DOC FRANKENSTEIN #6 by Wachowski Brothers, Steve Skroce, Goeff Darrow and Shannon Blanchard
© Burlyman Entertainment
Mania Grade: B+
Issue: 6
Authors: The Wachowski Brothers, Steve Skroce, Goeff Darrow, Shannon Blanchard
Publisher: Burlyman Entertainment
Price: $3.50
Issue: 6
Authors: The Wachowski Brothers, Steve Skroce, Goeff Darrow, Shannon Blanchard
Publisher: Burlyman Entertainment
Price: $3.50
DOC FRANKENSTEIN #6
By: Kurt AmackerDate: Thursday, December 06, 2007
In this sixth issue of the almost-yearly Doc Frankenstein, we learn the origin of God himself. After suffering capture and attempted exorcism by the very evil Catholic Church of the future – along with near-mutilation by angry werewolves – an escaped fairy freed Frankenstein and provided him with something of a revelation. After returning to his ship and his friends, Frankenstein, sets to work on some kind super-weapon, hoping to bring his own wrath upon his clerical captors. At the same time, the aforementioned freed fairy relates the origin story of Yahweh, the Abrahamic God, to a young priest with doubts of his own about the very Church he serves. It seems Yahweh rose to power through brute force, amassing armies and cutting a swath through both the gods of other world religions and their followers. He also had a taste for the ladies, leading to the birth of a certain Messianic son. Needless to say, the big guy comes off in an unflattering light.
Doc Frankenstein remains a funny, well-drawn, character-driven series that comes out irregularly. However, it also remains a scathing attack on evangelical Christianity. The part that annoys me lays in its confusion between the comparably liberal modern Catholic Church and organizations like Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, and a host of evangelical Protestant groups that espouse the more judgmental, unmoving version of Christianity that the Wachowski Brothers, Steve Skroce, and Geoff Darrow criticize so harshly. As such, it comes off like a 13-year-old mall punk ranting about the evils of the Catholic Church based on past misdeeds and misunderstood or exaggerated doctrine. While I’m of no particular religious faith myself, it seems unfair to confuse Pat Robertson and his ilk with the Catholic Church.
If you can get over that, the comic itself remains a worthy read. The satire of Yahweh’s ascent to power is hysterical, if incredibly offensive to most of the country’s believers. However, it continues the series’s tone of large-scale action mixed with humor – a balance it maintains without becoming unreadably stupid. Skroce’s art keeps the Wachowskis’ mandate to create a big budget action movie on paper, taking full advantage of the medium’s flexibility. After all, it doesn’t cost any more to launch a massive air strike in the pages of a comic than it does to show people drinking coffee. His wide, panoramic art benefits significantly from the bright, vivid colors used by Shannon Blanchard. If nothing else, Doc Frankenstein is always a pleasure to look at.
Doc Frankenstein remains a good read, but it’s never on time and the satiric content will likely offend many readers. But, the art’s gorgeous and the characters are consistently interesting.
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at cinescape@mania.com.
One of the greatest stories I ever heard that reaffirmed my Faith was from MONTY PYTHON, when they were underattack for LIFE OF BRIAN, but the one thing those great commedians admitted too, was the factthey WANTED to spoof Christ and his message, but they realised they couldn't, but . . they could tottally spoof how men have INTERPRETTED that message over 2000 years, and for me it made my Faith stronger, knowing that He is inflaible, and humans, with all our intellignece, still fight each other over these very issues we made up. . .