DOC FRANKENSTEIN #4

By: Kurt Amacker
Review Date: Friday, January 06, 2006

DOC FRANKENSTEIN is far and away the most anti-fundamentalist/evangelical Christian comic I've ever read. Whereas many comic writers content themselves with the odd snide remark or representatively repugnant character, the Larry and Andy Wachowski make the entire Catholic Church -- not evangelical in the strictest sense, I realize -- the story's antagonist. Not being of the faith, I don't lose sleep over it or anything, but this book best serves those that have taken a hard line stance against religion in the culture war. Don't saw I didn't warn you.

This fourth issue of the series -- the first in several months -- picks up with one of Frankenstein's allies straining himself on the toilet aboard a jet en route to rescue him from the church. Said friend, Texas Dick, is a 150-year-old grizzled cowboy stricken with lycanthropy (mythological version). So yes, the book opens with a guy that looks like Slim Pickens on the john, followed by the sound of "Tink-tink-tink." Hello, vulgarity. Unfortunately, this issue interrupts the usual thoughtful (albeit inflammatory) tone of the series with some gross-out humor.

The Wachowskis spend the first part of the story in flashback, as Texas recounts his first meeting with Frankenstein's girlfriend, Monica. The rest presents Frank's escape from bondage at the hands of the church and his subsequent meeting with a bunch of pissed-off werewolves sent to kill him by the church. It's not bad stuff, but both the humor and the smaller scale detract from the epic feel of the earlier issues.

As usual, Steve Skroce's art can't help but impress, but unfortunately, he abandons the wide-angle cinematic feel of the first couple of issues for more cramped locales. The earlier issues created a sense of "film on paper" as few comics have and were worth reading if only as an example of prowess in visual storytelling. DOC FRANKENSTEIN has always been a fine looking comic, but this issue doesn't meet its own standard in either storytelling or art. I'll keep reading, but this could've been a lot better.

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