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Called into Being: A Celebration of Frankenstein
200 years ago, Mary Shelley published Frankenstein, little realizing that it would become one of the most influential novels in the English language, and credited with creating the science fiction genre. Artists, writers, scientists, and thinkers of all kinds have continued to return to this book as inspiration over the past two centuries.
Rather than reinterpret or update the novel, we want to celebrate our creators' personal histories and relationships with Shelley’s landmark novel. We know firsthand the impact Frankenstein can have on readers, as both editors, Allison O'Toole (Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women) and Megan Purdy (Bleating Hearts Press), are longtime fans. In this collection, we're excited to explore the places were our lives and literature connect.
With a cover by Richard Pace (Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, Imaginary Fiends), we’re excited to bring you 100 pages of personal essays, illustrations, and comics by a fantastic team of creators.
The zine will be printed in Canada, and will be 6x9", black and white, and perfect bound.
Inside You'll Find:
Anatomy of a Creature, a comic by Keith WTS Morris and gillian blekkenhorst
Becoming Dr. Frankenstein, an essay by Christine Prevas with an illustration by seren krakens
Bride of Frankenstein, Mother of Monsters, an essay by Kayleigh Hearn with an illustration by Clara Meath
Confronting God, a comic by Nadia Shammas and Sam Beck
Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Relatable, an essay by Véronique Emma Houxbois with an illustration by Amy Spaulding
Frankenstein's Snowman, an essay by Billy Seguire with an illustration by Saffron Aurora
From Among the Trees, a comic by Tess Eneli Reid
Mary Shelley’s FrankenDNA: Science Responsibly, an illustrated essay by Maddy Beaupré
"My Sweet Arabian:" Finding Clarity in Frankenstein as a Muslim, an essay by Safiyya Hosein with illustrations by K. Guillory
Neighbours, a comic by Matthew McGrath and Jon Berg
The Other Indugled, an illustrated essay by Laura Neubert
The Postmodern Prometheus, a comic by Sam Noir and Gwen Howarth
Reanimating Bones: Reading Frankenstein in Skeleton Park, an essay by Lindsay Young with an illustration by Sara Julia Campbell
Son of Frankenstein, a comic by Miike and Sunny Go
Home Body, an essay by Andrea Ayres with an illustration by Cleopatria Peterson
Trash Mirror, a comic by Steven Andrews and Helen Robinson
(Un)Bury Your Gays, an essay by Nicholas Gambone with an illustration by Quintin Dixon
Rather than reinterpret or update the novel, we want to celebrate our creators' personal histories and relationships with Shelley’s landmark novel. We know firsthand the impact Frankenstein can have on readers, as both editors, Allison O'Toole (Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women) and Megan Purdy (Bleating Hearts Press), are longtime fans. In this collection, we're excited to explore the places were our lives and literature connect.
With a cover by Richard Pace (Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, Imaginary Fiends), we’re excited to bring you 100 pages of personal essays, illustrations, and comics by a fantastic team of creators.
The zine will be printed in Canada, and will be 6x9", black and white, and perfect bound.
Inside You'll Find:
Anatomy of a Creature, a comic by Keith WTS Morris and gillian blekkenhorst
Becoming Dr. Frankenstein, an essay by Christine Prevas with an illustration by seren krakens
Bride of Frankenstein, Mother of Monsters, an essay by Kayleigh Hearn with an illustration by Clara Meath
Confronting God, a comic by Nadia Shammas and Sam Beck
Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Relatable, an essay by Véronique Emma Houxbois with an illustration by Amy Spaulding
Frankenstein's Snowman, an essay by Billy Seguire with an illustration by Saffron Aurora
From Among the Trees, a comic by Tess Eneli Reid
Mary Shelley’s FrankenDNA: Science Responsibly, an illustrated essay by Maddy Beaupré
"My Sweet Arabian:" Finding Clarity in Frankenstein as a Muslim, an essay by Safiyya Hosein with illustrations by K. Guillory
Neighbours, a comic by Matthew McGrath and Jon Berg
The Other Indugled, an illustrated essay by Laura Neubert
The Postmodern Prometheus, a comic by Sam Noir and Gwen Howarth
Reanimating Bones: Reading Frankenstein in Skeleton Park, an essay by Lindsay Young with an illustration by Sara Julia Campbell
Son of Frankenstein, a comic by Miike and Sunny Go
Home Body, an essay by Andrea Ayres with an illustration by Cleopatria Peterson
Trash Mirror, a comic by Steven Andrews and Helen Robinson
(Un)Bury Your Gays, an essay by Nicholas Gambone with an illustration by Quintin Dixon
100 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2019
23 people want to read
About the author
Allison O'Toole
32 books8 followersAllison is a freelance comics editor living in Toronto, Canada.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 6, 2019
A fascinating collection of personal essays that does an overview of the impact of Frankenstein on individuals. A great look into how literature impacts us (and obviously, especially great for Frankenstein fans).
It includes:
* A comic-style essay about the fear of death and the reflection on those who feel outcast, as well as a general human-condition thing -- see also AI that we develop now
* A narrative essay about the movie the Bride of Frankenstein and how it ties to Mary Shelley.
* A narrative essay about how, after writing a dissertation about transgender interpretations of Frankenstein's Monster, the author in a post-dissertation state felt more like Victor
* A fictional comic about how freaking absurd it must have been to be Victor's neighbour
* A narrative essay on the importance of raising children with a sense of play and joy, as seen by the differences in Frankenstein and Frosty the Snowman
* A narrative essay on the tendency to ignore (and in fact, treat as a matter of pride) the harm we do to ourselves in pursuit of creativity.
* A narrative essay about a Muslim woman's relationship to the book -- especially through the lens of sharing the same name as the "Sweet Arabian", Safie.
* A comic essay about one person's struggle with depression after his father's surgery and feeling like the monster who can't quite express himself to his father
* A narrative essay about the empathic experience of grading first-year essays on Frankenstein in a gothic park full of skeletons
* A comic essay about the experience of being interrogated for liking grotesque art
* A narrative essay about the struggle of the privileged middle-class not to let anyone know about their struggles, and Victor being born into privilege and trying to break society's rules
* A comic essay about moving between feeling separate from the world to observing its secret spaces.
* A narrative essay about male chauvinism at the center of so much progress, and how derivative works about the female characters are deeply empathetic
* A comic essay about how many creators use Frankenstein as a jumping-off point for new creative works, and what about it inspires the creative journey
* A narrative essay about the influence of Frankenstein throughout all Sci-Fi (and what women in science have to offer).
* A comic ...fictional story? Essay? Sort of both... about media empires remixing and remixing the same franchises, and what happens to the spark of creativity of the original with them.
* A rewrite of Frankenstein's ending.
All of these are bite-sized, easy to digest personal works that flow easily one into another. Tapping out at 97 pages, none of this is too deeply academic--rather, it focuses on our relationships, often as outsiders to dominant society (as women, as poc, as queer people), with creativity, through the lens of a text about the destructive search for creativity and the creation of an outsider. A really excellent collection with great editing and fantastic art tying it all together.
*
It includes:
* A comic-style essay about the fear of death and the reflection on those who feel outcast, as well as a general human-condition thing -- see also AI that we develop now
* A narrative essay about the movie the Bride of Frankenstein and how it ties to Mary Shelley.
* A narrative essay about how, after writing a dissertation about transgender interpretations of Frankenstein's Monster, the author in a post-dissertation state felt more like Victor
* A fictional comic about how freaking absurd it must have been to be Victor's neighbour
* A narrative essay on the importance of raising children with a sense of play and joy, as seen by the differences in Frankenstein and Frosty the Snowman
* A narrative essay on the tendency to ignore (and in fact, treat as a matter of pride) the harm we do to ourselves in pursuit of creativity.
* A narrative essay about a Muslim woman's relationship to the book -- especially through the lens of sharing the same name as the "Sweet Arabian", Safie.
* A comic essay about one person's struggle with depression after his father's surgery and feeling like the monster who can't quite express himself to his father
* A narrative essay about the empathic experience of grading first-year essays on Frankenstein in a gothic park full of skeletons
* A comic essay about the experience of being interrogated for liking grotesque art
* A narrative essay about the struggle of the privileged middle-class not to let anyone know about their struggles, and Victor being born into privilege and trying to break society's rules
* A comic essay about moving between feeling separate from the world to observing its secret spaces.
* A narrative essay about male chauvinism at the center of so much progress, and how derivative works about the female characters are deeply empathetic
* A comic essay about how many creators use Frankenstein as a jumping-off point for new creative works, and what about it inspires the creative journey
* A narrative essay about the influence of Frankenstein throughout all Sci-Fi (and what women in science have to offer).
* A comic ...fictional story? Essay? Sort of both... about media empires remixing and remixing the same franchises, and what happens to the spark of creativity of the original with them.
* A rewrite of Frankenstein's ending.
All of these are bite-sized, easy to digest personal works that flow easily one into another. Tapping out at 97 pages, none of this is too deeply academic--rather, it focuses on our relationships, often as outsiders to dominant society (as women, as poc, as queer people), with creativity, through the lens of a text about the destructive search for creativity and the creation of an outsider. A really excellent collection with great editing and fantastic art tying it all together.
*
October 6, 2019
A love letter (several actually) to Mary Shelley and the monster she created. Not Frankenstein's monster per say but the novel which took on a life of its own to inspire many others with its various themes across multiple mediums.
August 1, 2020
I love it. I am in it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews