Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Alberto PonticelliFrankenstein is part of a network of strange beings who work for an even stranger government organization: The Super Human Advanced Defense Executive! But can he protect the world from threats even more horrifying than himself? And since he’s vilified for who and what he is, will he even want to take on this mission?
My love of Jeff Lemire’s work should be a surprise to absolutely no one that has been following my work for give or take a month. This is his second entry into the DCnU pantheon and I gave his first one a near perfect score last week. How does this very different jaunt into parts unknown fare?
I guess you’ll have to clickity click on down if you want to know!
First, while I have to admit that I did like this issue a lot, I liked last week’s Animal Man debut issue quite a bit more. However, I feel that has more to do with my previous affiliation and admiration for the character, whereas if Lemire had not been writing this book I probably never would have even picked it up off the shelf. Largely this is because I have, much to my shame, never read Grant Morrison’s epic Seven Soldiers maxi-series (it’s on my list though, I promise!) that the character originated in, leaving my only connection to good ol’ Franky coming from the Flashpoint mini-series that ran over the summer which ended up being a sort-of-but-not-really-because-of-the-reboot-but-still-sorta-kinda precursor to this book. I feel that if I had had more of a background with the character that it would have clicked with me more (or I may at least have had more of an idea why Father Time looked like an Asian Hit-Girl), and we’ll see if I can get around to reading Seven Soldiers within the next month before Issue #2 to see if that theory is correct.
That said, even with my lack of character familiarity, I still found a lot to like in this book The story here was, in every sense of the term, an introductory issue. The heavily expository explanation of S.H.A.D.E. headquarters as well as painfully long and drawn out introductions to every member of the Creature Commandos is evidence of that. Yes, I understand that the characters are probably not that familiar to most new readers and yes, I know they have to be made blatantly distinct from the classic monsters they are influenced by and yes, I even know that Lemire can only really get away with the magazine article shtick once, but I still found myself longing for a few more snappy one-liners and a bit more monster punching than caption boxes — but I admit thats mostly my cross to bare.
The plot itself, exposition aside, was still a helluva lot of fun. Through his runs on Sweet Tooth and Superboy, Lemire has more than proven adept at weaving horror intrigue with pure, unadulterated action, and both are well on display here. Moreover, each character has a completely distinctive voice despite being cut from a similarly monstrous cloth. Even Lemire favorite Ray Palmer, the character with whom I was most familiar, showed off his glossy new character finish despite me not being sure how much of his prior history still applied (Is he still the Atom? Was he ever?). I think the real high point of the issue is not the definition of the characters, but how they interacted and meshed with each other as they sprung into battle against the monstrous, still undefined beast haunting a small West Coast town. It was almost more fun watching this ragtag band of monsters interact with each other than watching them rip their way through walls of monster flesh.
Speaking of monster flesh, Alberto Ponticelli proves himself to be quite the beast (no pun intended) in this issue (okay, pun a little intended). I’ve always meant to read Unknown Soldier, but it is also a book still regrettably on my “to read” list, making this my first real exposure to Ponticelli’s work. At first glance, its hard to really figure out what he is going for with his style, because it kind of skirts the line between two schools of comic art thought. On the one hand, his work is rife with qualities more associated with the intentionally jagged, angular fantasy style that Lemire himself works with in his aforementioned Sweet Tooth. But on the other hand, his work often dips into super polished territory at times, really bringing a ton of explicit definition to the creatures on the page. However, I think the biggest compliment I can give is that each and every monster (the ones on “our” side AND the ones trying to rip flesh off of innocent people) looks completely, 100% unique and never once dips into traditional “random monster” generic styles. Each creature looks meticulously designed and drawn, and that is a sign of true talent.
Overall, I feel like this book holds a highly unique position in the DCnU. Another reviewer pointed out that the book reminded him a lot of the Doom Patrol (namely Grant Morrison’s run on that book) and the more I thought about it, the more that made sense to me. Traditionally, all of the great eras of DC included a slightly left of center book that skirted the line between traditional action comic fare and the world of the bizarre. Doom Patrol did it, and it looks like it’s Frankenstein and his motley band of monster’s turn. My one concern for the book is that because of its uniqueness, I worry about it finding the audience it needs to survive. That said, I’m sure the Morrison connection plus the similarities to characters that the layperson at the very least recognizes is enough to keep it afloat, and the so far highly stylized and immensely affective storytelling is sure to keep it running for some time.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy
