Frankenstein

About Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a comic book series from Prize Publications, written and drawn by Dick Briefer, that ran for 33 issues from 1945 to 1954. It grew out of Briefer's Frankenstein feature in Prize Comics, begun in December 1940, which Don Markstein's Toonopedia calls "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within the horror genre."

By 1945 Briefer was playing the monster for laughs: Frankenstein settled down in a small town and "began having delightful adventures with Dracula, the Wolfman and other horrific creatures." On two 1947 Prize Comics covers he was billed as "The Merry Monster," and his own title stayed humorous through issue #17 in February 1949. When the title returned in March 1952, Briefer brought back his horror version with the humor removed; issues #18 to #33 ran until November 1954.

Issue #1 opens with "Frankenstein's Creation," in which a bored mad scientist builds his own version of the monster, followed by "Frankenstein and the Ghouls and Vampires" and "Frankenstein's Wife." It ends with a deranged surgeon trying to graft the monster to an elephant. In Art Out of Time, Dan Nadel called Briefer "one of the few guys in the 1940s who had that loose, gestural art style that's funny." Dick Briefer's Frankenstein, a 2010 collection from IDW/Yoe Books, reprints his work.

On LiveComics, every issue here plays panel by panel, with each line voiced by a full cast, plus sound effects and a score.

Sources, checked October 2026: Wikipedia: Frankenstein (Prize Comics) · Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Frankenstein · Wikipedia: Dick Briefer · Now Read This: Frankenstein: The Mad Science of Dick Briefer (review)