Puffin Graphics: Frankenstein

The Graphic Novelization of a Classic Tale!Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, has a great ambition: to createintelligent life. But when his creature first stirs, he realizes he has constructed a monster. Abandoned by its maker and shunned by everyone who sees it, the monster turns on its creator and haunts Dr. Frankenstein with murder and horrors to the very ends of the earth. Artist Frazer Irving's cinematic and moving portrayal of the doctor and his creation is sympathetic and powerful.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up–A comic-book version of the classic tale of Dr. Victor Frankenstein's ill-fated quest to create life. Adapting a large and complex work such as Shelley's gothic masterpiece into a graphic novel for young readers is certainly no easy task, and this hit-and-miss rendition is far from successful. A by-product of the editing is the weakening of Victor's relationships, reducing the impact of the murders of Frankenstein's friends and family. Most notably, the adaptation fails to introduce or explain the character of Justine, making her wrongful hanging the first and only time readers meet her. Irving's black-and-white computer-shaded illustrations vary between perfectly moody and downright murky. The level of detail also changes: in one panel, Elizabeth's hair looks like thick squiggles, yet in one of the book's most memorable images, thin strands of hair spill elegantly across a table as the doctor looks on in horror at the monster he has created. An additional purchase.–Douglas P. Davey, Halton Hills Public Libraries, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. The unforeseen consequences of pride and progress come clear in this brooding graphic-novel adaptation of Shelley's much read and debated classic, the first in a new curriculum-connected series, Puffin Graphics. Reed concentrates on the emotional anguish of the story, ably capturing the rage, the hurt, and the guilt of both monster and creator. Irving, who has worked for DC and Dark Horse Comics, among others, creates a hazy, suitably murky black-and-white backdrop, never exploiting the violence inherent in the monster's quest for vengeance. At times, however, the facial expressions of his characters seem at odds with the mood; Victor's friend Henry sometimes looks more like a happy idiot than a concerned, steadfast ally. But there are also some stunning sequences, as when Victor, pictured in shadowy candlelight and surrounded by books, researches the secret to life. Back matter about Shelley is sketchy, and Irving's sample storyboards, though interesting, are less so than the cover samples. Those are small concerns, however, given the overall product, which will attract readers both younger and older than the target audience. Final art not seen. Stephanie ZvirinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Mary Shelley (August 30, 1797 - February 1, 1851) was the daughter of Mary Wollestonecraft, the ardent feminist and author of A Vindication on the Right of Women, and William Goodwin, the Radical-anarchist philosopher and author of Lives of the Necromancers. At sixteen, she eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; they eventually married in 1816. Mary did not begin to write seriously until the summer of 1816, when she and Shelley were in Switzerland, neighbor to Lord Byron. One night following a contest to compose ghost stories, Mary conceived her masterpeice, Frankenstein. After Shelley’s death she continued to write Valperga(1823), The Last Man (1826), Ladore (1835), and Faulkner(1837), in addition to editing her husband’s works.

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