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AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: Cavalcade Comics #16 – Jesse James Meets The Frankenstein Monster

Posted in AWESOME-tober-fest, Blog Series, comic books, Halloween, holiday, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Cavalcade Comics, Frankenstein, gunfighters, Halloween, holiday, monsters, Vintage Comic Throwdowns on October 25, 2019 by Paxton

It’s Friday! The final Friday of AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, to be exact. I’m still going strong with some Fangoria, but I thought I’d break with the Fangoria coverage for today and do a new Vintage Comic Throwdown cover. And today’s matchup features another gunfighter vs a classic monster like in the very first issue. Take a look at Jesse James Meets The Frankenstein Monster!

This particular cover has an interesting history. It was actually the second cover I made when I started doing this feature, which means it was created back in 2016. There were a few things I didn’t love about the logo I was using so I sat on it. The very first original concept of these covers was to do all “gunfighters vs monsters” concepts. So Billy the Kid vs Dracula was first, then this one would have gone, then I’d do something with Wild Bill Hickock, and then eventually return to Billy the Kid. But then other pop culture properties sort of caught my attention and then you get things like my Godzilla vs Shogun Warriors and A-Team Meets Chuck Norris covers. I must love Frankenstein because I’ve used him a few times. He also popped up fighting athletes in the Winter Olympics!

But I still enjoy doing these and I may get back to the roots of this concept and return to “gunfighters vs monsters” soon. I definitely want to revisit Billy the Kid in these covers. That’s it for this week, stay tuned, next week is Halloween and I’ll have several more Fangoria articles for you then!

If you want to see the previous 15 covers of Cavalcade Comics then check out the archive here.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2019: The Forgotten Frankenstein and other lost cinema treasures

Posted in AWESOME-tober-fest, Blog Series, Fangoria, Frankenstein, Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazine, monsters, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2019, Fangoria, Frankenstein, Halloween, magazine, monsters, movies, pop culture, Universal Studios on October 22, 2019 by Paxton

In Fangoria #2 (1979), there was an article about Universal’s Frankenstein. But it wasn’t about the Boris Karloff movie. It was about the original incarnation of the movie that starred Bela Lugosi as the monster. It was called The Forgotten Frankenstein.

It started the article with a picture of the original poster that proclaimed Bela Lugosi as the star (click images to make them BIGGER).

The article says the initial development for Frankenstein was done by Robert Florey and in his development Lugosi was to be Dr Frankenstein, not the monster. However, when his treatment was approved by the studio, they insisted Lugosi be the monster.

As Florey was writing the script they brought in Lugosi, Karloff and several other actors to do a fully costumed test reel. Florey says they shot and edited two reels of footage which included the full Jack Pierce makeup. Lugosi was offered the role, but turned it down exclaiming the tall lumbering mute was beneath him. Karloff was ultimately given the role and then Florey was dropped from the director chair and replaced by James Whale. After this, all the test reel footage and some of the development for Florey’s version of Frankenstein were lost.

This article reminded me that there is a series of books on similar subjects written by Phillip J Riley, which you can find on Amazon. The series includes original shooting scripts for a ton of early Universal movies as well as “alternate history” exposes on some of those movies including the Lugosi Frankenstein, the Lon Chaney Dracula, the Boris Karloff Invisible Man, the Karloff Return of Frankenstein and even one on the lost Chaney London after Midnight film. Lots of fun alternate film history out there to read!

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2016: Angel vs Frankenstein (2009)

Posted in comic books, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, horror, monsters, TV shows, vampires with tags Angel, AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2016, comic books, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, reviews, vampires on October 25, 2016 by Paxton

Back in 2011, when I did Dracula/vampires for my theme, I covered the appearance of Dracula in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This included several comic book appearances with Buffy and Spike. So, I thought I should next cover another Buffy character teaming up with another classic monster. Let’s see if this one fares any better.

In 2009, IDW released a one-shot called Angel vs Frankenstein. It was written and drawn by the great John Byrne.

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The story takes place after Mary Shelley’s novel, which we get a brief recap of in the comic. It also takes place before Angel is cursed by the gypsy to have a soul. So, after Frankenstein discovers Victor dead in the arctic at the end of Shelley’s novel, he decides to return to his home to claim the right as the last heir of Frankenstein. However, the monster realizes he can’t do it alone, so the monster hires Angelus to return to Castle Frankenstein with him to help. However, Angelus has different ideas and throws the monster out of the stagecoach and over a cliff. He then goes to the castle to claim the fortune for himself. But the monster didn’t die, and it makes its way back for his revenge. Queue Frankenstein vs Angelus fight.

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It’s a pretty good story. I like the setup. I love Byrne’s art. I enjoyed reading it. It’s only a one-shot, so it’s short, but Byrne makes the most of it.

Then in 2010, IDW released a sequel called, appropriately, Angel vs Frankenstein II. This one-shot was also written and drawn by John Byrne.

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This takes place many years after the first comic. Angelus is now just Angel. He’s in America and working as a janitor at a mental hospital. He discovers the monster bound up in a hidden set of rooms in the hospital. Angel tries to sort out the mystery of how the monster got there but when the monster sees Angel, he goes off on a rampage thinking it’s Angelus and Angel has to stop him from tearing apart the city. We also learn a few secrets about the nature of this Frankenstein monster.

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Again, this is a good, if a bit more understated comic story. It’s another one shot, but Byrne makes good use of the characters and his art is great. I like the wrap up of the Frankenstein monster here. I’d definitely recommend these comics to a fan of Angel.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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Cavalcade Comics #11 – The Frankenstein Monster vs The Winter Olympics

Posted in comic books, Frankenstein, monsters, nostalgia, pop culture with tags Cavalcade Comics, comic books, comic covers, Frankenstein, monsters, Photoshop, Vintage Comic Throwdowns on December 16, 2015 by Paxton

I’m temporarily sticking my head out from where I’m hibernating during the winter to post up this newest cover in my Vintage Comic Throwdown series.

This month’s cover isn’t necessarily holiday themed, as I don’t really have a “Christmas” themed cover in my back log. But I do have a “winter-y” themed cover I can use. Peep your ‘balls on The Frankenstein Monster vs The Winter Olympics.

I’m sort of in love with the concept as well as the execution of this cover. It was birthed almost entirely out of one awesome Marvel Treasury front cover as well as the back cover pin-up. Check out that cover’s double sided awesomeness right here (click to see BIGGER).

This is Marvel Treasury Edition #25 from June 1980. The front cover was drawn by Al Milgrom and Jack Abel. The back cover “pin-up” was drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz and Bruce Patterson. So much action-y goodness that I couldn’t pass up using the majority of the elements in this layout. You can see all of them in the cover. The skiers, the snow, the broken light pole, the building in the background with the crowd. All re-purposed for my Frankenstein gone amok cover.

An element that I didn’t use from the Marvel cover is the Frankenstein monster himself, which comes from Marvel’s The Frankenstein Monster #7 from Nov 1973. Drawn by the great John Buscema.

Frankenstein Monster 07

I love doing these monster mashups. I have another Frankenstein monster mashup stashed away as well as a return for Ghost Rider! But is it the old gunslinger Ghost Rider or the Hell Cycle ridin’ demon? You’ll have to wait to find out.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2015: Dell’s Frankenstein

Posted in comic books, Frankenstein, monsters, nostalgia, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2009, AWESOME-tober-fest 2015, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters on October 26, 2015 by Paxton

Here we are, kids. The final week of October and the final week of AWESOME-tober-fest 2015. It sure has been a lot of fun this year, I hope you guys are enjoying this year’s celebration as much as I have been.

Anyway, this final week, I’m parting with my month long theme of the invisible man. Each day I’ll be revisiting a previous theme from an earlier AWESOME-tober-fest. I’ll use this week to review a few things that were supposed to be included in previous years, but for some reason, got cut from the final lineup. And since I’ve always wanted to do them, here’s my chance.

Today, I’m revisiting AWESOME-tober-fest 2009. That year was the first year I did “daily updates” and is the starting point for what AWESOME-tober-fest is today. That year, I covered Frankenstein’s Monster. On October 23, I talked about a bunch of different Frankenstein comics. Amongst that list was a blurb on an obscure 1960s Dell comic called Frankenstein #2.

The Dell monster comics should be familiar to anyone who reads AWESOME-tober-fest. But, to refresh your memory, in the 60s, Dell Comics acquired the Universal Monster license and did comic adaptations of several of the movies. Then, Dell decided to reboot three of the monsters into super hero comics. I reviewed the Dell Werewolf and Dell Dracula comics in their respective AWESOME-tober-fest reviews. But I never got around to a full review of the Dell Frankenstein comic. Today is that day.

As I mentioned, Dell rebooted Frankenstein’s Monster into a super hero comic in 1966 starting with issue #2 (issue #1 was an adaptation of the Universal movie). Like the other monster super heroes, it would only last three issues. Here are issues #3 and #4.

Similar to Dracula, this one is pretty zany. But in a fun way. I mean, look at Frankenstein up there. His head is GREEN but his arms are inexplicably flesh colored. What?

Origin 1 Origin 2
Here’s Frank’s origin from the first issue. It’s 100 years after the Universal movie. Frankenstein’s Monster is buried beneath the ruins of the mad doctor’s castle. A random lightning strike revives the monster who awakens with partial amnesia.

Birth
Frank realizes that he’s stronger and smarter than 50 men, so he decides to use his abilities to fight crime. And somehow in the last 100 years Frank’s extremities have gone back to their pinkish color while his face remains ghastly green. Also, I guess Dr Frankenstein knew that his creature would eventually fight crime so he left a unitard and some masks for the monster to cover up his monstrous face.