Frankenstein Archives | Otaku No Culture

Frankenstein Alive, Alive is Back! Just in Time for Two Tales in Cinema and Book

A handsome trade paperback reprint of Frankenstein Alive, Alive pairs Steve Niles’ weary, poetic monster with Bernie Wrightson’s masterful black-and-white art—an ideal Halloween read even without new material.

Frankenstein Alive, Alive Book Cover — **Available to purchase on Amazon USA**

Frankenstein Alive, Alive — the trade paperback graphic novel — is a fitting continuation of Mary Shelley’s timeless tale. IDW Publishing‘s version originally in 2018 and this edition feels perfectly timed. With Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein now in theatres and soon heading to streaming, to experience both visions of the creature’s legacy is, quite literally, just what the doctor ordered.

There’s no difference between the earlier and current editions; readers hoping for new material won’t find any. What you get is something easily carried in the backpack—ideal for travellers who’d rather carry something lighter for reading on a train. It’s a rider’s dream: the rhythm of the locomotive echoing the hum of industry, that same mechanical pulse that Shelley once warned might overtake humanity. Frankenstein remains a mirror to our impulse to create and control—and the inevitable rebellion that follows.

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Tron Ares and the Digital Prometheus — Where Power, Instinct, and Life Converge.

Beneath the neon hum of TRON Ares, a digital weapon awakens to consciousness and compassion. This essay traces Ares’s journey from code to empathy, blending film lore, philosophy, and speculative science to ask who has the right to play god—and what a “soul” means in a wired world.

Tron Ares Teaser Poster Beneath the neon hum of The Grid, TRON Ares pulses with something ancient—the spark of creation itself. What begins as a digital showdown becomes a parable about consciousness and compassion. There’s a self-awareness that develops as the cold, mechanical Ares slowly becomes more human while learning about the physical world. From purpose to the meaning of life, these are the same questions explored in Frankenstein and Terminator 2.

This film is not merely a story of machines rebelling against their creators—it’s a meditation on what happens when human-made creations begin to question existence itself. Julian Dillinger’s reference to Pinocchio when Ares changes sides should not be dismissed.

Parallel Code: TRON Meets Terminator

Ares’s humanity doesn’t emerge until he enters the Encom servers and glimpses Eve’s life unfold. The data he retrieves has an unintended effect on the Master Control program. When advanced AIs are coded to learn from their environments—maliciously or not—who’s to say a glitch won’t form? Even the recent games, Tron: Identity and Catalyst, consider problems occuring within the Grid. They are not essential for the franchise, but for enthusiasts wanting to embrace every bit of lore offered, they are worth checking out.

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TRON Ares. Is It An Epic Return to the Grid in Disney’s Long Delayed Revival?

After years in development, TRON Ares finally hits the Grid. This third film doesn’t reboot the system, but honours the legacy of the original with stunning visuals, a soulful digital antihero, and echoes of Frankenstein in a world learning how to dream.

Spoiler Alert

Despite the long wait and troubled production history, TRON Ares is finally here. What this third film (fifth in the narrative timeline) honours is the franchise’s beginings through some fun Easter Eggs. As this tale continues more from of the 1982 original, rather than the second film, TRON Legacy, some fans will be disappointed. However, as long as this side story does well in the box office, the chances to explore where Sam and Quorra went might get answered!

Although this entry trades philosophy for spectacle ala Terminator 2 through much of its runtime, what it offers is still respectful in what the franchise is about. At its core, it still invites us to imagine what life might be like inside the Grid—or, if you prefer, The Matrix, since the parallels are undeniable.

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Unravelling All That is … Frankenstein Undone #2

Available Now
Dark Horse Comics

Spoiler Alert

In the last issue of Frankenstein Undone, the beast swore to be consumed by fire not as an act of cleansing but to be rid of those dark impulses which defined him. In the second issue released this week, we look at the creature’s life turned around at an isolated Eskimo-like village. He’s at peace, and there’s people here who won’t judge him by his looks and now demure nature.

The human he rescued is a shapeshifter. Though they share a mutual bond, the question of whether his name, Arobas, can be etymologically traced to Ouroboros (where life can be seen as cyclic) was being considered in the back of my head. When these two are seeking redemption from their past, the cues are certainly there.

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Frankenstein Undone! Expanding Mary Shelley’s Story in the Hellboy Universe

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

In Shops: Jan 29, 2020

Frankenstein’s monster is no stranger to Dark Horse Comics Mignola-verse. Although he once crossed paths with Hellboy in House of the Living Dead, little is known about the creature that, in this alternate reality, inspired Mary Shelley to write about the creation of the Modern Prometheus.

In our universe, just who inspired whom is the opposite. With Frankenstein Undone, just what Mike Mignola and Scott Allie wrote is new groundwork to make him a truly sympathetic character I can truly root for.

The tale takes place immediately after Shelley’s book. Instead of him building that funeral pyre to cleanse the Frankensteins from the Earth, a chance encounter with the fantastical changed his mind. Redemption is not far…

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