Berni(e) Wrightson's FRANKENSTEIN

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Roamed an antique mall yesterday and, in one of the packed booths, saw the left side of a book that said “Frank” and “Ber”. Key-bearer opened the case, and there it was: an original edition of Bernie Wrightson’s 1983 “Marvel Illustrated Novel” labor-of-love version of Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN:

Thrilled to have this beauty in The Collection (not only of comics, but of Frankenstein). If you haven’t read it, Bernie’s collaboration (along with Kelley Jones, who finished the project after Bernie’s death) with Steve Niles, FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE, ALIVE, is considered a sequel to this piece of comics passion unleashed.

links/2024w07

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black and white

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From my first – Kelley Jones (who remains my favorite Bat-artist; come on, we need a CRIMSON MIST, emaciated creature of the night statue) – to my latest – Mike Mignola's GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT Batman – the Batman: Black and White series of statues have become the other manifestation of my passion for being surrounded by plastic people. Reasonably certain that this passion for this particular line comes not only from their stunning physical attributes – seriously, these things are gorgeous – but because the series from which they take its name, BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE, has remained one of my favorite Bat-projects since its first release nearly 30 years ago: there's little I love more than a well-done short form comics story – especially when those stories are such fascinating experiments in character and taut storytelling.

Bringing that storytelling and design aesthetic to tactile sculpture is catnip to my procurement proclivities: where else can Jiro Kuwata's Bat-manga Batman and Paul Pope's YEAR 100 stand side by side in glorious black and white?

ELSEWORLDS: BATMAN Vol Two (Moench/Jones, 1991-99)

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As I wrote in my notes on GOTHAM KNIGHTS, I've always been more fascinated by alternate continuities than canonical ones – and specifically namechecked Moench & Jones's RED RAIN universe. Confession: while I've read RED RAIN numerous times (though my copy inexplicably vanished, probably in one of the many moves in the naughts) I hadn't read the two follow-ups, BLOODSTORM and CRIMSON MIST.

A panel from 1999's BATMAN: CRIMSON MIST, by Kelley Jones: a vampiric Batman awakens and screams, Don't you realize what you've done?!"

What a treat it was - thanks to this collected edition - then, to re-read RED RAIN and dive back into the macabre world Moench and Jones created (and ported, if not in bloodsucking then in spirit and vibe, into their run on the main BATMAN title, still my favorite run on that series - recently bough a new copy of the first issue of their run, 515 (mine had, like my TPB of RED RAIN, and issue 516, inexplicably vanished), with the new suit that was forgotten far too soon) and read BLOODSTORM and CRIMSON MIST for the first time: while BLOODSTORM is my least favorite of the trilogy (strange, given how truly terrifying Jones's Joker is, a Gwynplaine from Hell, the corrupting devil himself – I wonder how much of this, of Batman's descent into monstrous evil after succumbing to his bloodlust via The Joker, influenced the origin of The Batman Who Laughs), Moench's writing here is a perfect fit for the Hammer horror feel to it all and Jones has never been better, especially in CRIMSON MIST as Bats turns full monster, one of the most tragic vampires ever brought to death, the full weight of what he's become in eternal conflict with every value and foundation that makes the Batman the Batman.