It’s time to surface for new adventures.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Thomas Sniegoski
Art: Peter Bergting
Colors: Michelle Madsen
Letterer: Clem Robins
What They Say:
Mignola’s Frankenstein monster returns!
Safely tucked away inside the hollow earth where humanity survived after Ragna Rok, precocious young Lilja receives visions of a new darkness taking root on the surface. Defying her elders, Lilja awakens the timeless oracle–once known as Frankenstein–to investigate the warnings and, perhaps, even explore the new world above.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having dipped my toes in some other Mignola books recently, the start of a new series from him with the team of Christopher Golden and Thomas Sniegoski putting it together intrigued me. I have no familiarity with past stories for this character in this form so it’s coming in fresh and it feels accessible enough here while teasing what has come before without it being a detriment to the story. Peter Bergting is handling the art duties on this and it’s a great-looking book with so much detail and interesting creativity both below and above from what we see here. The designs are neat and I love the details while Michelle Madsen’s color design really shines. The down below elements provide the right kind of look at the start but you see everything come to life on the surface really well.
Taking place quite some time after events of the prior work, we’re introduced to a subterranean world where humanity continues to exist. It’s basically continued on in isolation here and we get a handle on how it’s set up with a semi-cult approach because of the immortal man that the priests here commune with silently. That being is Frankenstein and he’s basically on sleep mode and being worshipped. We understand this world through the young girl named Lilja who is struggling with dreams and visions of a woman that’s isolated and looking for help from her and from Frankenstein. Which is why Lilja does her best to get in and to try and commune with him if she can get past everyone else. It’s an interesting setup in that we see through her how much of this culture has managed to operate while at the same time seeing some of the internal division among the priests about it.
When Lilja does manage to basically commune with Frankenstein, it spurs the change as he awakens and understands the message that’s been sent. I love the way he’s curt enough in just leaving with simple advice to his followers and heads off to the surface – which people believe has been burned/purified. It’s no surprise that Lilja follows him and the two are on the adventure together to find this woman and we get a nice nod to how Frankenstein ended up in this place before the journey really gets underway. The surface world is in that weird new environment feeling as things are familiar but radically different and it sets up the journey mode nicely with talkative Lilja and quieter and more serious Frankenstein. The premise works even though there isn’t a massive hook here because the creative managed to make it a thoroughly engaging world with characters filled with potential.
In Summary:
With the Mignola name getting me in the door but also intrigued by both Golden and Sniegoski’s involvement, I’m really curious as to what this will be. Coming in with no real knowledge of the past appearances of the character, this works well in being very accessible to someone new and hopefully with enough to make existing fans happy as well. I really like the way it eases us into the familiar concept and story but with its own unique twists and trappings. It has a lot of good stuff going on and some gorgeous artwork with a great color design that makes this feel like the kind of strange world of the future that we expect. I’m excited to see what’s to come with it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 3rd, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
