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 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 61
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Frankenstein Friday: The Curse Of The Flying Dutchman

Frankenstein continues his lonely hearts business and matches up the legendary Flying Dutchman with a woman who is less than a perfect match.

I was disappointed by the rushed art in this story; in the panel I've reproduced above you can see that Frankenstein's eyes aren't even drawn close to the same size. It shows some lack of care on the part of the artist, Dick Briefer, who drew it for Frankenstein #7, May-June, 1947, but it also shows there may have been very little editorial supervision of Briefer. Maybe this comic sold really well, no matter how fast Briefer drew it.

What shows through is Dick Briefer's sense of humor, and while the artwork is speedily done, the panels are well composed. Being the Dick Briefer fan that I am, when that's all I can say about a story then it's gotta be lacking, but for all that I think this little five-pager has some charm. This story is one of two five-pagers from the issue. The second you'll see next Friday.

Number 1173: Rex Dexter of Mars

Dick Briefer is mostly known by Golden Age comics fans as the creator of the funny Frankenstein of the 1940s, which became the serious Frankenstein of the early ’50s. Briefer’s career goes back to the earliest days of comic books. He left the field about the time the Comics Code came in, in the mid-’50s.

Briefer created Rex Dexter of Mars for Victor Fox. Rex was the child of a scientist and his wife. They built a rocket ship for the 1939 World’s Fair, and ended up crash-landing on Mars. Years later Rex came back to Earth and with the American military fought off a mad scientist holed up in Europe. (I'm getting my information from the Public Domain Superheroes website.) There were only so many genres comic books explored in those early days, and just about every anthology title had a space hero.

Rex was shacked up—or more properly “rocketed up,” since they lived in Rex’s spaceship—with Earth girl Cynde, whom Rex rescued in his first appearance in Mystery Men #1 in 1939. Rex lasted through Mystery Men #24, in addition to an issue of his own comic.

This story is from halfway through the Mystery Men run, #12 (1940):

Still available, Dick Briefer's Frankenstein, the deluxe hardcover from Craig Yoe, printed in color, and The Monster Of Frankenstein, a trade paperback reprinting all of the "serious" Frankenstein stories Briefer did, reproduced in black and white.

Number 2026: King Frankenstein

In “Hail the King,” the plot by writer/artist Dick Briefer hangs on the gimmick — introduced for this story — of Frankenstein’s signature disappearing shortly after writing it. There is a slug in the last panel that says, “Thanks to Ed Goggin for help on these tales. Dick Briefer.” Maybe I can blame Ed. I am not a hardcore consistency freak, but such a gimmick appears thrown in.

I do like the two-headed girl. Dick Briefer could draw some mighty pretty girls when he wanted to.

From Frankenstein #8 (1947).