Number 829


Frightful Frankenstein Friday


Back in the early days of this blog, 2006-07, I ran a feature called Frankenstein Friday, which weekly, one by one, posted all of the stories I had from various issues of Dick Briefer's Frankenstein comic book, both the funny and horror comics versions.

Now we're back, along with several other bloggers, for one more day of Frankenstein Friday, celebrating Craig Yoe's new book, Dick Briefer's Frankenstein. Craig has combined some of the best of the best Frankenstein stories, covering the phases of his career, as chronicled by Briefer: the original, horrible-looking monstrosity, the funny Frankenstein, and the not-so-horrible, but horribly misunderstood monster.

As is true with all of Yoe's books, production work is second to none. This is the first book in a series about horror comics, a series I'm looking forward to.

Having seen the book, I give it my unqualified endorsement and enthusiastic approval. You will definitely want this book in your library. It is available at the usual booksellers as well as Amazon.com.

Dick Briefer is one of the great comic book men, whose career was most active during the 1940s. Here's a Frankenstein story by him from Prize Comics #39, 1944, where Frankenstein becomes a member of the Gestapo! (This story is not taken from Craig's book.)








You never have enough Frankenstein! Here is a photo of Craig's beautiful Dick Briefer's Frankenstein volume along with original Frankenstein comics #1 and #23 from the Pappy collection.

Karen Jambeck, wife of Dave Miller and friend of Pappy and Mrs. Pappy, is menaced by the Monster! Hope you got away, Karen, we don't want you to miss your birthday next Monday!

Sixteen fellow bloggers are also participating in Frightful Frankenstein Friday:

The Fabuleous Fifties

And Everything Else Too

Big Blog Of Kids' Comics

Blog Of Frankenstein

Sherm Cohen's Cartoon Snap

The Comic Book Bin

Comicrazys

Four-Color Shadows

Frankensteinia

The Horrors Of It All

The I.T.C.H. Blog

Magic Carpet Burn

Sekvenskonst (Sequential Art)

Sequential Crush

Steven Bissette

Random Acts of Geekery

Number 27

Frankenstein Friday: Frankenstein's Wife

This is the third story from Frankenstein Comics #1 from 1945, written and drawn by Dick Briefer.

The first two stories from the issue can be found in Pappy's Number 20 and Number 23.

This is a weird story--well, all of these Briefer Frankenstein stories are pretty weird--but this is weird even for Frankenstein, because sex rears its head. It's not explicit, just implied, but the statuesque, and toothsome Mrs. Frankenstein has some sort of sex appeal. Even more when the society gentlemen think she has $4,000,000.

Briefer was being original when he designed Mrs. Frankenstein (and no, she's not assigned a name except for that…something that Briefer did with supporting characters in many of his stories), because he didn't use the famous Elsa Lanchester Bride Of Frankenstein image to caricature. Rather than the beehive with lightning bolt design on The Bride's coiffure, Briefer put a Bettie Page hairdo on her head. You have to admit, Mrs. Frankenstein is pretty...ugh...unique.


I have read this story a couple of times over the years but I just noticed the note to the owner of the company Mrs. Frankenstein is quitting. The owner's name is W. C. Bowl, which would be Water Closet Bowl, or to us Yanks, Toilet Bowl. OK, it's not much of a joke, and its origin is probably in the experiences American GI's had in Britain during the war, but it must've appealed to Briefer's strange sense of humor.

Next week: Frankenstein and the Manimals!

Number 97

Frankenstein Friday: Frankenstein And The Plant!

Shades of Audrey II. For the final story in the horror comics incarnation of the Frankenstein monster, from Frankenstein#33, October-November 1954, creator Dick Briefer turns to the world of botany and plants. Of course, this is a horror comic, so the titular plant is a meat-eater. The Monster is in the story as an observer, standing back from the action for the most part, until the end when he is once again set upon and betrayed by humans.

The botanist, a "mad" scientist (there are no other kinds in horror comics), remains unnamed, but gets his just desserts, a la Little Shop Of Horrors. That movie in its original, non-musical form, was released just six years after this comic was published, and it's not too much of a stretch to imagine the screenplay writer had this story in mind. Stranger things have happened.

In the next-to-last panel of the story the Monster takes off for parts unknown, but we never get to find out where he's going. The series is at an end. The last panel is reserved for the mad scientist's gruesome fate.

I said this would be the last Frankenstein Friday, but I lied. Next week a 1966 Steve Ditko story.

**********

I just got this book:

The Monster Of Frankenstein, written and drawn by Dick Briefer, reprints all of the horror comics issues of Frankenstein, numbers 18 through 33, from the early 1950s.

Production on the book is good. The stories, for economy's sake, are reprinted in black and white, but the reproductions are clear. This is a page from the story that I have posted this week in color, and you can compare the two.
In an afterword, Briefer's granddaughter, Alicia Jo Rabins, says she grew up with her grandfather's paintings, including Frankenstein, but beyond that tantalizing claim nothing is shown. If the cover artist of this volume is identified I can't see it. The painting seems crude compared to the rest of Briefer's art, but if it is by Briefer, could have been done in his later life.


I think the covers from the individual issues should have also been reprinted, a la Marvel's Essentials and DC's Showcase series'. I believe it was a mistake of omission.

The book is available from Amazon.com for $20.99. If you've enjoyed the stories I've posted from Briefer's horror phase of Frankenstein you'll like this book.

The Monster Of Frankenstein, Story and Art By Dick Briefer. Supplementary Material by David Jacobs, E.J. Robinson, Alicia Jo Rabins. 2006, 246 pp., 7"x10 1/8" trade paperback. Color covers, black and white interiors.

Number 20


Frankenstein Friday: Frankenstein's Creation by Dick Briefer

 
Dick Briefer has become a cult artist over the years, like Basil Wolverton, or Boody (Sparky Watts) Rogers. His individual and funny cartooning style made him stand out, even in an era of individual and standout artists.

Frankenstein's Creation is the first story from Frankenstein #1, from 1945. The Frankenstein feature had been one of the more popular in Prize Comics for some time, and continued on for 17 issues in this solo series. In 1952 the series was picked up again with #18, but in a horror comics vein, a real departure for such a cartoonist as Briefer. It lasted until issue #33, in 1954.

Briefer, who was born in 1915 and died in 1982, quit comics just as the Comics Code came in, and his career paralleled almost exactly the Golden Age of Comics, from 1936 to 1954.

On upcoming Frankenstein Fridays I'll be showing the rest of Frankenstein #1, and then Frankenstein#2 and some subsequent issues that I own, including from the 1950s horror-era series.

As a side note, even in 1945 horror movie fans knew that the monster's name was not Frankenstein. This is made clear in this origin story, as Frankenstein's unnamed creator (just called The Mad Scientist) says that Frankenstein is not his name, but he endowed that name on the creature. Since most people called the monster "Frankenstein" anyway, it was a good way to get around that little factoid in Frankenstein lore.

Next week: Frankenstein And The Ghouls And Vampires