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Doc Frankenstein #1 Writer: The Wachowski Brothers Artist: Steve Skroce Letters: Comicraft Colors: Jason Keith Publisher: Burlyman Entertainment  4.50 out of 5 Stars Reviewed by Louis Vitela

Doctor Frankenstein's monster is often imagined as a tragic figure, alone in the world, and reviled by all who come into contact with him. With Doc Frankenstein, Geoff Darrow and Steve Skroce have created a new twist on this iconic character. While some of the essence of the classic Frankenstein monster remains, much has changed. For starters, his look is quite a bit different from the seminal Boris Karloff getup. Gone is the green skin, replaced with an all-over blue hue. The hairdo is a crew cut instead of the literal flat-topped head, and the telltale neck electrodes have moved to his cranium. But the changes for this incarnation go far deeper. Certainly, he was born a grunting, brooding creature, but he has grown since his birth a couple hundred years ago. Now he is a brilliant, heroic figure, indestructible and effectively immortal. If that's not intriguing enough, have a look at who's written this book.

The Wachowski Brothers (who seem to like to capitalize the entire “The Wachowski Brothers” phrase and read it as one name) are undoubtedly best known for writing and directing The Matrix and its sequels. It was clear to any comics fan who watched those movies that the brothers understood comics. Indeed, their four-paragraph introduction to Doc Frankenstein #1 is worth the price of the book all by itself, since it articulates the value of comics as a storytelling medium: “Comics, more than film, give us an appreciation for the different ways that words and pictures can be used to tell a story... The comic book is superior to film in our opinion because of the excessive compromises that must be made every single day on a film set.”

With regards to the story itself, the Brothers take the opportunity to include commentary on several aspects of our society, including a swipe or three at both the government and the religious right. There's also a good measure of religious symbolism (Frankenstein remembers his birth having taken place while his body was strapped to a giant cross) and enough philosophy to ignite interesting conversations among big-brained readers.

Steve Skroce's art is an excellent fit for the story. The panels deliver painstaking detail in rich color, matching the detailed, colorful introspection by Frankenstein himself as he recalls key events in his life. A good balance was struck between exposition and plot. Some of the plot (including the cliff-hanger ending) remains very unclear, yet still works well. Exposition doesn't always have to be flashback or verbal reminiscing; why not let the reader glean information from the action itself?

The theme of man-as-creator is archetypal, from Pygmalion (the ancient Greek myth as well as the Shaw play) all the way up to Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is what makes Doc Frankenstein so compelling. Despite all his alien, super-human qualities Frankenstein is Man's creation. What role does that mean he'll ultimately play? Will he be a messiah, a figurative as well as a literal savior?

Doc Frankenstein is one of two new bi-monthly books published by Wachowski-owned Burlyman Entertainment (the other is Shaolin Cowboy, recently reviewed here at CCdC). Issue #2 is due out this month (January 2005). If you like a multi-faceted, intelligent adventure yarn, look no further.