"Richie Rich Meets Frankenstein" - 2009

This was the second "Guest Blogger" post I did for the blog Frankensteinia, exploring one of the more esoteric corners of the Frankenstein legend. It was really fun to write, and looking over this piece again makes me want to do another one--Frankensteinia is such a great site I love being able to contribute to it.


Richie Rich meets The Frankenstein Gang!

Yes, the Poor Little Rich Boy's adventures did go beyond just looking for places to store his money. In Richie Rich Vault of Mystery, (one of approximately 10,000 different Richie Rich titles) Richie and his less solvent pals had all kinds of adventures, none as exciting for monster fans as this issue, when he encountered Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man!

This story opens with Richie and his pal Freckles visiting "The famous old Castle Theater!"

Richie and Freckles at first thing the spooky sound is just the wind, but things start seeming more suspicious when an old sandbag comes crashing down the rafters, almost killing Richie! Richie is still not put off, but even he starts to worry when a knife comes sailing from out of the darkness and lands just a few inches above his head!

They decide to split, but on the way out they encounter...The Wolf Man! (Freckles calls it "The Ghost of the Wolf Man!"--why it couldn't just be The Wolf Man, I don't know. Maybe Freckles knows something we don't). He begins to chase them, throwing stage pegs at them. He hits a lever on the wall, causing a trap door to open underneath Richie and Freckles, who fall down into it:

They land in a room where props are kept, where they run into Frankenstein's Ghost (again with the ghost stuff!). They run away from Frankenstein, only to run into the Wolf Man again. They head down another corridor, only to be met by...The Ghost of Dracula! End of Part One!

After a break consisting of two one-page Richie gag strips, we're back to our main story:

Hmm, these monsters seem pretty clumsy. I wonder...

Anyway, Richie's pants get stuck on a nail, and in his rush to escape he tears off his pocket, leaving a trail of money in his wake. While Freckles runs away, Richie stops to notice that the monsters are happily scooping up the cash! What kind of monsters are these?

Richie and Freckles hide in a nearby sarcophagus (you'd think this would be a perfect time for the Mummy to make an appearance, but no). The monsters think they've scared the kids off, so they resume their "plan", which involves them heading down yet another trap door. Richie and Freckles follow them, and we see that the monsters are in the middle of digging through a wall, into the bank next door!

Richie is now convinced these aren't real monsters, or ghost monsters, or whatever--they're just crooks in make-up! Freckles asks what he and Richie can do to stop them, but Richie says they don't need to do anything!

Freckles is confused at that, as the monsters drill make it through to the bank:

...the end!


While its disappointing to this monster fan that Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man aren't real, merely crooks involved in a Scooby Doo-esque plot, I am intrigued at the notion that these (or any) monsters do, in fact, exist for real in the universe of Richie Rich. After all, Richie and Freckles don't immediately come to the conclusion that these are just guys in costumes--for a moment, they believe they are the real deal, which I find an intriguing footnote to the world of Richie Rich.

Like most Richie Rich stories, there are no writing or art credits on this story, although its safe to assume that this was penciled by the great Ernie Colon, at least. He does a great job rendering the three monsters, especially on the cover, which is about as moody as Harvey was going to allow a Richie Rich comic to get.

One other interesting note: in this story, Dracula is clearly the ringleader, yet the group is called "The Frankenstein Gang." We know who the real star is, don't we?

"The Monster Lives!" - 2008

This was the first "Guest Blogger" piece I did for the blog Frankensteinia, a simply superb site all about Mary Shelley's legendary creation--to me, it is the character-centric blog.

I've always felt like, with my own sites, I'm always striving to achieve the level of fun, visual splendor, and panache that my pal Pierre Fournier brings to Frankensteinia, and I was really touched he would ask me to write something for it. While I think I was trying a little too hard here (and it shows), overall I thought this piece, "The Monster Lives!" came out fairly well.


It's a standard tactic, in all of entertainment--go all-out on a grabber of an image to promote a project, even if that quality can't be maintained inside and/or later. Whether it be a paperback book cover, a movie poster, or a comic book cover, audiences have come to expect a certain amount of bait-and-switch when it comes to advertising.

But I would be hard-pressed to find a bigger bait-and-switch than the one Dell Comics pulled with their series of Universal monster movie "adaptations." I put that in quotes because once you get past the gorgeous painted cover(by Vic Prezio), you wonder if somehow a different comic got bound inside.

Published in 1963, the story, called "The Monster Lives", is by Don Segall and Bob Jenney(pencils and inks), opens with all the familiar trappings of the Frankenstein story--Dr.Frankenstein and Fritz and conducting an experiment to bring the dead back to life! We flash back to Frankenstein's colleagues scoffing at his theories, so he and Fritz go about their secret work at night. Grave-robbing, Fritz bringing back the wrong brain, etc.

Lightning strikes, and the monster arises! I assume that Dell, scared of the all-powerful Comics Code, didn't feel they could include too much horror(even though they were adapting a film over thirty years old at this point, and never submitted their books to the Code anyway), so you get panels like this, which aren't exactly draped in mood:

Fritz waves a torch at the Monster, which scares him off, and he escapes. It's here that the word "adaptation" really takes a beating, as the story completely diverges from the one we know, forging its own path in giant, size-thirteen boots.

The Monster comes across two kids having a picnic. As he approaches, he's not exactly met with kind words:

After the little girl falls to her death, The Monster picks up the boy, but accidentally drops him off the cliff, too, and the kid plunges to his death(serves him right for throwing a rock at the Monster!). Dr. Frankenstein and Fritz track the Monster down, drug him, and take him home.

The local constabulary and the Burgermeister figure this must be the work of Dr. Frankenstein, and head for his castle with torches(ah, I see they have the Patriot Act in wherever this is). The three of them escape via a secret tunnel, where the Doctor reads in a newspaper that America is hosting a meeting of the world's leading scientists! They hypnotize the Monster, put him in a coffin, and board a steamer bound the for U.S.

After cryptically hinting to the ship's captain as to what's in the coffin, the Captain unexpectedly drops by their cabin, and sees the Monster! The Monster, still hypnotized by the Doctor, is ordered to strangle the Captain, which he does:

The three of them arrive on shore, meeting up with Hobbs, a farmer that Frankenstein made arrangements with(?). He comments "You know, this is pretty risky business, helping people get into the country illegally." Dr. Frankenstein's response? "You've been paid well enough for your trouble." So shut your yap, Farmer Brown!

While in the barn, Fritz proves to be way more trouble than he's worth, provoking the giant, murdering monster for no good reason:

This causes the Monster to cry out, which attracts Hobbs' wife, who knows nothing of her husband's nefarious dealings. She screams at the sight of the Monster, which startles some horses, who kick loose. Frankenstein grabs them both and strangles them to death. Sheesh!

Hobbs returns with yet another partner, who helps Dr. Frankenstein load the coffin into his truck, bound for New York City. Soon after, Dr. Frankenstein bursts into the scientist's meeting, and tells them of his experiment. Meanwhile, that idiot Fritz wants to hypnotize the Monster himself, and using the code word "Wake!"

Unfortunately, Fritz can't remember what the code word for "stop" is, and the Monster is now again on the loose! He smashes his way out of the hotel, knocking the good Doctor over.

He seeks refuge on an ocean liner, marked with "Danger--High Explosives On Board" signs, where some welders, scared by the Monster's sudden appearance, drop their tools, setting the ship on fire. To make matters worse, they tell the cops the Monster started the fire! Geez, ol' Frankenstein can't catch a break in this story!

The police and fire department don't want to risk an explosion so close to the city, so they tug the ship further out to sea. An explosion knocks the Doctor and Fritz into the water, but traps the poor Monster:

As you can see, the Doctor is just so torn up over the living hell he's put his creation through. The End!

It seems unfathomable to guess what Dell was thinking with this. Selling the book as a movie adaptation (it appeared as part of their Movie Classic umbrella title) is a cheat beyond belief, and in their own way Dell came up with an even grimmer story than the one they were diverging from!

This wasn't the only time Dell pulled this--they did adaptations of Dracula, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Wolfman, and The Mummy all in the same style--gorgeous covers, dripping in atmosphere and making one think of the classic films--but with insides that seem to be from another planet, what with their complete lack of shadows and day-glo colors.

The Monster deserved better, but that cover still rocks.

"Rarr--Prezio good!"