Some knowledge is required to understand why Frankenstein exists. He’s replaced Hellboy in this New World series of comics being helmed by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Thomas Sniegoski. This monster has grown beyond what readers know from Mary Shelly’s work and “officially” took on his creator’s name… And I suspect he’ll become more than an Oracle to the survivors of “Ragna Rok.” Officially, the only canonical material readers need to know are Frankenstein Underground and New World.
While mutants run amok on the surface, in the Hollow Earth, the last survivors of humanity live in peace. It is here where Lilja, a young girl, is worried about her people’s future. As a result, she wants to speak to the oracle (Frankenstein) to alert him of this fate. When he’s in a state of meditation, many people have left him alone, but when the shouting match is loud enough, he’s awake. She hopes he can investigate and also tag along.
And in no time, this first series sets up a huge escapade that is partially like a road trip on the seven seas and investigation! In Frankenstein: New World—The Sea of Forever, the duo explores an Earth that’s perhaps more like Mad Max mixed up with Planet of the Apes. Not only are there mutants, but also the humanity that survived here may well be more like undead. But for the duo, they meet frogmen whom only the girl can communicate with, and I assume that’s via telepathy. And through a few pages of flashbacks, readers find out how the world has changed.
Because of the hellfires and perhaps radiation too, everyone mutated. In every panel, what’s presented is a harsher landscape, and the art and colouring job from Peter Bergting and Michelle Madsen superbly conveys that fact. And what they’ve done is to evoke a tale perhaps worthy of an Edgar Rice Burroughs story. Everything the characters have seen or met are uncivilized type foes. And while I suspect that a vampire from Frankenstein’s past is hunting them, I’ll need more detail from issue two to find out!
4 Stars out of 5
In Frankenstein: New World—The Sea of Forever Teaser (from DarkHorse.com. Please click on image for a higher resolution image)
