Customer Reviews

Classics Illustrated Deluxe #3: Frankenstein (Classics Illustrated Deluxe Graphic Novels)

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This new series of Classics Illustrated Deluxe volumes is not only an excellent introduction to famous books, but is an artistic landscape that really impresses. This latest effort has a gloomy and foreboding look to it, completely in keeping with the type of story one reads. The panels are darkish and the drawings full of an underlying menace. It doesn't "pretty up" what is a classdic tale, and one that most modern readers do not know, having been raised on Hammer Films and Boris Karloff pictures (not to mention "Young Frankenstein"). I've never read the original work, but own the original Classics Illustrated version of the book and, believe me, this new one is very different!It tells the tale as it was written, with no additions or deletions to change the tenor or mood. It's a scary story and this graphic novel brings the story back to its roots, and that is a very good thing. I can only hope that future volumes in this series live up to the high standards set by the first three issues.

I was sceptical about this book when I was deciding to buy it. I looked at the previews and the art seemed childish and clumsy. Luckily I was proved totally wrong, this is a marvellous adaptation. The art, while taking some getting used to, is very good and captures the mood perfectly. Something about the simplicity combined with the artists total understanding of the text lifts this book up to one of the best comic novels I have read.

The text, while wordy, works brilliantly with the dark, sombre, dreamlike art. The way this book captures the hopelessness and emotion of the story without dragging the whole thing down into sophormoric tweeness, which is huge danger with this novel, is comendable.

I can't recommend it highly enough. If you find the art strange my advice is stick with it, by the time you are a third of the way through you won't be able to put it down.

One complaint though, and it is one I have with all the PaperCutz Duluxe books, is why so small? A slightly bigger format would have made this series perfect. Don't let this put you off though, with this particular issue the art, while superb, is not detailed enough to matter so much.

The "Papercutz" (publisher) version of the Classics Illustrated "Frankenstein" is an excellent adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel. The man Victor Frankenstein struggles with his own morality and own hatred & thirst for revenge as he relays his story to a captain on a ship bound for the Arctic.

Victor relays the monster's threat as it murders its way throughout the area, and particularly targets Victor's family and wife to cause Victor as much grief as the monster himself has suffered.

Who is the victim here? The monster or the creator? And what is the result of attempting to create life that was the main power of the Creator himself?

The illustrated book does tend to be a bit wordy, but so was Shelley's novel.

Minor editing errors (spelling the author's name wrong - "Shelly") and a few spelling mistakes take away from the otherwise decent work.

The art is moody and dark, and sometimes it is hard to tell what is going on. The panels are also quite small. This makes for a slow read, as the reader attempts to read the text and see the small illustrations associated with the story.

There is another older version of Classics Illustrated with the same story. This Papercutz version though is more of a Cliffs Notes-style publication. A brief bio of Mary Shelley and a brief synopsis of what inspired her to write her story are mentioned.

Bottom Line: Not a bad book, perhaps a tad over-scholarly and in need of an editor. Still, you may enjoy it despite the muddy artwork. Great book to get if you don't want to read the original work and just wanted to find out who Frankenstein's monster was really about - the Karloff version notwithstanding!

I haven't read this graphic novel, but I just have to say, if you're going to adapt a classic novel, don't misspell the author's name throughout the entire book. That's just wrong.