THE GOODS: MONSTER-MONTH: A COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 20)

Saturday, October 20, 2012

MONSTER-MONTH: A COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 20)

So we are eleven days until Halloween and tonight we bring focus to Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein Monster comic book character. Or perhaps I should say characters, as Briefer’s Monster had two completely distinct personalities and styles.

In PRIZE COMICS #7 (December 1940), Briefer (under the pseudonym “Frank N. Stein”) introduced the eight-page feature “The New Adventures of Frankenstein”, a modern version of the Monster as created by Shelley in her original novel. It is considered by historians to be America’s first ongoing horror comic.

The tale is set in New York City around 1930 starred a murderously vicious rampaging monster by the name of “Frankenstein”. The Monster went on to battle regular antagonist Denny “Bulldog” Dunsan and other regular Prize Comics’ characters the Black Owl, the Green Lama, Dr. Frost and Yank & Doodle (America’s Fighting Twins). The Monster also did some Nazi fighting in the European theater of World War II.

(Click to Frankensize)

The best-known version of the Monster as portrayed by Briefer, however, came to be on the Monster’s return from war in FRANKENSTEIN #1 (1945). Frankenstein settled into small-town life as a genial neighbor who began having humorous adventures. Some of these adventures involved Dracula, the Wolfman and several other creatures. He was then referred to as “The Merry Monster”.

(Click to Frankensize)

Briefer’s work reflected the genre and was loose and expressive and showed a great sense of movement and exaggeration. His style was smooth and the quality of his work was of the best artists of the period.

This humorous monster lasted nearly the rest of the way through the 1940s. It was after this, in 1952, that Briefer brought back the original, monsterous version of Frankenstein. He lasted a little over two years and was cancelled during the era when horror and violent comic books were put under the pressure which eventually would become the Comics Code.