretty nonsensical as a story. It wanders around and gives Frankenstein stuff to punch but doesn't ultimately explain what the hell is going on, and ends with a cliffhanger that is almost immediately taken off on a different story track and makes my head hurt.

The Zero Issue is actually pretty good, I'll admit. It ties into the next storyline well and gives us some solid background on Frankenstein and Victor, so it's not all bad in this volume, but one shining star in Kindt's 8 or so issues isn't something to boast about.

The Rotworld story here starts off with a good idea, but it throws in so many story points that are either not explained properly (what's so special about the Soul Grinder? How does it work?) or are literally introduced and killed off in three pages (Weird golden Amazon women who turn into a giant sword and die, with no explanation. What the hell?). The story also falls prey to the old What If? problem in that, because the story is going to get erased at the end, everyone dies horrible painful deaths for no reason. It's just sad.

The art is a lot stronger than before, with Alberto Ponticelli still pencilling each issue here but now joined by Wayne Faucher on inks, which gives his lines more definition which it lacked previously. The visuals are always strong, and the design work on the monsters is always varied and sometimes downright gross. It's a shame the writing is a different kind of gross.

[Joshua Adam Bain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a title I didn't expect much from, but one that I really came to love!

It's no secret I'm a big Lemire fan, I loved what he did with Animal Man and I'm currently enjoying the hell out of his run with Justice League Dark. This series previously didn't have much depth with characters and stories, but this volume definitely stepped it up in all aspects. The book kicks off where we left off, with Frank and his wife on the hunt for their escaped son. This story felt a bit rushed, but I think the point of the story was suppose to focus on Father Time's manipulative and somewhat unsavoury ways. This gave us more of a feel for what kind of person Frank is, having his origin story in there helped even more. I thought the chemistry between Frank and Nina progressed well as the book went on. Especially so in the Rotworld tie in, which is a crossover I really enjoyed. And getting to see Franks side of the battle brought a really cool new aspect to it. The big step up in this book was the art. The first volume was a bit scratchy and not that this one is clean, but it made it a lot more enjoyable to look at.

This book won't be for everyone, but I sure as hell enjoyed it. If you like weird monsters and crazy stories filled with fun and action then this is one for you. Luckily for me Frank has sort of joined JLD, so I'll still get to see him get brutal and kick some major ass!

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankenstein and Shade take on more supernatural menaces. This time it includes the ROT crossover. The first story with his child was very good, and quite touching. It went downhill after that. And it got a bit confusing as the ROT story line is continued in other titles. An ok read.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gotta say, I was looking forward to having more fun with Frankenstein and his buddies, but unfortunately this second and final volume kinda sucks. And I have to lay a lot of that at the foot of the change in writers.

Now, admittedly, Jeff Lemire does start this volume out with a follow up on the cliffhanger from last time. Along with various other monsters, Frankenstein's son has escaped. Now Frankenstein and his ex-wife track him to Castle Frankenstein, and it seems like it will be some huge epic conflict with a new villain but instead it's just a mercy killing and yet another reason for Frank to distrust Father Time. So somewhat of a non-event but I suspect that might be Lemire rushing to wrap up to make way for Matt Kindt.

Which would've been fine, if Matt Kindt's issues were any good. And boy, they could've been. Frankenstein is now jaunting into other dimensions and giant monsters in pursuit of a traitor to SHADE. But the thing is all the cool wacky stuff in the world doesn't really work if the writing isn't there, and this comic suffers from turning things into summaries. Hell, the last issue of the traitor arc is one character recapping things to another and it's clear that this whole story could've taken up the whole volume and been more exciting. But with even less room to breathe than the Tim Hunter in another world stuff had in JLD, it just doesn't work.

And then things get even worse in the last four issues of the book. First, we spend three issues randomly pulling Frankenstein into a crossover based around the Red and the Green metaphysics stuff that apparently is big in Animal Man and Swamp Thing respectively. But the problem is aside from a little time spent with the big nasty Rot earlier this volume, I really don't have the background to know or care about any of this, and it feels random that Frankenstein of all characters get involved. Plus the story here is once again rushed through quite quickly and it's clear at the end that none of this is a complete story. Instead these three issues just set up a plot point in the real crossover, which I'd need to read in Animal Man and Swamp thing to really get the impact. Plus from what I can tell this is one of those "bad future that gets undone by the end of the story" things so why should I care about any of it?

And the comic goes out with a whimper, even if it contains a bang, with a single random final issue that sees Frank and the gang randomly fighting some guys with a bomb on the way to a bigger mission that we'll never see.

It's sad, because the overall idea of Universal Monsters as a supers team is a great one, and it sounds like the OG Creature Commandos were pretty fun. And this book was setting things up pretty well in the first volume, with fun conflicts and the potential for cool stories. But this second volume just falls flat on its face and with the comic cancelled, I have to assume very little of the interesting possibilities will ever be followed up on. Sure, Frankenstein appears in Justice League Dark, but the rest of the gang doesn't, and I'll be surprised if much follow up occurs to anything about his buddies or his conflict with Father Time. On the one hand, I wish this book had been given more time to try to find a second wind, but on the other hand I suspect cancellation was probably a mercy kill.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny thing happened on the way to final issues of Frankenstein: Jeff Lemire tagged out and let pal Matt Kindt take over.

Lemire and Kindt seem to have been colleagues before they traded off in these pages, but their collaborating became much more well-known in the pages of Valiant comics, where they helped redefine superhero comics for the modern ages (note to readers: you can start noticing any minute). Both also helped jumpstart creator-owned comics, too. Kindt, for instance, had just launched his masterful Mind MGMT at the time he took over Frankenstein.

I mention that because clearly he had his other project on the mind when he devised his approach to Lemire's existing material. In Mind MGMT, Kindt explores the after effects of government agents tasked with deep-level espionage, who had special powers that eventually left themselves and their work compromised.

So Kindt's approach to Frankenstein is pretty different from Lemire's. The first collected volume of material, featuring Lemire's take, is big ideas at breakneck speed. This second volume, with two additional stories from Lemire that round out his time with the paced slowed down, has the same idea of playing fast and loose with superhero tropes, but seemingly with a dream logic applied, so that stories progress regardless of having everything spelled out.

This may have a disruptive effect on some readers. So, too, will tie-in stories to crossover events that occur throughout the volume, but I think Lemire and Kindt nicely find relevance to Frankenstein, so anyone who complains about that is probably just complaining for the sake of complaining.

But it becomes clear that although the series last for seventeen issues, it was designed to last longer. So some of the results may be the result of compression, trying to find some resolution while also leaving an open ending, should there have been a possibility that these characters returned (which as we now know didn't happen). The final issue has great fun with this, letting the "real world" stumble into their adventures, but deciding to pretend they possibly be real.

To it's credit, DC did what it could to keep Frankenstein going, realizing what a fun new comic it had stumbled upon, but it wasn't to be. We're left with material that speaks for itself, and will help justify the company should it attempt a revival at some point.

It could certainly do worse than try and entice Lemire or Kindt to return.

[Aaron Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only problem is you have to read new 52 animal man by Jeff Lemire to make sense of the story and to see the conclusion. Sad to see it ended, but i can see how it wasn’t for everyone and probably didn’t sell well.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[superhero fan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than the first probably

[Cass Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's cool ideas in here but my god does it just feel like a 2010s edgefest with little substance or continuity.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a mess at the end.

[Dominic · Rating 3 out of 5]

His part in rotworld was cool, but otherwise, this was pretty meh.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fighting for its own existence by the end, the art remained rough, and the writing took a hit when Kint took over. A real dud. No wonder barely anyone remembers it.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #0 and #8-16 (June 2012-March 2013). With Lady Frankenstein leaving S.H.A.D.E. and his creator Victor returning, Frankenstein finds himself trying to deal with the Rot and its attempts to take over the planet. Frankenstein finds he might be immune to the effects of the Rot but protecting those around him could be more difficult than he ever expected.

Written by Matt Kindt and Jeff Lemire and featuring art by Alberto Ponticelli, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. Volume 2: Secrets of the Dead is part of DC Comics’ New 52 relaunch. Following Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. 1: War of the Monsters, the series features a crossover with Animal Man and Swamp Thing’s Rotworld storyline. The volume is the final volume of the series.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. was one of the more intriguing titles of the New 52 relaunch. Unlike many of the characters, Frankenstein hadn’t really had a solo comic (he was part of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory series) and it was unclear what the comic’s tone would be. Though I loved the idea of Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., I found it a difficult and sometimes frustrating read.

The writing is both overly complex and then vague. At points, you have difficulty following what is going on in the story (like the “Satan’s Ring” storyline) and you have to keep rereading to see if you missed a step. It is frustrating because I like the characters and some of the storylines are interesting…it just isn’t always readable.

I like the joke-y overly acronymed world of S.H.A.D.E. where everything has a complex name, but the mysteries of S.H.A.D.E. also falter this volume. Frankenstein essentially goes solo for most of the book and the stuff they did with S.H.A.D.E. in the first volume is never expanded upon. It is a frustration of the cancellation, and the Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #16 is a very unsatisfying “conclusion” to the series.

I think the worst part of Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. is the missed potential. The series obviously borrowed from Hellboy, and Frankenstein in the pre-New 52 world would have had a ton of occult and mystical events to explore with S.H.A.D.E. Instead, he was dropped into a new world where mysteries had to first be revealed and then uncovered…it wasn’t a good fit. Frankenstein didn’t “die” with the end of the this series and went on to frequently appear in Justice League Dark (until that title ended as well).

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume starts off OK, and when Kindt takes over, it seems to be on its way up, but after just two issues, in #12, it goes totally off the tracks and never recovers. What a waste!

Lemire's Frankenstein (8-9) is strongly character-driven. We get to know Frank, the Missus, and Nina through some adventures that offer interesting looks at their history and the wider world of DC (via Animal Man's rot). They're good stories [6+/10].

Kindt's Frankenstein, starting with Satain's Ring (10-12) is clearly a different beast. The adventures immediately take on a fantastical pulp feel that was missing from the monster-fighting-of-the-week of previous runs. I really loved the first two issues of this new arc, but then for some reason Kindt went to synopsis in the last issue, which totally anticlimaxed (and, really, ruined) the otherwise cool story. It's a pretty inexplicable decision, that I assume has to do with finishing things up quickly so that he could participate in obligatory crossovers [5+/10].

The 0 Issue is entirely dull, sadly [4/10].

Rotworld (13-15). So first the comic takes an abrupt right-turn and starts babbling about the Red and the Rot, and it feels totally inappropriate. Then everything turns into a big fight where everyone dies. Then in the last issue, Kindt starts doing that dull synopsizing thing again. Then, we don't even get a conclusion. There's apparently a reset button, which I suppose must have been in Animal Man or Swamp Thing, but DC isn't interested in giving you the complete story. So, there's no explanation in this volume of how everyone isn't dead and/or undead after the last issue of this arc. What a train wreck [2/10].

The Final Issue (16). Frankenstein fights a bomb [4/10].

And then the comic was mercifully cancelled.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Synopsis: "The mysterious organization known as S.H.A.D.E. protects the world from its most dangerous supernatural threats. But what happens when the threat comes from within S.H.A.D.E. itself? Frankestein and his Creature Commandoes must investigate suspected double-agents in their own field offices. Their first stop is the Untropolis--an exact copy of Metropolis that floats upside down in the 4th Cloud above Superman's hometown. Will Frank and company be able to stop the threat to S.H.A.D.E. before the organization gets capsized from the inside?"

My Review: After absolutely loving the first volume I had to immediately track down this volume. I have to say I was a little disappointed, I felt like the issues in this volume took a really odd turn to make them come out the way someone wanted. While I still enjoyed Frankenstein and his fellow Agents the story took a much larger role as opposed to the characters and I didn't connect as well with them. The storyline itself also felt a little scattered compared to the first volume. All in all it did not turn out how I would have liked nor was it anywhere as good as the first.

[Lillian Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

#8 Frank questions his future with SHADE.
#9 Lucky I skimmed Animal Man cos this ties in with Buddy’s recent disappearance (*spoiler alert* I think he’s in The Red)
#10-12 Frank’s looking for a mole in some very weird places and suffering flashbacks from his donor parts that is causing mental distress. Ooh (#12) Frank’s been cured of the flashbacks, he’s kissed Nina (now she no longer needs her head tank) and he appears to have amassed a personal army.
Loved the art, Frank, the rest the team (did the other guys get out of the weird upside down world), and enjoyed the story.
#13 - 15 part of Rot World storyline. Victor Frankenstein returns as an ally of Anton Arcane. Many of the team die attempting to stop him. Everyone else is turned into 'monsters' of the Frank variety. These issues happen before Frank and his army join Animal Man to fight Arcane.
#16 A one shot to round off the series. It leaves Frank in a bad place, depressed, denying himself a relationship, and wanting to leave SHADE. However the art is great and I enjoyed the story.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not nearly as crazed as the first volume, there's still a lot to like in the annals of Frankenstein. It's still brash, over-the-top gung-ho with Frankenstein (and occasionally the critter commandos) fighting for justice against all manner of enemies, from his own creator to the Rot (crossing over from Swamp Thing and Animal Man in a multi-issue arc that wouldn't have made much sense if I hadn't read Rotworld first). Crazy ideas are all over the place (the tendency for acronyms is a steady in-joke), and Frankenstein plays to type well, ignoring subtlety and driving straight through all opponents. It's a fun book, heavier in story than the previous collections, but interweaving cross-canon stories into its major plot fairly well. The Rotworld section in particular is memorable, allowing an Elseworlds style of story to be told.

[sixthreezy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was a lot better than the first volume. Frankenstein's story begins to slide towards the Animal Man and Swamp Thing plots and explains how he got to the volumes of theirs he was in. The story was much better this time around, but this volume is a 10 issue arc that definitely overstayed it's welcome. It was a quick read though, so I'm not complaining too much. I think people interested in the monster mash concept of Frankenstein and his fellow monsters fighting bad guys will find something to enjoy, but it doesn't excel in being a quality, top shelf comic.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second and final volume of Frankenstein's exploits has lots of good stuff but doesn't grab me as well as the first one did. I suspect that's because he gets caught up in a Big Event involving Animal Man and Swamp Thing (though they don't show up here) which throws things off. Seriously, how can you have Frankenstein (who occasionally grumbles about being stuck with the name) face down his creator and end up with an anticlimax? Still enough good stuff I'm not sorry I read it.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable ending to the series: I'll miss it. It's unfortunate that the end of the main story line refers the reader to collections of two other series, but that's the nature of corporate crossovers, and I was planning to read those other collections anyway. I like the fact that the entire team is back for the final story, rather than dead (whatever that means in comic books). Their story is over for now, but some day they'll be back.

[Richard Rosenthal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume ties in to the rotworld story in Animal Man and Swamp Thing without actually involving cross overs so the story is self contained. I can see why this series came to an end. It tries really hard to be Hellboy.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was total crazy town, but I enjoyed it a lot more than most of the Justice League Dark books. Reminds me of the absurdity, yet total depth of detail, Guillermo del Toro brought to Hellboy 2. Fun!

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shame that the series didn't last very long. It was very fun while it lasted.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked this volume quite a bit, just seemed like good clean sci-fi. And the rot was handeled well with Victor Frankenstein.

[Charlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like a Hellboy movie with the Universal movie monsters. I feel this had potential but just fell short.