Essential Monster of Frankenstein, Vol. 1

Frankenstein Monster #1-18

by Gary Friedrich, Doug Moench

In the same vein as ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA, Marvel unleashes the never-before-reprinted '70s horror title MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN! From his birth in a retelling of Mary Shelley's classic tale, follow the Monster as he faces Dracula and the Werewolf by Night during his search for revenge upon the last descendant of his creator, Victor Frankenstein! Collecting MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #1-5, FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER #6-18, GIANT-SIZE WEREWOLF #2, and stories from MONSTERS UNLEASHED #2 and #4-10.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Marvel, Fiction, Fantasy, Victor Frankenstein

496 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1975

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice collection of these Bronze age stories. The Ploog artwork is just perfect for the story. Enjoyable reads. Recommended

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I really like the Marvel 70s horror comics, so I admit my reviews can be a bit biased. The early issues are basically an adaptation of the novel with Mike Ploog art and are the highlight of the volume. The other issues aren't bad other than one storyline where Frankenstein ends up with the brain of a mouse...literally. (Don't ask.)

Overall this is a great collection including appearances by Dracula and the Werewolf by Night. The black and white art of this volume really worked with thee books as well. If you're a Frankenstein fan this is worth checking out.

[Nigel Parry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially, the most perfect comic strip ever created, before declining sharply mid-way and recovering toward the end. Presented here in black and white, which beautifully showcases the extraordinary artwork of Mike Ploog.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a kid in the 70s, I loved the Horror comics from Marvel. Though I was unable to get them on a regular basis.
So I was happy to see this collection of the Monster Of Frankenstein series.
Overall I enjoyed it.
At first a retelling of the original story, it soon branches off into new stories.
The Monster is brought into the 1970s, midway through the collection.
The story changes tone quite a bit.
The monster loses the ability to speak and that hurts the stories, IMO.
Dracula and Werewolf By Night make appearances here as well.
Good fun.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wildly uneven story, largely due to the constantly shifting creative team. Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog do a great job adapting the original novel, then we get Friedrich/John Buscema which doesn't work as well (particularly the Dracula plotline). Then we jump into the present under Doug Moench who starts with an awful story, picks up steam, then hands things to Bill Mantlo for the final chapter. This creates a jerky quality that doesn't improve things.
Still some fun to be had — whether it's enough fun is up to you.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning stayed reasonably close to the original tale and was surprisingly good. It did end a bit weaker but was still considerably better than the other Marvel monsters of the time.

[Willow Redd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable collection, but my main gripe is that some of the issues are not in chronological order, and easily could be.

The Monster of Frankenstein/Frankenstein Monster is an outstanding 70s Marvel horror series, starting with the origin of Frankenstein retold, then picking up 100 years later with the great, great grandson of Robert Walton in search of the Monster, leading to more misadventures of our misunderstood Monster.

While the Frankenstein Monster monthly was going on, there were also a series of black and white tales being told in the Monsters Unleashed magazine format series. These were more adult tales. Marvel used these issues to explain how the Monster arrived in the present day. Here, however, is where my problem lies.

It would have been simple for the compilers of this Essential collection to put the Monsters Unleashed story in the proper order along with the main title run. Instead, the Frankenstein Monster run is complete (with a brief interruption for Giant-Size Werewolf by Night, perfect place for the Monsters Unleashed story), followed by the full Monsters Unleashed run. It makes reading in proper story order difficult.

Another problem, there are several moments where different writers mix up the back story, screwing up certain elements like how the Monster damaged his throat (shown as damage from a vampire bite in the main title run, but explained as damage due to fire in Monsters Unleashed). Considering these books were being produced within months of each other, it's a glaring error that should have been noticed before the books went to print.

Overall, though, a fun read. Definitely worth picking up for comic fans and horror fans alike.

[[Name Redacted] · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting concept with interesting art, but the departures from the source material were thoroughly unnecessary. Even worse, the decision to suddenly make the monster a shambling, slow-witted mute halfway through made him little more than a plot device, with the focus almost entirely on incidental humans and ho-hum "villains".

Sadly inferior to the classic "Tomb of Dracula" comic; it's no wonder this series took so long to be collected in a trade paperback.

[David R. George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A better-than-average treatment of the Mary Shelley classic thanks to the writing of Gary Friedrich and company, although the collection would have been better served had it been printed in full color instead of black-and-white.

[Agung · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find the Friedrich & Ploog part really enjoyable. This is the rare occasion that I like Ploog better than Buscema.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im always a sucker for horror comics especially EC comics and this is no where near that but still an enjoyable read. I was impressed that it was not a campy series given it being a marvel comic

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good b/w-art, but sooooo muuuuuch talking and explaining things.