Unwieldy Creatures

 Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Brook Tsai (2022) 296 pages

"Unwieldy Creatures, a biracial, queer, gender-swapped retelling of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein, follows the story of three beings who all navigate life from the margins." So starts the synopsis that caught my interest. I love the cultural influence Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has had, but it was a novel I didn't finish in high school. I made slow progress through this retelling. The style and method of three people telling us the story is very similar to how Shelley's novel is presented. Dr. Z's dangerous ambition takes up the most pages. Plum, the protege, commands considerably fewer pages. And Ash, the creature, only shares their voice briefly toward the end. Tsai includes some bilingualism with Mandarin characters in Plum's story, so I had to flip to the end of the chapters for translation footnotes. The author also lifts some sentences straight from the original Frankenstein novel. The story is set now, or in the near future, so the science is more up-to-date involving in vitro gestation. However, there are still plot holes that didn't totally make sense to me. I'm glad this version exists. The rejection faced by some queer people from their families is a theme that fits well in this "creature feature" framework. Themes of estranged parents and children still resonate in this context. Tsai writes like the Romantic writers of Mary Shelley's era, and this is the part I struggled with the most. There is a lack of energy moving the plot along in the later part of this book.

A selection of October graphic novels

 Monet: Itinerant of Light by Salva Rubio with art by Ricard Efa (2017) 112 pages

Captures the Impressionist style in the backgrounds of comic panels. Really explores the starving artist trials of Monet. He was often rebellious of authority, but with this graphic bio being so short, you are mostly struck by how often Monet and his family were struggling to make ends meet with his irregular income as a painter. I read it on an older Kindle from Libby, which isn't as great at being able to zoom in on small text boxes or bubbles.

Mary Shelly: Monster Hunter Vol. 1 by Adam Glass and Olivia Cuartero-Briggs with art by Hayden Sherman (2019) 120 pages

Fun! Interesting Frankenstein pastiche. It combines the night Mary and Byron and the others had their horror writing competition with Mary meeting a woman Dr. Frankenstein, who is trying to create a man who is a protector of women. The series starts off promisingly with the art conveying the Romantic and Gothic nature of the time period, and the writing making use of increased feminist themes. But the last issue does not end in a way that was satisfying to me.

The Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, et al. (2017) 507 pages

Comics of the '70s feel a bit too much like soap operas for my taste. The art is sometimes too busy and hastily finished. Still, the continuity and character development are strong as it moves forward. Blade is introduced in this series. Great twists and turns for the imagination. I like the black and white art and stories through time of the Dracula Lives! series in the second half better than the first half. That is with the exception of the story set in Hollywood, which is cynical in the worst way. 

Monstress, Book One by Marjorie M. Liu with art by Sana Takeda (2019) 521 pages

Epic! I'm glad I picked this edition that includes issues 1 through 18. No other ending point would have felt conclusive. The fantasy elements are stronger than the steampunk elements until it gets into the later issues. I love the world building. I love the matriarchal society. The writing and art are so well matched. Maika and Kippa are great characters. Kippa is like Jiminy Cricket, a conscience for  Maika who has a monster inside her. Ren, the cat, and later Zinn, an old god, are created with fantastic complexity too. This book is full of stunning visuals and sometimes gruesome, bloody horrors. Figuring out who are Maika's allies and who are her enemies is difficult. Many different factors are intertwined in the plot. Five stars!

A selection of April graphic novels

When to Pick a Pomegranate by Yasmeen Abedifard (2024) 80 pages

I'm not certain I understood everything the author/artist is trying to express. In the last couple years I've screened quite a few indie Iranian films, but as an Iranian-American there are symbols from Ms. Abedifard's Persian culture that I don't quite grasp. I do recognize a creation story. The woman and the pomegranate are reflections of each other, as stated in the synopsis. There are many themes expressed. Like Eve in the garden, the woman is naked throughout and there is sensuality portrayed at times. It is quite short without a ton of text, so like poetry it is open to many interpretations.

Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry by Julian Peters (2020) 168 pages

Quick read as all the poems are short. I like the different styles Peters is able to use to share his interpretations of each. Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" was especially impactful. The modern day take on William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us" is also cool.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein by Michael Walsh (2025) 112 pages

I love the art and new backstory. The character designs are still Karloff, Clive, and the rest of the cast from the 1931 feature. Many of the panels and pages are screen captures from the film, but there is enough that is original here, scenes that don't appear in the film, to make this worth your time. The new angle of the kid observing Dr. Frankenstein and Fritz works well for a different perspective. Walsh gives us background on where the body parts come from and how each affects the creature, which I like. The last issue is the weakest in this regard. I hope Frankenstein's Bride also gets this comic treatment and I would enjoy one focused on Igor from Son of Frankenstein after the rest of the classic Universal Monsters.

R.U.R.: The Karel Capek Classic adapted by Katerina Cupova (2020) 264 pages

Translated into English this year. I've read the stageplay from the 1920s a couple times. There is a great introduction about the history of the play and how it brought "Robot" to language. The copy I bought had a couple printing errors, two pages were duplicated. The art style looks a bit like Al Hirschfeld, it has that 1920s to 1950s modernism, which is perfect. The adapter was free to change the order of events a little and express things more clearly, especially early on. For instance, Helena from the Humanity League is more resistant to the sudden marriage proposal from CEO Domin than in the play. But it does follow the events pretty closely otherwise. It starts with such big ideas, but as the story moves along it doesn't pay off many of the concepts. Later sci-fi worlds with artificial life like Terminator and Westworld would do better.

Howl: A Graphic Novel poetry by Allen Ginsberg with art by Eric Drooker (2010) 223 pages

I saw the movie Howl back in 2010 and was fascinated by the animated portions. This graphic version is from the art work by Eric Drooker that led to the animation in the film. I don't read poetry that often, so, yet again, I doubt I understand all of its references and the meaning behind it. The poem, of course, overcame censorship trials and obscenity charges. The second section about Moloch is what I mainly remember from the film. Moloch always reminds me of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the gears and furnace in the factory. With the time to read page by page I enjoyed trying to unpack the first section, which is the longest.

Victor LaValle's Destroyer

Victor LaValle's Destroyer by Victor LaValle, art by Dietrich Smith and Joana LaFuente, 170 pages

Dr. Josephine Baker is a genius with a chip on her shoulder.  She out-tested everyone else as as child and ended up working for a shadowy lab that lets her go when she becomes pregnant.  She moves to academia and splits from the father of her child. Working at the University of Chicago, her resources are a little more limited but she has a lot of freedom to pursue her work.  One day, they come for her to identify her son't body.  He was shot by the police while waiting for the bus.  Her anger sets her on a path of vengeance.  Did I mention that she is a relative of the original Dr. Frankenstein whose monster is out there and likely to return?  Surely you see where this is going.  Take a look at the cover and get a hint.  An absolutely excellent updated version of a classic story.

Victor LaValle's Destroyer

Victor LaValle's Destroyer by Victor LaValle, art by Dietrich Smith, 160 pages

As a brilliant scientist and descendant of Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Josephine Baker has a bit of a legacy. Fortunately for her, she's chosen to embrace her ancestor's ideas, and use nanobots to expand upon his vision of creating immortality through scientific advances. And it seems that she has, at least to a degree, succeeded where Dr. Frankenstein failed, reanimating the body of her young son. This is a powerful and wonderful graphic novel that, yes, builds on the story of Frankenstein and his monster, but uses it to shine a light on the spate of young black men who have been (and continue to be) killed by police officers. This was a truly excellent book, and I highly recommend it, particularly to those it will rankle.

Destroyer

Destroyer by Victor LaValle, 160 pages.

LaValle's retelling of the Frankenstein story involves a scientist who is not so much mad as justifiably angry.
While working on a way to use nanotechnology to extend life towards immortality, her son was (maybe this is a spoiler, but I don't really think so. Stop reading here just in case and assume this was the best review you ever read. Then go read the book and be amazed at LaValle's work and at my reviewing skills) killed by the police. She is hunted by her former employers and by a monster from the past. While I found it a little loose in the beginning (why did Agent Byron and his partner immediately open fire on Baker when they were clearly tasked with bringing her in? is this a commentary on law enforcement and black citizens? wait, maybe it is. I am just realizing this as I am typing it and realizing once again what a slow reader I actually am). Never mind that last complaint. This is a very good graphic novel.