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Frankenstein in popular culture
Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster in Bride of Frankenstein .
Mary Shelley 's novel Frankenstein , and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster have influenced popular culture for at least 100 years. The work has inspired numerous films, television programs, video games and derivative works. The character of the monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction . [1]
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The first film adaptation of Frankenstein in 1910 by Edison Studios.
The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein , was done by Edison Studios in 1910, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley , with Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Mary Fuerte as Elizabeth, and Charles Ogle as the Monster. The brief (16 min.) story has Frankenstein chemically create his creature in a vat. The monster haunts the scientist until Frankenstein's wedding night, when true love causes the creature to vanish. For many years, this film was believed lost. A collector announced in 1980 that he had acquired a print in the 1950s and had been unaware of its rarity.
The Edison version was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul (1915), directed by Joseph W. Smiley, starring William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley, a modern-day Frankenstein who creates a soulless man, played to much critical praise by Percy Standing , who wore little make-up in the role. The film was shot at various locations around the United States, and reputedly featured much spectacle. In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Mary Shelley's novel. This film is now considered a lost film .
There was also at least one European film version, the Italian Il Mostro di Frankenstein ("The Monster of Frankenstein") in 1921. The film's producer Luciano Albertini essayed the role of Frankenstein, with the creature being played by Umberto Guarracino, and Eugenio Testa directing from a screenplay by Giovanni Drivetti. The film is also now considered a lost film.
Universal Pictures
See also Universal Monsters
The most famous adaptation of the story, 1931 's Frankenstein , was produced by Universal Pictures , directed by James Whale , and starred Boris Karloff as the monster. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry . Its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein ( 1935 ), was also directed by Whale and is probably the most critically acclaimed of all the Universal horror films. It was followed by Son of Frankenstein in 1939 and The Ghost of Frankenstein in 1942 . The latter film marked the series' descent into B movie territory; later efforts by Universal combined two or more monsters, culminating in the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein . The Universal films in which The Monster appears (and the actors who played him) are:
Frankenstein (1931 - Boris Karloff)
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In Great Britain , a long-running series by Hammer Films focused on the character of Dr. Frankenstein (usually played by Peter Cushing ) rather than his monster. Peter Cushing played Dr. Frankenstein in all of the films except for Horror of Frankenstein in which the character was played by Ralph Bates . Cushing also played a creation in Revenge of Frankenstein. David Prowse played two different Monsters.
The Hammer films are a series in the loosest sense, since there is only tenuous continuity between the films after the first two (which are carefully connected). Starting with The Evil of Frankenstein, the films are stand-alone stories with occasional vague references to previous films, much the way the James Bond films form a series. In some of the films, the Baron is a kindly, even heroic figure, while in others he is ruthless and cruel, and clearly the villain of the piece.
The Hammer Films series (and the actor playing The Creature) consisted of:
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell ( 1974 - David Prowse)
In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour pilot episode for a TV series to be called Tales of Frankenstein, in association with Columbia Pictures. Anton Diffring played the Baron, and Don Megowan his creation. Curt Siodmak directed. The series was scrapped, largely because of the two companies' disagreement over what the basic thrust of the series would be. Hammer wanted to do a series about Baron Frankenstein involved in various misadventures, while Columbia wanted a series of science fiction stories loosely based around the idea of science gone wrong. Though unshown at the time of its production, the episode is available on DVD from several sources.
Other films
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Depictions of The Monster have varied widely, from mindless killing machines to the depiction of The Monster as a kind of tragic hero (closest to the Shelley version in behavior) in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Bride, and Van Helsing. Throughout the Universal series, he evolves from the latter to the former.
Three films have depicted the genesis of the Frankenstein story in 1816: Gothic directed by Ken Russell (1986), Haunted Summer directed by Ivan Passer (1988), and Remando al viento (English title: Rowing with the Wind) directed by Gonzalo Suárez (1988). The opening scene of Bride of Frankenstein also dealt with this event.
1950s & 1960s
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1957: American International Pictures (AIP) released the low-budget I Was a Teenage Frankenstein in November 1957, a few months after their wildly successful I Was a Teenage Werewolf . In a desperate and vain attempt to be viewed as a great scientist, an unscrupulous professor creates a monster out of parts of teenagers killed in a car crash, then later directs his creation to kill a good-looking teenager to replace the monster's disfigured face. Whit Bissell stars as Prof. Frankenstein, Gary Conway plays the creature. A follow-up, How to Make a Monster , was released in July 1958. This film featured actor Gary Conway as an actor playing the Teenage Frankenstein in a film.
1958: Another wildly differing adaptation is the 1958 film Frankenstein 1970 , which focuses on the themes of nuclear power, impotence, and the film industry. Boris Karloff stars as Dr. Frankenstein, who harvests the bodies of actors to create a clone of himself using his nuclear-powered laboratory. His intention is to have this clone carry on his genes into future generations.
1958: This year also brought the bizarre Frankenstein's Daughter , in which modern descendant of Frankenstein Donald Murphy experiments with a Jekyll/Hyde type of serum before stitching together a grotesque female creature. John Ashley and Sandra Knight co-starred.
1961: Frankenstein, el Vampiro y Cia ("Frankenstein, the Vampire and Company") was a Mexican remake of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein .
1965: An extremely tangential adaptation is Ishirō Honda 's 1965 tokusatsu kaiju film Frankenstein Conquers the World (Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijû Baragon), produced by Toho Company Ltd . The film's prologue is set in World War II ; the monster's heart is stolen by Nazis from the laboratory of Dr. Reisendorf in war-torn Frankfurt , and taken to Imperial Japan . Immortal, the heart survives the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and is eaten by a savage child survivor, [2] and after discovered by scientists in Present Day Japan, he feeds on protein, eventually growing into a giant humanoid monster that breaks loose and battles the subterranean monster Baragon , which was destroying villages and devouring people and animals. There was also a sequel to this film (see below).
1965: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster . Martians come to Earth to steal our women, with the goal of repopulating their planet. When they cause a NASA space craft to crash, the pilot (Captain Frank Saunders) becomes horribly disfigured. Becoming a "Frankenstein" like monster, it's up to him to save the women of Earth.
1966: Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter . Director William Beaudine 's Sci-Fi\Western contribution has what would actually be Frankenstein's granddaughter, Maria Frankenstein, cobbling a monster out of Jesse James ' ( John Lupton ) brawny partner-in-crime, Hank Tracy (Cal Bolder), after an ambush by the law. Frankenstein renames her creation Igor . Narda Onyx plays Maria Frankenstein.
1966: War of the Gargantuas (Furankenshutain no Kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira), also directed by Honda, is a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World (although this is obscured in the US version), with the Frankenstein Monster's severed cells growing into two giant humanoid brother monsters: Sanda (the Brown Gargantua), the strong and gentle monster raised by scientists in his youth, and Gaira (the Green Gargantua), the violent and savage monster who devours humans. The two monsters eventually battle each other in Tokyo .
1970s & 1980s
1994: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was directed by Kenneth Branagh , who also portrayed Victor Frankenstein. It featured a star cast with Robert De Niro as the monster, Tom Hulce as Henry, John Cleese as Professor Waldman, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth, and Aidan Quinn as Captain Robert Walton.
2004: Van Helsing . This film was a reinvention of the famous Universal stable of monsters of the 1930s and 1940s. Shuler Hensley plays the Monster who, contrary to usual practice, is directly referred to by the name Frankenstein in the film's publicity, but he is named mostly in the film as "the monster" or "the creature". The portrayal of the creature in this movie as intelligent, articulate, sympathetic, and as a hero who only wants to live, is somewhat close to the portrayal in the book. Physically, he is large and bulky, as opposed to his tall and thin portrayal in the classic films, and bears many physical features of Boris Karloff's portrayal, such as the bolted neck and flat head. He also has a visible brain and heart, which glow green and protected under glass casings, and a large engine in his left leg. He plays a vital role in the birth of Dracula 's numerous offspring, the combination of his 'father's' machine that gave him life in the first place and the use of himself as a power source allowing the numerous stillborn children Dracula has conceived with his brides over the centuries to be brought to life, requiring Van Helsing to kill Dracula himself in order to stop the children.
2005: Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove . In this film, Frankenstein's monster is resurrected to fight terrorists along with a half-fish, half-man creature. However, the plan soon goes awry.
2006: Perfect Woman. This film, produced by Olympic Productions, is a modern spin on the tale. The plot follows a reality game show that is looking for the perfect woman to win the perfect man, played by Marcus Schenkenberg . Little do the girls know that the game show is a mask for an evil genius who is literally trying to make the perfect woman, using various body parts.
2006: Subject Two . This film, written and directed by Philip Chidel, has a modern nanotechnology spin on the tale. The plot follows a disillusioned medical student's journey to a remote snowbound mountain location where he is met by Dr. Vic.
2009: Army of Frankenstein, This film is directed by Richard Raaphorst, the story tells over a fight in the year 1945 between Polish and German Borderlines at the end of the Second World War . [3]
2011: "Frankenstein's Wedding - Live in Leeds" - Broadcast live on BBC3, this adaptation used the romance between Victor and Elizabeth as a basis for a music drama portraying the rest of the story and was filmed live on the 19th of March 2011 at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds. The drama used popular music, such as "Wires" by Athlete, sung by Andrew Gower, portraying the Scientist, Frankenstein. Other members of the cast included Lacey Turner as Elizabeth "Liz" Lavenza and David Harewood as the Creature.
Parodies and Satires
The Tim Burton films Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands bear many references to the Frankenstein story.
A 2001 short film called Frankenthumb , directed by Steve Oedekerk, a parody of the James Whale 1931 film told with thumbs with superimposed faces and elaborate miniature sets.
One of the Garbage Pail Kids was a Frankenstein-like character whose name was, appropriately, "Frank N. Stein" (his alternate name was "Undead Jed").
Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) includes a scene in which the lead character is watching a movie called Frankenstein's Mummy (as a spoof of the 1930s sequel titles) on nighttime television. Return also features a character named Igor who parodies the "hunchbacked assistant" cliche upon his first appearance in the film.
Frank Enstein (1992) is a direct-to-video children's film about a robot named "Frank Enstein" who goes on an adventure.
Television derivatives
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The Frankenstein story and its elements have been adapted many times for television:
The anthology series Tales of Tomorrow (1951–1953) featured a half-hour adaptation starring Lon Chaney Jr. as an atomically-animated monster.
Boris Karloff reprised his role wearing the Frankenstein monster makeup in a 1962 episode of Route 66 entitled Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing for Halloween. Also appearing in the episode were Lon Chaney, Jr. as both the Wolf Man and The Mummy and Peter Lorre .
Universal produced a television sitcom from 1964 to 1966 for CBS entitled The Munsters with Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster , a character physically resembling the Universal's cinematic depiction of Frankenstein's monster, who was the patriarch of a family of kindly monsters. The rest of the family included a grandfather resembling the Universal Dracula (who may actually be Dracula), a wife that resembles "The Bride of Frankenstein" , and a werewolf son . The Munsters' house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane can still be seen on the Universal Studios' backlot tour at Universal Studios in Universal City , California .
The 1965 Doctor Who serial The Chase features a sequence set in what appears to be a mysterious old house where various horror film monsters, including Frankenstein's monster, menace first the Doctor and his companions and later the Daleks . The house is subsequently revealed to be a Haunted House exhibit at an event entitled the "Festival of Ghana , 1996 "
Milton the Monster (1965–1967) was a cartoon character developed shortly after The Munsters about a kind-hearted Frankenstein monster who famously "flipped his lid" (emitted steam like a whale's blowhole) when angered, and who was constantly nearly kicked out of the lab by his scheming creator.
The Gothic TV drama Dark Shadows featured a plotline running from April 1968 until December 1968 in which an artificial man named Adam is stitched together from corpses and reanimated using the life force of vampire Barnabas Collins .
The 1968 BBC-TV series Mystery and Imagination featured an adaptation starring Ian Holm as both Frankenstein and his creation.
In the Adult Swim animated series Minoriteam , the title characters frequently fought an opponent named Racist Frankenstein .
In the animated series " Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles " a boy scientist Buzz Conroy and his father Professor Conroy fight supervillains with the aid of a powerful heroic robot named "Frankenstein Jr." who is like a mix between " Gigantor " and Frankenstein.
Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein are the father and mother of Frankie Stein in Monster High .
Frankenstein's Wedding was a live television adaptation broadcast on BBC Three on the 19th March 2011.
In an episode of the cartoon series The Venture Bros. , entitled ¡Viva los Muertos! , Dr Veture reanimates the corpse of a Monarch henchman killed by Brock Samson, naming the creature "Venturestein".
Other derivatives
" Some Kind of Monster " is a 2004 song by Metallica which uses themes from Frankenstein.
"Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter" is a song by American Folk musician Space Mandino .
The Rammstein song " Mutter " is about a monster that kills its creator or mom in this case.
The musical " The Rocky Horror Picture Show " includes a song called "There's A Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)"
The punk band Crass referenced Frankenstein in the song "Reject of Society".
"Dr. Frankenstein" a concept album/rock opera written by cuban/mexican musician Jose Fors was based on both the original novel and James Whale's films. It was released in 2009.
Toy Love released a 1980 single, "Bride of Frankenstein".
The German band Oomph!'s song " Brennende Liebe " details a sort of Frankenstein scenario, and the video features Frankenstein, his wife, and the scientist and his associates.
The rock band Glass Wave included a song about Frankenstein's monster (entitled "Creature") on their 2010 album. The lyrics are sung through the creature's voice.
Kevin Max 's song "Jumpstart Your Electric Heart," from his 2005 album The Imposter is a modern-day retelling of Shelley's Frankenstein.
Radio
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On August 3, 1931, Alonzo Dean Cole adapted the novel as a 30-minute episode of his program The Witch's Tale . It was redone on March 7, 1932 and July 17, 1935.
In 1938, George Edwards produced a 13-part, 3-hour series for radio. It follows the structure and spirit of the novel closely.
Two other versions were made in both 1944 and 1955.
In 1945 it was adapted as a 30-minute drama on the syndicated program The Weird Circle .
In 1946 it was adapated as a 30-minute drama on the program Favorite Story.
Another 30-minute drama version was used on Suspense on November 3, 1952 starring Herbert Marshall and was used again on June 7, 1955 starring Stacy Harris.
In 1999, the Radio Tales drama series presented an adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel for National Public Radio .
Stage
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Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein, written by Richard Brinsley Peake , was produced at the English Opera House in London in 1823.
Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim is an 1887 musical burlesque composed by Meyer Lutz and written by Richard Henry .
A Broadway adaptation of the story by Victor Gialanella played for one performance on January 4, 1981 (after 29 previews) and was considered the most expensive flop ever produced to that date. [7] It is noteworthy for John Carradine 's playing the part of the blind "DeLacey". Also starring were David Dukes as "Victor Frankenstein", Dianne Wiest as "Elizabeth", John Glover as "Henry Clervel", and Keith Joachim as "The Creature". [8]
A musical adaptation entitled "Day of Wrath", (composed by Eric Sirota, with lyrics by E. Sirota & S. Sudol), was first produced in 1990, in Clinton, NJ. [9]
Joined At The Heart is a musical with music & lyrics by Graham Brown & Geoff Meads, book by Frances Anne Bartam and directed by Frances Brownlie. It tells the love story of Victor Frankenstein and his step sister Elizabeth, a young orphan girl taken in by Victor's parents and cared for as if she were their own daughter. When Victor's mother dies, he vows to end the suffering that death brings by pursuing eternal life. Joined At The Heart reached the final of the Worldwide Search for Musicals competition. The show was produced at The Junction 2 in Cambridge, UK from 1–4 August 2007 and at the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland from 12–18 August 2007.
Young Frankenstein , a musical theatre adaptation of Mel Brooks ' Young Frankenstein , opened in November 2007 and closed in January 2009. [10]
" Frankenstein - A New Musical ", a pop-opera adaptation which adhered closely to the original novel,opened at 37 Arts Theatre, New York, in Autumn 2007 and closed in December 2007. The first UK performance was at The Stables Theatre Hastings in May 2009. Music was by Mark Baron, book by Jefferey Jackson and Gary P Cohen. [11]
A performance storytelling production of Frankenstein is currently touring both in the UK and internationally. It is performed by storyteller Ben Haggarty and the composer, singer and musician Sianed Jones. http://www.crickcrackclub.com/CRICRACK/TOURFR.HTM
Frankenstein , a play adapted by Nick Dear from the original novel, premieres at the Royal National Theatre in 2011.
Novels
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The story of Frankenstein, or to be precise, " Frankenstein's monster ", has formed the basis of many original novels over the years, some of which were considered sequels to Shelley's original work, and some of which were based more upon the character as portrayed in the Universal films. Yet others were completely new tales inspired by Frankenstein.
1957: French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière wrote six Frankenstein novels in 1957 and 1958 for Angoisse, the horror imprint of publisher Fleuve Noir, under the house pseudonym of Benoît Becker (with plotting assistance from Guy Bechtel for the first novel).
1. La Tour de Frankenstein [The Tower of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 30, 1957)
2. Le Pas de Frankenstein [The Step of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 32, 1957)
3. La Nuit de Frankenstein [The Night of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 34, 1957)
4. Le Sceau de Frankenstein [The Seal of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 36, 1957)
5. Frankenstein Rôde [Frankenstein Prowls] (FNA No. 41, 1958)
6. La Cave de Frankenstein [The Cellar of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 50, 1959)
Carrière followed the footsteps of the Monster, christened Gouroull, as he made his way back from Iceland, to Scotland, and then Germany and Switzerland, from the late 1800s to the 1920s. The plots have the Monster pursuing his own, evil agenda, unafraid of the weaker humans. Even people who try to help or reason with him are just as likely to be killed by the inhuman fiend.
1973: Frankenstein Unbound, by Brian Aldiss , combining the titles of Mary Shelley's novel with Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound (1820), sends a time traveller from the twenty-first century back to Geneva in 1816 when Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (as she was then) was engaged in writing the original Frankenstein story.
1978: Allan Rune Pettersson wrote two novels in 1978 and 1989
Frankenstein's Aunt Returns
1980: The Frankenstein Diaries. Translated and Edited by the Reverend Hubert Venables. Purports to be the actual diary of Victor Frankenstein. Written in a diary style with accompanying illustrations. [12]
1986: In The Frankenstein Papers, Fred Saberhagen retells Shelley's story (with significant modifications) from the creature's point of view. It is revealed that the novel had actually taken place during the American Revolution and Benjamin Franklin and his son play a major role in the novel. It is revealed through a series of letters as well as the monster's diary that the monster is actually an amnesiac humanoid alien who was disfigured by the electric explosion used in Victor's experiments, and that the creature that Victor had stitched together never in fact came to life. It is also revealed that Victor had performed the experiments under the behest of the sinister British nobleman Roger Saville, who had wished to create a race of super-men so as to form a colony of slaves and to defeat the American rebels. It is also implied that Saville and his hunchbacked assistant Small had murdered Victor's family in order to blackmail him, and that the novel was actually written by Robert Walton (who wanted to profit from the slave business) as a means to spread distrust to the monster. However, Benjamin rescues the Alien and helps him regain his memory with the help of Cagliostro , the book ends with the alien departing Earth, and deciding that despite the cruelty men like Saville are capable of, men like Benjamin Freeman are the true examples of the human race.
1986: In Stephen King's It , the monster "It" took the form of Frankenstein's monster.
1997: Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan is one of a series of parody novels by Spike Milligan . In this, Milligan crafts a bizarre story, with many gags based on specific moments and instances from the text of the novel, such as "I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on the common. At the end of that time I fell exhausted to the ground."
2004: Dean Koontz has written a series of Frankenstein novels: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein . These reimagine Frankenstein in the setting of modern-day New Orleans.
2005: Joseph Covino Jr has written an epic derivative novel faithful to Mary Shelley's original classic titled, Frankenstein Resurrected. [13]
2008: Kathlyn Bradshaw's The Frankenstein Murders ( Cormorant Books ) is a psychological horror/murder mystery that takes place after the events of the original novel and deconstructs its most important elements. ISBN 978-1-897151-16-7 [14]
Comics
(Main article: Frankenstein (comics) )
The Monster has also been the subject of many comic book adaptations, ranging from the ridiculous (a 1960s series portraying The Monster as a superhero; see below), to more straightforward interpretations of Shelley's work.
Dick Briefer's Frankenstein (1940-1954)
(Main article: Frankenstein (Prize Comics) )
In 1940 , cartoonist Dick Briefer wrote and drew a Frankenstein's-monster comic book title for Crestwood Publications 's Prize Comics, beginning with a standard horrific version, updated to contemporary America, but then in 1945 crafting an acclaimed and well-remembered comedic version that spun off into his own title, Frankenstein Comics. The series ended with issue #17 (Jan.-Feb. 1949 , but was revived as a horror title from #18-33 (March 1952 - Oct.-Nov. 1954 ). The original Prize version served as catalyst for an intra-company crossover , where all characters starring in Prize Comics at the time teamed up to fight Frankenstein. [15] [16]
DC Comics
DC Comics ' Movie Comics #1 (April 1939 ) featured an eight-page fumetti adaptation of the film Son of Frankenstein .
The Monster appeared in Superman No. 143 (February 1961 ), in a story entitled "Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!"
In 1973 the "Spawn of Frankenstein" appeared in the Phantom Stranger comic, written by Len Wein . The portrayal of the monster was as a reclusive, sympathetic character who had been living alone in the Arctic since the death of his creator.
A 1995 Batman special called Batman: Castle of the Bat by Jack C. Harris and Bo Hampton amalgamates Batman and Frankenstein. Bruce Wayne fills the role of Victor Frankenstein, wishing to revive his deceased father. Having successfully done so, his creation becomes the monstrous "Bat-Man", a hulking figure in a rough analogue of the Batman costume who preys upon highwaymen, similar to the one who took the lives of the (this story's) parents of Bruce Wayne. Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth is changed to a hunchbacked dwarf named Alfredo, filling the "Igor" role.
In The Superman Monster ( 1999 ), Lex Luthor is Viktor Luther, the creator. He discovers the spacecraft that would have carried the infant Superman to Earth. Inside, however, is only the skeleton of a child. Using the Kryptonian technology, he is able to animate his (unintentionally) super-powered creature, which initially resembles Bizarro . The creature flees and is raised by the kindly couple Johann and Marta Kant. They name the creature Klaus, after their dead son. The story features the Lois Lane character becoming "The Bride" to Superman's Creature.
DC Comics and Roy Thomas revived the character "The Spawn of Frankenstein" in Young All-Stars ; he then appeared in Grant Morrison 's Seven Soldiers of Victory . Here, Frankenstein is a Milton -quoting, gun -toting warrior battling to prevent the end of the world. In addition, DC's team of movie monster-esque soldiers known as the Creature Commandos featured a character that resembled the Universal Pictures version of Frankenstein's monster; Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor was nearly killed after stepping on a land mine , but was grotesquely reconstructed into a "Patchwork Creature" (as designated by the Who's Who in the DC Universe entry on the Creature Commandos), and later rendered mute by a failed suicide attempt. Later, DC Comics debuted an unrelated superhero (and member of the Teen Titans ) called " Young Frankenstein ."
In Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary , the protagonist, Elijah Snow, discovers an abandoned laboratory, filled with patchwork undead monsters. It is heavily implied that the lab belonged to Victor Frankenstein, and that, alongside Count Dracula, the Invisible Man , and Sherlock Holmes , Frankenstein had been part of a covert, 19th century conspiracy to shape the direction of the future.
In the comic book Major Bummer , Louie defends the common misnaming of the monster as "Frankenstein": Dr. Frankenstein is, so to speak, the monster's "father," and it is only right that a son should have his father's family name.
Marvel Comics
(Main article: Frankenstein's Monster (Marvel Comics) )
The monster appeared as a foe to Marvel Comics ' X-Men in issue #40 of their eponymous series (January 1968 ). In the story, written by Roy Thomas , the monster had various powers, including incredible strength, optic beams, and magnetized feet. He was an ambassador sent to Earth by aliens in the 1850s, but upon arrival, he went berserk. His fellow aliens followed him to the North Pole , where he was frozen. In the present, he was discovered by scientists and thawed. According to Professor X , this android was the inspiration for Shelley's novel.
The Monster of Frankenstein, the first five issues of which (Jan.-Sept. 1973) contained a faithful (in spirit at least) retelling of Shelley's tale before transferring The Monster into the present day and pitting him against James Bond -inspired evil organizations. The artist, Mike Ploog , recalled, "I really enjoyed doing Frankenstein because I related to that naive monster wandering around a world he had no knowledge of — an outsider seeing everything through the eyes of a child." [17]
Other publishers
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Classic Comics #27 (December 1945 ), reprinted in Classics Illustrated #26, had versions of the Shelley novel.
Dell Comics published a superhero version of the character in the comic book series Frankenstein #2-4 (Sept. 1966 - March 1967; issue #1, published Oct. 1964, featured a very loose adaptation/update of the 1931 Universal Pictures movie).
In 1972 , French comics publisher Aredit devoted seven issues of its digest-sized Hallucinations horror comic magazine to adapt Jean-Claude Carrière's Frankenstein novels.
In 1991 , Dark Horse Comics issued an adaptation of the 1931 Universal film.
The Monster is Monster in My Pocket #13. He appears among the good monsters in the comic book (1991), the video game (1991), the animated special (1992), and the 2003 animated series. In the comics, he was relatively inarticulate, represented by hyphens between each syllable he spoke, but possessed of simple wisdom and strong morals . This characterization was essentially characterized in the video game, where he was a playable character, and his only line of dialogue in the cut scenes was "Yeah..." In the animated special, he was known as "Big Ed" and was essentially a comic simpleton.
2004 saw the debut of Doc Frankenstein , written by the Wachowski brothers , the writer-director team of The Matrix ), and drawn by Steve Skroce . The book tells the continuing adventures of Frankenstein's monster, who has since adopted his creator's name and became a hero through the ages.
In 2005 , Dead Dog Comics produced a sequel to the Frankenstein mythos with Frankenstein: Monster Mayhem, written by R. D. Hall with art by Jerry Beck . In Dead Dog's version, the monster sets out to create his own Necropolis .
Also in 2005, Speakeasy Comics put out their sequel, The Living and the Dead, written by Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell , with art by Micah Farritor. In it, Victor, now calling himself Hans, must create a new body for his first cousin who wants her syphilitic son to remain alive after a vicious beating, and she coerces him to do so under fear of exposing him for who he really is. Half-crazed due to the disease, the newly born monster proceeds to start a Grand Guignol theater in Ingolstadt until Victor puts him down with the help of the first monster he ever created. As thanks, Victor begins work on the last attempt he will make at playing God , and begins to build the original creature a mate.
In 2005, Puffin Books released a graphic novel adaptation adapted by Gary Reed with art from Frazer Irving .
The 2006 Beckett Entertainment/Image comics graphic novel The Cobbler's Monster: A Tale of Gepetto's Frankenstein features an amalgamation between Gepetto and Victor Frankenstein, who reanimates his dead son.
In 2006, Eros Comix published Adult Frankenstein, a comic book with Frankenstein x-rated stories (featuring also other classic monsters) all written by Enrico Teodorani (creator of Djustine ), with cover by Joe Vigil and interior art by some of the best Italian authors in the erotic comics field.
Also in 2006, Big Bang Comics published an issue of Big Bang Presents featuring a superhero incarnation of the monster called Super Frankenstein.
In 2009 Papercutz published a Classics Illustrated Deluxe Graphic Novel adaptation of Frankenstein by French cartoonist Marion Mousse. His adaptation was originally published in French in three volumes, and was all collected and translated into English for the Papercutz version. Of all the comic book adaptations this one is probably the most faithful to the original book.
Toys and games
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Frankenstein's monster appears in the Konami video game series Castlevania , numerous times, with its name being "The Monster" or "The Creature", often as a major boss , but sometimes as a regular enemy. His presence is technically an anachronism since he appears several hundred years before his date of creation in the 18th century. The monster usually has the appearance of the Karloff/Universal version; however, the 2010 series reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow features a completely different-looking boss known as the "Mechanical Monstrosity", created some time prior to 1047 by "Friedrich von Frankenstein".
Several other video game version are also available, including Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster - A Cinematic Adventure Starring Tim Curry (PC) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , ( Super Nintendo , Sega Genesis , Sega CD ) based on the 1994 film of the same name. The original Nintendo (NES) has Frankenstein: The Monster Returns and for the Atari 2600 , Frankenstein's Monster.
In the 1995 Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! , Kong's archenemy, King K. Rool, assumes the persona of Baron K. Roolenstein.
A Frankenstein-like monster called Victor von Gerdenheim is a playable character in the fighting game series Darkstalkers , along with many other monsters from popular culture.
Frankenstein's monster also appears in the videogame adaptation of the film Van Helsing. He only appears as a non-playable character.
Frankenstein's monster also appears in Warriors of Primetime, where he is the final boss (this monster is inaccurate as Frankenstein claims to be 'brought back to life').
The role-playing game Promethean: The Created , published by White Wolf , focuses on beings created from human remains and animated by "the Divine Fire" who seek to attain humanity. One of the "Lineages" (groupings) of said creatures is that of the Frankensteins, who, like their namesake, are crafted from the best parts of multiple corpses and brought to life by lightning. The monster himself, going by the name John Verney, appears in some of the book's fiction and illustrations.
Many role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons , allow the creation of Flesh Golems , similar creatures created through the use of magic.
In 2002, LEGO released a Dr. Frankenstein and monster set as part of the LEGO Studios toy line. in 2011 a new green skined Minifigure called Monster resambles Frankenstein.
In Atari 's 2004 PC game, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 , a "monster animatronic" appears as part of a set of scenery included in the "Spooky" park theme.
The 2008 video game Fable II contains a quest in which a man named Victor is attempting to reanimate the body of a deceased woman, both homages to the book. Upon completion of the quest, if the player buys the house, it unlocks an area known as "The Shelley Tomb", a reference to the author of the novel.
In the 2009 Wii game MadWorld , Frankenstein's monster appears as a boss battle at the base of a dungeon, and is simply called "Frank" with bolts in his back, rather than his neck as common stereotypes depict. He is also shown as being regenerative when connected to an electric chair, and his size well exceeds the usually large 7'0" to go as much as 20'0".
Other usages
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov coined the term Frankenstein complex for the fear of robots.
Frankenstein or Franken- is sometimes used as a prefix to imply artificial monstrosity as in " frankenfood ", a politically charged name for genetically manipulated foodstuffs. The Franken- prefix can also mean anything assembled haphazardly from originally disparate elements, especially if those parts were previously discarded by others—for example, a car built from parts salvaged from many other cars. For many years Eddie Van Halen played a guitar built in such a manner which he called the " Frankenstrat ".
In 1971, General Mills introduced " Franken Berry ", a strawberry-flavored corn cereal whose mascot is a variation of the monster from the 1931 movie.
"Frankenstein" is the name of a character in the 1975 movie Death Race 2000 and its 2008 remake Death Race . The first incarnation was portrayed by recently deceased veteran actor David Carradine and the second by Jason Statham.
George A. Romero 's 1985 film Day of the Dead features a scientist conducting experiments on zombies nicknamed "Frankenstein."
The hit song China in Your Hand by the British rock band T'Pau employs the story of Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley's writing of it, in its role as a classic cautionary tale.
In David Brin 's science fiction novel Kiln People , defective golems that become autonomous are called "frankies".
Mewtwo of the Pokémon franchise has been likened to Frankenstein's monster in regards to being born through an artificial means and discontent with the fact. [18] [19]
Stitch , the main character of Disney 's Lilo & Stitch franchise, was somewhat influenced by the monster, as he was created by a scientist from miscellaneous alien DNA . Unlike Shelley's monster, however, his intentions were initially evil until he discovered an inner loneliness, causing him, and eventually his creator, to turn from crime to justice. Throughout the franchise, Stitch also demonstrates the monster's herculean strength and childlike curiosity.
In season 3 of Beast Wars Megatron clones Dinobot , making a Frankenstein's monster out of the clone by transmetallizing him with the Transmetal Driver and adding the half of Rampage's mutant spark he cut out earlier. The result was an extremely mutated Transmetal II minion under the influence of his "half-brother's" evil.
In 2006, the book The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived listed Dr. Frankenstein's Monster (sic) at #6. [20] [21]
The California Medical Association , in a rather humorous gesture, chose Halloween 2006 to announce that Dr. Richard Frankenstein had been elected president of the organization. [22] [23] He had previously been president of the Orange County Medical Association in 1995-1996. [24]
Frankenstain is a character in the Korean web-comic manhwa named " Noblesse ". He, like that of the actual character Frankenstein, is a scientist, but the similarities end there. Through his research he has gained immortality and immense power. He now serves the most powerful of all vampires known as the " Noblesse "
See also