Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Chuck Dixon from an original story by Dean Koontz
Artist: Andres Ponce
Editor: Rich Young
Release date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

With the possible exception of Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein must be the most imitated, re-imagined, rebooted and just plain repeated story in the history of the printed word. If Mary Shelley isn’t spinning in her grave at all the prospect of still more mileage being wrung out of her patchwork creature and the mad scientist that created him she probably should be.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it doesn’t always guarantee a quality product that, by association, can have a detrimental effect on the pristine original. In this case, Mary’s legacy seems to be in good hands. Based on a successful series of Frankenstein novels by horror scribe Dean Koontz, creator of Odd Thomas and many other horror staples, and written here by comic book legend Chuck Dixon the continuing legend seems to be in safe hands.

In Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Storm Surge #1, now calling himself Helios, Frankenstein has a new lab in a new age and this tale opens, appropriately enough, on a dark and stormy night. The mysterious Erika the fifth is alone in the Frankenstein house and is trying to find Victor’s most secret laboratory in order to discover the secret of his power to travel between universes.

Hiding out from pitchfork-wielding villagers and hoping for a thunderstorm is so yesterday and this reincarnation of the mad doctor has powers and facilities that not even Mary Shelley could have dreamed of. Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Storm Surge #1 follows the narrative of Dean Koontz’s novels pretty closely but, inevitably, there are indications that it will soon strike out on its own path.

If you’ve read the Dean Koontz’s books and like them, you will probably not find this particularly interesting but if this is your first encounter with Helios and Erika give it a try.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Storm Surge #1inventive, up to date and an intriguing blend of the old and the new.

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker