MONSTER-MONTH: COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 15)

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“I am HIM… not born of man and woman!  I was created to be invincible!

And those who made me… made me well!”

--Adam Strange/HIM  from THOR #166

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Tonight we look to the wonderful world of funnybooks for a peek at a different kind of Frankenstein Monster.  This one created by evil scientists for an evil purpose.  This one who destroys his creators and seeks a companion because he is alone in the universe.

I’m speaking of HIM, a creation of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, a character for whom it feels a larger purpose was intended.  After all, it is rare that a character appears in one massive story arc in the world’s greatest comic magazine and soon is the feature of the mighty THOR shortly thereafter.  Who knows what larger story might have unfolded at the hands of his creators...

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The being who later became known as Adam Warlock was the creation of four geneticists who called themselves the Enclave.  “HIM” as Adam Warlock was known then, was the prototype for a perfect human life form grown from artificial genetic material, which the Enclave intended to mass produce to form an invincible army to conquer the world.

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These scientists miscalculated the strength of HIM, and after leaving his womblike cocoon, their prototype destroyed the Enclave and their island base which was known as the Beehive.  He then harnessed his cosmic power and left earth to find his own destiny in space.

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There you have it, a FRANKENSTEIN tale told in just a few issues of the FANTASTIC FOUR #66 and 67.  Overreaching scientists have their own creation turn against them, thus the morality play is played.  But waitaminute, where’s the part where this creation seeks out a mate to fulfill his life?  Ah, that’s where Stan and Jack bring back HIM again, this time in the pages of THOR #165-166!

A Watcher, having accidentally caused HIM to spin another protective cocoon, decides to return him to his point of origin so as to have interfered with his life as much as leaving him floating out in space would.  The cocoon eventually opened as Thor, Sif and Balder were investingating the disturbing power being unleashed.

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Seeing Sif and feeling a deep well of loneliness, HIM seized her as his mate and quickly whipped up a portal to another world.  Now this caused Thor to completely lose his mind and be overtaken by “The Warrior Madness”.  The god rages for five pages straight before deciding to simply follow them by creating his own portal with Mjolnir.

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Once they reach HIM and Sif, she tries to comfort Thor by explaining that he has no sense of things, that he is naive.  Thor will have none of it and prepares to throw down on the cosmic creation like a mad god will tend to do when his woman has been taken (Liam Neeson ain’t alone in metting out that kind of pain.).

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The fickle finger of fate, or, more precisely, Haag interferes by literally reaching through a portal to try and kidnap Balder as a favor for her queen, Karnilla.  Thor, as enraged as possible; because what the heck is it, grab a god week in the Marvel Universe, fights off Haag’s attack and saves Balder.  Then does he turn back to HIM and Sif only to find empty space as the golden godling has fled again, with his girlfriend.

(Click to REVENGE!)

So, Thor, in full immortal meltdown, teleports again to where they have travelled.   And thus the beatdown begins.  He rages and rages and hammers HIM so much that he eventually spins another cocoon and flees into the vastness of space.  Thor, now at the end of his berzerker rage calms down enough to relax.

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So, this is really where the story of Kirby and Lee’s HIM ends as it is much later before his story is picked up again and it is under the direction of another writer, another editor, another artist and the character, by this point has taken on another name:

Adam Warlock.  

And Roy Thomas and Gil Kane eventually ran with the story of Christ as a super hero… a different kind of story than the one as it began here.  Though, who knows--it seems as though Kirby imbued HIM with many of the qualities he put into the Silver Surfer.  The Surfer being a character Kirby had wanted to continue to develop, but couldn’t.  So, mayhap, he created HIM for this very purpose.

It was shortly after this that Kirby quit with the major character creations for Marvel--the Doctor Frankenstein who had served the House of Ideas so well for so long was off to work his strange magics and sciences creating life for a different company.

And other, new gods and monsters were born there.

Vas?

MONSTER-MONTH: COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 7)

Welcome to day seven of MONSTER-MONTH here at THE GOODS!

The month when we take a harder look at the FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER and his many interpretations over the years, well thirty-one of them anyway.

Tonight we feature Rocky Horror from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.  He is quite unlike any Monster ever created by a Frankenstein, in fact, he’s actually a creation of Doctor Frank-N-Furter (played immortally by Tim Curry).  Dr. Frank-N-Furter is a Transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania and he also happens to have discovered the “secret to life itself”.

The viewer is led into the world of Rocky Horror by a newly-engaged couple by the name of Brad Majors and Janet Weiss who find themselves lost one stormy late November evening.  They seek shelter at a nearby castle and walk right into the Annual Transylvanian Convention.

There they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his servants Riff Raff, his sister/lover Magenta and a groupie named Columbia.  Rocky Horror is brought to life.

The creation is an Adonis as played by Peter Hinwood.  Rocky has golden hair a body sculpted from stone.  This “Monster” more closely resembles a god or at the very least an ideal male.  In the world of Rocky Horror, this makes a strange sort of sense as they’re looking at the world through gothic lenses, as opposed to the ones the original Frankenstein was invisioning for his creation.  Had Rocky Horror arisen from the slab in Frankenstein’s castle, he would’ve gladly accepted the creature into his heart and hearth.

There is something OVERWHEMINGLY familiar to me when seeing the creation “Rocky Horror” for the first time and I’m sure I have this reaction merely because I am a comic book reader and more specifically, a THOR/FANTASTIC FOUR reader.

Does Rocky not eerily resemble Adam Strange in his earliest incarnation, when he was known only as HIM?

Just me?

I didn’t think so.

And being that the film was released in 1975 and the first appearance of Adam Warlock was in 1969, well let’s just guess that there could be a visual influence.

(Adam Warlock will be featured later this MONSTER-MONTH as one of the interpretations of Frankenstein that I wanted to spotlight.)

Anyway, Eddie, an ex-delivery boy and partial brain donor to Rocky and Columbia’s lover, rides in out of a deep freeze on a motorcycle in a jealous rage.  Frank kills Eddie with an ice axe.  Frank then leaves the couple and takes Rocky with him to a bridal suite  near the laboratory.

Later Brad and Janet are both seduced by Frank when he impersonates each of them to the other.  Janted then wanders off, upset and discovers that her fiance is with Frank.  She stumbles upon Rocky in his birthing tank hiding from Riff Raff.  Janet ends up bedding Rocky as Magenta and Columbia watch.

Dr. Everett Scott has arrived, he is Brad and Janet’s old High School science teacher and he has come looking for his nephew, Eddie.  Frank, however, suspects that he investigates UFOs for the government.  Frank then makes the connection that Brad and Janet may be investigators as well.

Hijinks ensue and I won’t spoil the rest of the film for you, my fair reader, but I will let you in on the fact that there are battles waged, killings made, songs sung and a UFO Castle blast-off!

It doesn’t follow the typical plotline of a Frankenstein picture, but the elements that are there are certainly there because of the existence of the Monster and his story.

FIVE FRANKENSTEIN FUN FACTS:

1)  THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is considered the longest-running release in film history as it has never been pulled by 20th Century Fox from it’s original 1975 release.

2)  When the film was screened at midnight, starting in New York City on April Fool’s Day of 1976 at the Waverly Theater, it began it’s climb to cult classic.  By that Halloween, people were showing up in costume and repeating the dialog back to the screen.

3)  TRHPS was shot in the Hammer style and even used Bray Studios and Oakley Court, a country home in Berkshire, England, a Castle known for a handful of Hammer films.

4)  Vincent Price was offered the role of the Criminologist, but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts.  He had been interested as he had seen the West End musical and loved it.

5)  Peter Hinwood couldn’t sing, so a session singer was used for Rocky Horror’s part.  Hinwood mimed the vocals during filming.  In post-production, Hinwood’s speaking voice was replaced by Trevor White, and Australian actor/singer.  Hinwood’s actual voice does not appear in the film, he’s just a pretty face.

While I have your attention, there are a few films of note that will be playing over at TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES that you may want to know about.

Remember, these are LATE Sunday night and EARLY Monday morning…

Late Sunday, October 7/Early Monday, October 8, 2012

2:30am - NOT AGAINST THE FLESH (aka VAMPYR) (1932)

A tale of a young traveler staying in a sinister castle inhabited by an elderly vampire.

6am - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1932)

Fredric March in the title roles as the Doctor who tries to remove his impulsive dark side from his noble side--thus dooming both.

And finally...