Comic review: Frankenstein Underground #1- Average Frankenstein monster book

Writer: Mike Mignola
Artist: Ben Stenbeck
Colours: Dave Stewart
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 18th March 2015


I’ve just read an average comic book about the Frankenstein monster. It’s not horrible, but there isn’t much to it.

The monster is abandoned, as is usual in Frankenstein books. He finds a kindly face, the kindly face dies, monster is alone again. The book concludes with the monster getting a passport to what looks like the HellBoy universe, so if you want to see what he gets up to, buy Frankenstein Underground #2.

As for me, I’m not a Hellboy fanboy (if they even exist) so I don’t see what else this series has to offer for me. The book is set, ‘Somewhere in Mexico, 1956’ so that holds no interest to me. Why is the monster in Mexico? So he can be put in a narrative involving Mayan/Aztec spooky god stuff I guess. Why is it set in 1956, and not the far more interesting present of 2015? I don’t know. I guess it’s just easier and less controversial to set it in that time period, rather than dealing with what is going on in Mexico today.

The artwork has nice colouring by the always very good Dave Stewart, but there’s a lack of detail in the pencilling. The monster looks lanky and generic, and the supporting cast lack enough detail to make them interesting.

Nothing going on here feels new. It feels routine, and ordinary. I’m not very excited about it, and I can’t see any other readers being blown away by it either. It’s okay, but there’s a million okay comics out there and if something’s just okay you ask yourself, what’s the point in it? I don’t know. It seems pretty pointless. I don’t want to be unkind, but it’s just another book with a lonely, persecuted, tormented Frankenstein monster in it, that’s all.

Rating: 4/10