Frankenstein: Agent Of S.H.A.D.E Book 2 - Secrets Of The Dead (#8-16, #0)

"You are more than the sum of your parts" - Nina

A quick recap, this series is based heavily on Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers reboot of the DCU character Frankenstein, the monster who took his creators name and now fights monsters to protect mankind as part of the covert non-governmental organisation S.H.A.D.E - the "Super Human Advanced Defence Executive". This takes the form of a tiny city housed in a three-inch sized sphere that agents beam in and out of.  Also working for S.H.A.D.E are Frankenstein's estranged wife Lady Frankenstein, and the "Creature Commandos", Doctor Nina Muzarsky, an amphibian/human hybrid. Warren Griffith, a wolfman. Vincent Velcoro, a vampire and Khalis a mysterious mummy who is currently seperated from it's head due to events in the first volume. Running the show is an ageless human called Father Time who likes to change bodies once a century and is currently taking the form of a Japanese schoolgirl.  Also in attendence is observer Ray Palmer (who later on will become The Atom due to his own shrinking powers) who is liasing with S.H.A.D.E to see if they deserve continued funding.  The book continues to be written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli, although Matt Hindt takes over writing duties about halfway through.  This volume unfortunately gets bogged down in a lengthy crossover that was going on between Animal Man and Swamp Thing at the same time.  Having not read those books, my knowledge of the overall "Rotworld" plot is confined to what shows up in this book and the DC wikia, so if things get a bit inchoherent I apologise.  The first book ended on a cliffhanger with Frankenstein and his wife's son having been released from The Ant Farm's maximum security prison area and escaped to the earth below.

Bow-chicka-wow-wow.

The story begins with Frankenstein and his Lady searching a ruined town, which Lady F regretfully realises is ruined because of their son.  Frankenstein says he is no son of his but Lady Frankenstein accuses him of having a "cold dead heart".  Frankenstein says his heart has only ever belonged to her.

We then get a flashback as to how their child was conceived.  Using mad science, Father Time combined their "unique, hybrid DNA" to create him in the lab.  But their embryonic son has a sudden growth spurt and bursts out of the tube he was growing in.  He attacks Lady Frankenstein and Frankie shoots him, leaving him presumed dead, but his relationship with Lady Frankenstein irreperately damaged.

Back in the present Frankenstein wonders how their son can still be alive.

Lady Frankenstein: "Father Time and his lab rats can do anything, Frank.  You know that.  I saw our son.  You saw a monster.  He saw a weapon."

They track him to Castle Frankenstein.  The Ant Farm is close by monitoring events.  Ray Palmer is outraged by Father Time's locking up of their son in secret.  He accuses him of toying with their lives and storms out saying he will recommend the U.N withdraw their funding of S.H.A.D.E.

Their insane son, pleads for death.

Back in the castle, Lady Frankenstein asks Frankenstein to give her a chance to get through to their son. They find him in the lab, obviously quite insane.  He attacks Frankenstein who just defends himself, while apologising to his son for shooting him before.  His son just begs to be killed and keeps attacking Frankie, leaving Lady Frankenstein to strike the killing blow and put him out of his misery.

Outside the castle, the Creature Commandos and Father Time are waiting.  Lady Frankenstein removes her S.H.A.D.E.Net implant and quits the organisation despite Father Time's protests.  She gives Frankenstein a big, farewell snog and disappears into the wilderness.  Frankenstein, while not happy with Father Time's deception says "S.H.A.D.E is all I have." And choses to stay.

The next issue is a sneak peek at the Rotworld plotline that will play a larger role in a few issues time.   Father Time orders Frankenstein and Nina to investigate the disappearance of Animal Man.  They have traced the last person he talked to, a Detective called Krenshaw.  Nina and Frank beam out to look for him.

Ick.

They find him dead, horribly bloated and rotting.  The body starts to break apart and speak, calling itself "The Rot",  Frankenstein's dead flesh is somehow immune to it, and it calls him an "abomination".  No matter how many peices Frankenstein cuts the body into, the Rotlings keep attacking.  He calls down a flamethrower from S.H.A.D.E and fries the closest ones but many more appear.

Frankenstein then calls down the ultimate clearance device, the "Black Bomb".  He dives on Nina to protect her as his flesh is immune to it, and all the Rotlings are atomised.  Sadly, Frankenstein sits and contemplates recent events.

Frankenstein: "Maybe those things were right... maybe my wife was right.. maybe I am an abomination."

Nina: "I.. think you're right Frank.  You aren't a man.  You're more than us."

And she holds his hand, causing him to smile.

Silence in the library!

The next three issues see some dirty secrets of S.H.A.D.E being bought to light.  Frankenstein is also suffering from flashes of memory from the people whose bodys parts make him up. Frankenstein is attacked in the library by giant insectscalled SCARE-EB's.  Supposedly allies of S.H.A.D.E. used for covert assasinations, Frankenstein manages to fend them off.  Father Time decrees this attack means their is a mole in S.H.A.D.E and that an agent called Crowly stopped reporting in just before the attack.

Crowly is stationed in the "extra-dimensional fourth cloud.  In the city of Untropolis", a place that spontaneiously came into being five years previously.  Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos are sent to find Crowly  They have jetpacks with a "nether field" protecting them from being vaporised when they hit the extra-dimension.  They arrive in the sky city and Frankenstein goes to find Crowly alone.  After a chase he finds her and grabs her and demands to know who the mole is.

Crowly.

She says she got a message from the "Leviathan" field office that Frankenstein was going to turn traitor.  He lets her go and she fires a steam vent at him, knocking him off the walkway and sent plummenting down through the city.  He falls and as he hasn't got his nether field equipped jetpack he will be vaporised when he hits the city interface with the rest of the world.

At the last minute, Nina flies over and grabs him.  Her jetpack protects them both and the fall out of Untropolis and into the Atlantic.  Father Time tries to get Frankenstein to come back to base, but Frankenstein wants to find the informant - Satan's Ring - in the Leviathan.  Right on time it comes swimming by and Frankenstein picks up Nina and they jump inside it through a hole.

The Leviathan

Inside they find a normal looking town, they sneak inside a safe house and Frank tells Nina about his visions.  He gets all emo about his monstrous nature again, Nina tries to comfort him, but she brushes her off and says they must carry on and find Satan's Ring and the true nature of the Leviathan.  Using a holo-emitter, Frankenstein disguises himself as a human and gets one of the town's inhabitants alone, then threatens him into revealing the history of the Leviathan.

Turns out it's the place where S.H.A.D.E forcibly retires all it's ex-agents, especially ones who know things that could change the world.  Their only way out is if the Leviathan dies, which Frankenstein decides to implement.  He gets into the Leviathan's hind brain and starts slowly killing it.  He believes this will bring out the S.H.A.D.E mole.  S.H.A.D.E send Khalis down into the Leviathan who heals Nina of her injuries sustained when falling out of Untropolis.  He is supposed to stop Frank but the whole population of Leviathan town are on Frankenstein's side.

The dying Leviathan crashes into the Leviathan graveyard where S.H.A.D.E's deep sea base of operations is.  Frank kicks his way into the base and finds Crwoly again.  She tells him the mole is below them, and he is revealed as Mycrift, Keeper of The Leviathans.  He'd seen the future, in which Frankenstein kills him and had tried to pre-empt that, but caused a self fulfilling prophecy.

Good job, Mycroft.

There isn't a mole network either, the ring is an "O-Ring", future predicting S.H.A.D.E tech he got out of storage.  He activates a spell, before Frankenstein can kill him, but that reacts badly with Khalis's healing abilties, and everything in the graveyard starts to heal.  Frankie kills Mycroft then attacks the resurrected Leviathan.  He somehow catches fire and blasts the Leviathan apart leaving him very badly burned and injured.

Khalis heals him and Nina, who no longer needs her helmet thanks to Khalis, joyfully greets Frankenstein as he awakes, no longer plagued with visions.  They embrace, and it turns out the organic material needed to repair Frankenstein was donated by the ex-S.H.A.D.E agents.

Belroy: " He won them over.  Turning potential enemies into and army of allies."

Father Time: "But armies for what, Belroy?  What aren't you telling me?"

Belroy: "Victor is back sir, and he's brought the Rot with him."

D'awww.

So before we jump into the Rotworld plotline, we get a zero issue detailing Frankenstein's backstory, narrated by a S.H.A.D.E report on him.  Victor Frankenstein awakes Frankie in his lab.  Almost immediately Frankenstein attacks him and frees the humans Victor was using in his experiments.  He then leaves having shown "an immediate sense of justice."  Victor becomes a "dangerous loose end" that S.H.A.D.E fail to neutralise, though they take the materials needed to create Lady Frankenstein from his lab.

Victor then starts hunting Frankie with a group of mercenaries.  Frankenstein has taken refuge with an Amazonian tribe who accept him unconditionally and help him find his "Humanity".  Unfortunately Victor arrives with his goons and decimates the tribe.  Victor and Frankensteinend in a one-on-one fight, which goes poorly for Victor.  With him dead, a beautiful woman appears to Frankenstein and introduces herself as Father Time, and with that he is recruited into S.H.A.D.E.

Victor gets pwned.

S.H.A.D.E report: "And he has gone on to perform years of covert service.  Averting disasters.  Changing the course of wars.  Rooting out evil that no other could."

And the zero issue ends. It's here that we hit the three issues dealing with the massive "Rotworld" Animal Man/Swamp Thing crossover that was going on at the time.  I'm going to skim these issues because they are borderline unreadable if you haven't been following the story in the main comics involved.  Here's a brief description of the Rotworld plotline from the DC wiki.

DC Wiki: "Rotworld was a crossover between the books Swamp Thing and Animal Man, telling the story of the struggle for dominion between the three elemental forces of The Red, The Green, and The Rot. The story begins as Swamp Thing and Animal Man emerge from the Rot one year into the future, to find that the Rot has overrun the planet, and overtaken any and everyone save those who have a connection - if tenuous - to the Red or the Green. The story unfolds as two separate arcs: The Red Kingdom and The Green Kingdom, in which each hero tries to make his way to face Anton Arcane and reverse the Rot's effects. The two arcs converge at the climax, as Arcane is defeated, and the two heroes are returned to the present day."

Victor's back, with some friends.

Unlike Swampy and Animal Man who time travel a year in the future to deal with Arcane, Frankenstein and The Creature Commandos and all those he rescued from the Leviathan have to take the slow path and live out that year.  Frankenstein's foe during this time is a Rot-resurrected Victor Frankenstein, and the key to defeating him and the rest of the Rot creatures lies in a device built by Victor Frankenstein called "The Soul Grinder" which he split into pieces and hid inside various humungous beasts around the world. 

It was Victor Frankenstein's plan to reassemble it and use it to overthrow Arcane when the time was right, but slowly and on horseback Frankenstein and Velcorro start months of travel collecting the pieces, while the others hide out in a desert wilderness far from Rot-corruptible flora and fauna.  Although Victor killed everyone on the Ant Farm at the beginning of the Rot outbreak and the year of hell's start, they can still use their implants to communicate between each other and Frankie and Nina keep in touch.  Velcorro is killed taking down one holder of a soul grinder piece, and a mysterious race of golden women help Frankenstein kill the final monster and the Soul Grinder is assembled, Frankenstein kills Victor by forcing him through it.

Victor gets killed for good.

The ex-S.H.A.D.E agents pass through it rendering them immune to the Rot, and then... the story ends.  Sorry folks, this story wraps up in volumes three of Swamp Thing and Animal.  But safe to say, they win, though I don't know if history resets and wipes out the memories of that year or if Frankenstein and Nina etc still remember even though it never happened etc.  The final issue of this volume shows the status quo back at the Ant Farm restored, Velcorro is alive and I have no idea what happened to the ex-S.H.A.D.E agents.

The final issue has all the hallmarks of something that was planned to run longer and got severely truncated.  Some weird looking people under survelliance from a guy from Homeland Security seem to be conjuring up the Rot style virus and also have a missile.  As the Homeland Security watches, Frankenstein comes dropping in and takes out the missile.  We then get a flashback of Frankie and the others are being given the job back at the Ant Farm.

Back to business as usual.

Later Frankenstein admits to Nina that he wants to quit S.H.A.D.E, Nina is somewhat saddened as she thought they had shared a moment together and started a relationship.  We arrive back at Frankie taking out the missile before the rest of the Creature Commandos move in and finish the virus carriers off.  When the Homeland Security guy is bought before his superiors to explain what happened, they find his story of mythical monsters combating evil to be incredibly farfetched, calling his report "insane".

And with that Frankenstein: Agent Of S.H.A.D.E becomes an ex-comic.  Despite the three issue tie-in to Rotworld, which was almost ceratinly done to boost flagging sales of the monthly, this book still has a lot going for it.  Big ideas, bold characters, brilliant artwork and other things beginning with B. The world of Frankenstein here is a compelling one and he remains an interesting hero, with the zero issue giving us some much needed insight into his history. This was not the end of Frankenstein the character though, his disatisfaction with S.H.A.D.E ends up with him joining The Justice League Dark, the group of magical and anti-heroes working in the DCU.  I don't follow that comic so I don't know if he is still there or if he continued his relationship with Nina or if he had a totally clean break from S.H.A.D.E.  All I know is once again, DC cancelled a fun comic with plenty of potential still left in the premise.  Curse you DC!

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E: Book 1 - War Of The Monsters (#1-7)

"Never give up hope...Life has a way of enduring in even the darkest of times" - Frankenstein

During my look at the Grant Morrison penned Seven Soldier's series, I covered his reboot of Frankenstein As that miniseries progressed, Frankenstein was found and employed by S.H.A.D.E which stands for "Super Human Advanced Defence Executive".  His job to seek out places where science and monsters had run amok and deal with them, he gained an wi-fi internet connection to the base and was able to have information downloaded into his brain.  His ex-wife, known only as "The Bride" then and more commonly referred to as "Lady Frankenstein" here, also worked for S.H.A.D.E. She had two extra arms grafted onto her and was an excellent kicker of asses.  Basically this whole set-up has been used to kick off this Frankenstein based series which launched as one of the first of DC's The New 52, it's 2011 universal reboot.  The only difference being that in this version of the DCU Frankie had been working for S.H.A.D.E. for many decades rather than having just recently been revived and returned to action.  This time the writer is Jeff Lemire and he does a good job springboarding off Morrisons ideas, keeping Frankenstein as the same kind of lugubrious but intelligent philosopher while really going crazy with S.H.A.D.E.  Alberto Ponticelli's art deserves some praise as well.  It's has a nice, thick lined weight to it set off by a limited palatte that emphasises green keeping things looking a little sickly and monsterous.

The story begins with an old man and his grandchild fishing by a lake, their dog goes off to investigate something and when they look for it they find it dead and skinned.  Then several monsters appear causing the old man to stutter "It's..it's finally happening.."  We are then introduced to S.H.A.D.E and it's new base called "The Ant Farm".  It's a miniturised city inside a three inch sized sphere that hovers miles above the Earth. S.H.A.D.E have been helped in this regard by Ray "The Atom" Palmer, who is a representative of the government and there to keep an eye on things.

Frankenstein meets with Ray and Father Time in his new body.

Frankenstein arrives having been called away from his holiday on Mars and is greeted by "humanids", artifical humanoids made to last 24 hours before being recycled.  Frankensteins comments on the dangers of creating life. He then meets Father Time who has transferred his conciousness into the body of a young, sailor suited, Japanese schoolgirl after getting bored of his old body, a black male. He tells Frankie that earlier that day they got reports of monsters invading a small American town.  They sent Lady Frankenstein in, but have lost contact with her.

S.H.A.D.E are keeping the monsters contained to the town right now, but Frankenstein will need help and is assigned a new field team.  Doctor Nina Muzarsky, an amphibian/human hybrid. Warren Griffith, a wolfman. Vincent Velcoro, a vampire and Khalis a mysterious mummy who doesn't hardly speak.  Frankenstein is appalled at this meddling with humanity.

Vincent: "Relax old man.  We volunteered for this. What's the matter?  Don't like the competition for monster of the year?"

Warren: "Watch your mouth Velcoro.  This man deserves your respect.  Agent FRankenstein it's an honour if I may say sir.  You're the reason I joined S.H.A.D.E."

Nina: "Yes. You and your life inspired all of my work."

Nina, Griffith, Velcoro and Khalis.

Nina was responsible for creating the "Creature Commandos" apart from Khalis. Frankenstein once again says he hopes things work out better than the last time someone he knew tried to create life. Then they teleport down to the town and start fighting the monsters.  They make their way to a church where Khalis has detected life and inside find a large group of children hiding in a cellar under the altar.

Questioning the woman with the children, Frankenstein discovers the children were being used as "bartering chips in some ancient pact".  Frankie knocks the old woman out and calls for evacuation of the children.  Ray Palmer contacts them and says the invasion is coming from a "temporal rift" under the lake.  The Creature COmmandos set up a "firewall" round the lake to keep the monsters contained, then Frankenstein and Nina, who can both breathe underwater, go down to investigate the lake bottom.

Nothing suspicious about this at all...

Nina has a flashback to how after the loss of her child, she focused on creating life in the lab. The first bacth went mad and are confined to a special prison area on the Ant Farm,.  She next experimented on full grown humans including herself and was more successful. She and Frankenstein reach the lake bed and find a huge number of child skeletons littering it.

Frankenstein: " Innocents sacrificed by the terrified people of this town in some insane attempt to keep whatever lurks down there at bay."

The fight off three monsters down there with Frankenstein approving of how quickly Nina adapts to the situation.  Nina says she needs a brain, so Frankenstein rips one out of the defeated monsters.  Nina hooks it up to some equipment and reads it. The three monsters were scouts looking for suitable planets to conquer.  The locals misread their intentions and started sacrificing children to them which amused the creatures.

The temporal rift under the lake.

Now the monsters planet is dying which gave new urgency to the invasion plans.  Lady Frankenstein was dragged through the portal when she came to fight them and now the invasion proper is underway.  Back up in the Ant Farm, Frankie's team is introduced to "The Egg" a small ship that can take them safely through the portal.  So through they go and are faced with thousands of monsters and Lady Frankenstein fighting them.  "What took you so long?" she asks them.  They all get stuck into the horde.

Lady Frankenstein: "Don't talk, just shoot!"

Velcoro: "Shoot?!  There ain't enough bullets in the world!"

Lady Frankenstein: "Charming new friends you have dear!"

Frankenstein: "Hrrrm."

Frankenstein contacts Father Time saying it's a suicide mission, but The Egg needs to repair itself before they can leave so for the moment they are stuck there.  Things look grim, but then Khalis concentrates and a huge flash of energy bursts out of him, killing not only the monsters in the immediate area but all over the continent as well.   There is still another continent with monsters on it and an ocean too, but for now they are safe.

Outnumbered on the moster planet.

Khalis is unconcious now and can't be of any further help.  Suddenly what looks like a mountain comes racing towards them, when it reaches them it reveals itself to be a huge monster.  Frankenstein charges it and gets swallowed whole.  The rest of his team start running from it, but then Frankie bursts out of it's chest with it's heart gripped tight in his hand, killing it instantly.

There is a similar "Titan" on the second continent and under the ocean and the team have three hours to deal with them before the planet reaches the temporal rift under the lake on Earth and all the creatures can invade. The team splits up, Lady Frankenstein takes Velcoro and Griffith to the other continent and Frankenstein and Nina go down into the water to look for the undersea one.  Back at The Ant Farm, the psychics suddenly start freaking out, all yelling the same phrase: "Help me!".

Ray: "They're just channelling a message."

Psychics: "Help Me! Help Me!  Help Me!"

Father Time: "A message from whom?"

Ray: "It... It's from the planet itself!"

My heart will go... wait did that one already.  Frankie kills the Titan.

The planet isn't actually a planet at all but a massive telepathic entity which had been hijacked by the three titans and their monstrous offspring.  They have leeched off it until it can no longer support them and now it's nearly dead they want a new host: Earth.

Lady Frankenstein's team is having trouble reaching the second titan, so Father Time authorises the sending through of something code-named "The Toybox" to help them out.  This turns out to contain a huge battle vehicle, covered with spikes and guns and crewed by a lot of android soldiers.

Underwater the monsters there don't attack Nina and Frankenstein.  Nina's fish like appearance makes them think she is their mother and they swim placidly along with them as they search for the titan.  They soon find it.  Nina says she could learn much from it, but Frankenstein reminds her that it was enslaving the planet-entity, torturing it for eons and has an "evil nature" and he draws his sword to attack it.

Back with the other team, The Lady Frankenstein orders the battle vehicle to smash into the titans kneecaps, while Velcoro and Griffith stab it in it's single eye.

Velcoro: "Aye aye Captain.  And what the hell are you going to do?"

Lady Frankenstein: "Me?  I'm going to stand here and look good of course."

Velcoro, Griffith and Lady F. take down another Tita.

Crippled the titan falls down and the androids soldiers pile in and attack it.  Frankenstein and Nina deal with the undersea titan and with all the titans dead the planet relays it's thanks via the psychics.   Trouble now is that the planet is moving away from the rift leaving only minutes for the team to return to Earth.  Things look bad then Khalis appears piloting The Egg.  He picks them all up and they make it through the rift to Earth with around a second to spare.  Back at the Ant Farm, Father Time has a question for Frankenstein:

Father Time: "So, Frankie.  What do you think of your new field team now?  Pretty awesome no?"

Frankenstein: "Hrrm...They'll do."

Frankenstein's holiday fun.

The next issue begins with Frankenstein on holiday in Tibet killing some ugly beasties who have been bothering the local temple.  Father Time then calls him and tells him to come to Checkmate HQ in the US.  Checkmate is another covert operation funded and run by the U.N.  The current "King" is Maxwell Lord.  Frankie arrives and Father Time and Lord bicker for a bit before getting down to business.  Checkmate has lost a being called O.M.A.C (One Man Army Corp).  He's been tracked to Metropolis and Checkmate think S.H.A.D.E have a better chance of dealing with him.

On the way Frankenstein says the whole thing feels suspect, S.H.A.D.E also has no information on O.M.A.C, "I don't like going in blind" comments Frankenstein.  He is dropped down on a normal looking man who yells "Omactivate!" and changes into a hulking, mohawked, brute.  While it and Frankenstein fight S.H.A.D.E.Net is under attack from a foreign intelligence.  Father Time says to let it have access to S.H.A.D.E's systems.  Meanwhile Frankenstein and O.M.A.C keep fighting, Frankenstein gets the upper hand and crys out "Brother! I need help!" then he unleashes an energy pulse that knocks Frankenstein back.

Frankie and OMAC fight.

"Brother Eye" is the name of the intelligence infiltrating S.H.A.D.E.Net, when it reaches the Hub it is intercepted and copied by the waiting Ray Palmer. Frankenstein is given the go-ahead to kill O.M.A.C but it suddenly teleports away, taking Frankenstein's left arm with him.  Frankenstein returns to the Ant Farms medical bay where Nina starts growing him a replacement.  She comments off-hand that she could use DNA to find out who his various body parts belonged to.  Father Time comes to check on him, but Frankenstein is irritated with him and warns Father he won't be a pawn in his wider schemes and goes to wait for his new arm in his quarters.

The next issue starts with Nina showing Ray around more of The Ant Farm.  They overlook a huge vat called "The Pit" where the humanids are broken down and recycled into new ones, "a perpetually regenerating non-human workforce."  Ray says he knows they aren't sentient and that S.H.A.D.E.Net acts as their collective hive mind but he still feels sorry and a little creeped out by them.  As they leave, one of the humanids become self-aware.

Humanid: "What am I? Why am I? Where am I? Must run.  Hide. Learn."

Tying up loose ends in Vietnam.

At the same time the rest of the Creature Commandos and Frankenstein are floating up a river in Vietnam,  During the Vietnam war, Frank and a being called Colonel Quantum fought on the US side.  One day Quantum said he was done with the war and S.H.A.D.E and disappeared into the jungle.  Later S.H.A.D.E and Frankenstein also realised the war was wrong. S.H.A.D.E monitored Quantum's energy signature and over the years it dwindled to nothing, but two weeks ago it flared up and destroyed all the villages in a fifty mile radius.  Griffith asks if they are bringing him home. No, says Frankenstein they are here to kill him.

They find a mutated Quantumn in a temple, he is a broken man who wishes only to die.  Frankenstein has a gun with anti-nuclear bullets that will return him to normal but also kill him.

Frankenstein: "Are you sure?"

Quantum: "Yes.  I'm sure.  I want to rest."

Frankenstein shoots him and Quantum suddenly grows huge, before shrinking down and returning to human form.  He dies content, holding Frankenstein's hand.

Quantum just wants to die in peace.

Back up in The Ant Farm, many humanids have rebelled and release the inmates of "The Zoo", the high security prison area.  Lady Frankenstein and Nina go to deal with them.  They are experiments gone wrong, Nina's first attempt at The Creature Commandos. One that looks like melted wax disables Lady Frankenstein by partially absorbing her and another knocks Nina out, though they recognise her as their "mother".

Frankenstein and his team bust their way back into The Ant Farm and are faced by a group of armed humanids.  Turns out Brother Eye was responsible for their sentience and rebellion and a fight ensues.  Lady Frankenstein meanwhile, blasts her way out of the wax creature then confronts the rest of Nina's "children".  Velcoro and Griffith break into the armoury and liberate some powerful ordanance and go to close down The Pit.

Nina's "children".

Father Time and Belroy are saved by Ray Palmer and his ability to shrink which he uses to explode the heads of the humanids holding them. With the rebel humanids wiped out and The Pit where they are made closed down, The Ant Farm is secure again.  But suddenly the last of Nina's children appears, grabs Frankenstein's sword and cuts off Khalis's head.  Frankenstein kills it, but it seems Khalis can survive a little decaptitation.  Then Father Time orders them to come to the teleport room.  Father Time says there was a final prisoner so dangerous and secret that they didn't have any S.H.A.D.E.Net files on it.

Frankenstein: "Who Father? What the hell did you have trapped in that thing?"

Father Time: "It was him, Frank.  It was your son!"

Frankie and the Creature Commandos do what they do best.

Dun-dun-DUH!  And that concludes the first volume with an excellent cliffhanger.  This was a very enjoyable collection of issues.  Building off the small details and relationships featured in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein mini, it creates a very believeable atmosphere for "mad science" to run riot.  Giving Frankenstein a back-up team and keeping Lady Frankenstein around was another great idea.  It allows levity to take place around Frankenstein without turning him into a wise-cracking creature himself.  He's still a noble, utterly serious soul, dedicated with protecting humanity from monsters.  He also has a softer side which the gentle Nina brings out of him and they make a good couple when it's time to team up. If you enjoyed Grant Morrison's, Doug Manhke drawn Frankenstein, and don't go into this with the insanely high expectations that it set, you'll find plenty to enjoy here.  Join me in a few days for Book 2 and the resolution to that cliffhanger.

Seven Soldiers Of Victory: The Miser's Coat (#1)

"The magic mirror spoke of Seven Soldiers who would one day ride against me.. I see no Seven" - Gloriana

So here we are.  The finale of the maxiseries.  We left each miniseries with the Sheeda invasion of New York having just begun.  Can Grant Morrison pull off a satisfactory conclusion to each character's arc, plus depicting more backstory and historical context and a mega battle and its aftermath?  Well, no not quite, it's here that Morrison's reach finally exceeds his grasp.  Oh it comes very close to completely working, thanks to a phenomenal art job by JH Williams III, but in the end there is too much going on in too short an issue, and in places it lapses into incoherence.  Plus unforgivably I had to look up some up on wikipedia because it is not at all obvious what had happened.  Some characters like Shining Knight and the Manhattan Guardian get a very good wrap up.  Others, most obviously, Frankenstein get screwed over and barely appear.  I would have liked it better if all the historical background had been spread across the miniseries and the final issue completely devoted to the fight against the Sheeda.  That said, we would have been robbed of JH William's riff on Kirby's art style plus his lavish Frank Frazetta style Athurian fantasy sequences. He also blends the seven characters we have seen portrayed by very different artists together in a way that keeps them looking unique while also being of the same overall style.  Basically JH William's owns this final issue and that it still manages to satisfy as much as it does can be laid in a large part at his door.

The issue begins with one of the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp telling the story of the Seven Soldiers destined to save the Earth but never meet.  It seems like he is breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader, but it later transpires that he is dealing with the rogue "Eighth of the Seven" Zor, as detailed in Zatanna's mini, who put the whole Sheeda plan in motion.

Now that's how you make an entrance.

We then cut to Gloriana as her troops invade New York.  Frankenstein is still in the Castle Revolving's control room, and suddenly Sir Justin/Justina the female Shining Knight rises from the Cauldron of Rebirth and boy does she ever look pissed.  Then we start a lengthy flashback, with JH William's doing a marvellous take on Jack Kirby's style as we see Metron and some other New Gods arriving on pre-historic Earth.

Narrator: "40,000 BC.  The Sky Tribes bring structure to a savage world.  The refashioned it in their own image...The primitive inhabitants of a primordial Earth.  And gave them fire, inspiration and magic"
We then rattle through history, the most important element being the introduction of the red haired Aurakles, the Earth's first superhero, who appeared in Mister Miracle's mini.  He holds the Seven Treasures, the Sword (Caliburn), The Cauldron, The Hammer, The Merlin Sprite, the winged horse Pegazeus and an enchanted spear that can "carry death across time and strike a target a millenia away".

Metron and the New Gods, Kirby style.

The ancient men invent a time machine and visit the future.  The machine is discovered by Melmoth and the Sheeda invent their own, leading to the first Harrowing of the Earth. We jump to the era of Sir Justin and how Arthur found Caliburn and the children of Pegazeus.  Then later recovered the Cauldron from the Sheeda, although if you read my look at Shining Knight's mini you'll know how things panned out for the Earth of this time. We then jump back into the present and the actual battle for New York led by Mahattan Guardian.  The battle is rendered via newspaper pages giving it a unique feel and adding in more information in a way that's fun to read.  Apparently even the crossword is relevant, but I can't say for sure, I suck at them.  Anyway, I can't do them justice, so enjoy them yourself.

And a little further on in the issue, but I'm doing it here as it fits in better, is the wrap up to Manhattan Guardian's storyline.

So cool.  Then we cut to Alix, the Bulleteer, driving through the chaos of battle to get Sally to the hospital.  Sally wakes up and sneers that it's Alix who'll need the hospital, all the while, Justina fights Gloriana.  Then Zatanna and Misty arrive on Vaguard, before Zatanna can raise magic hell, Misty knocks her out saying she just realised the reason she wanted to learn magic was to fight her step-mother.  The Sheeda recognise her as King Melmoth's daughter and she takes off. 

Luckily Ali-Ka-Zoom arrives on the scene and wakes Zatanna up, handing her the little guy in a jar, revealed to be the Merlin Sprite, one of the Seven Treasures. Klarion meanwhile is out on the streets, revelling in the chaos - ominously he wonders "which side shall I..." before being distracted by Misty.  We get yet another text heavy page, which to sum up sees Klarion steal Misty's magic die, using it along with his own to complete the "Fatherbox" another Treasure.  He then flies off on a giant Sheeda insect mount, leaving Misty distraught, and telling the recently arrived Zatanna that no one can stop Gloriana now.

At the same moment, Father Time, the leader of S.H.A.D.E as introduced in Frankenstein's mini, gets a transmission from Frankie which he sent when he was in the future and makes a horrible discovery.

Father Time: "He says the Sheeda are the pinnacle of natural selection...the last living species clinging to a dying Earth!  Consuming their own history to survive,,, They're not fairies, not aliens.  They're us.  One billion years from today.  The Sheeda are what man will finally become!"

Frankenstein is still in Castle Revolving's control room.  Suddenly Klarion appears and as Frankenstein is a "grundy-man" he takes control of him and orders him to take the Castle back to the Sheeda-side.  Zatanna meanwhile uses the Merlin Sprite to power a spell that does something to power up or protect the Seven, it's not totally clear frankly. (Wikipedia says "In the final battle against the Sheeda, Zatanna casts a spell to move time and space, retroactively positioning the Seven Soldiers to overthrow the Sheeda." but that's not at all obvious from the issue itself, ah well)  Shining Knight and Gloriana are still locked in combat, Gloriana gets the upper hand and knocks Justinia off the high spot the are fighting on. 

Zatanna uses Overpowered Magic.  It's Super Effective!

Then we see Mister Miracle visit Boss Dark Side, and now he has "God Sight" he can hear and speak to Darkseid lurking inside his human host.  He offers himself as a trade for Aurakle's freedom.

Darkseid: "I promised the Sheeda a world to ravage in return for Aurakles, beloved of the New Gods."

Darkseid agrees to Mister Miracle's terms, now that Mister Miracle has become the Avatar of Freedom he holds more value.  He shoots Mister Miracle through the head.  Outside, Vanguard catches a falling Sir Justin.  Then I Spyder, having changed sides again, shoots Gloriana through the head with an arrow.  She falls into the road below and with Aurakle's now free the Spear that was throw thousands of years ago can find it's mark in the form of Alix's out of control car (she being a direct descendent of his, the hair you see), and it hits Gloriana and explodes, finally killing her for good.  And with that the Sheeda attack on New York is over.

A battered and badly hurt Gloriana, finally taken out by the most reluctant of the Seven.

Some time after the battle we see Justinia, now on a girls school uniform, talking with Ali-Ka-Zoom.  She is still sad about losing everyone she cared about, but Ali hands her Caliburn and says he found records of a past Golden Age, led by Ystina the Good, "who knows what big adventures you've got waiting".  We get a single page showing Klarion with the Fatherbox celebrating becoming King Of The Sheeda, and last of all Mister Miracle's funeral.  The final image is him bursting out of his grave and with that, this epic maxi-series comes to an end.

"Wise Fwom Your Gwave!"

So, the finale, while bursting at the seams with content, probably could have used more focus on the final battle in New York and it's aftermath than yet more history, although the artist in me still hearts the Kirby pastiche. Frankenstein doesn't play any kind of role in the final battle, although to be fair, he was the main reason they didn't have to deal with a fleet of Sheeda warships rather than just Castle Revolving.  I only know that Klarion became the Sheeda King from Morrison's notes in the back of the collection, it's not at all obvious from the final pages that things have gone down that way. Misty is rather ill-served which is a shame, she had potential to be an interesting character in her own right and I don't think she's ever appeared again in a DC comic post-Seven Soldiers.  However I applaud the creative uses of text heavy pages to impart big chunks of information in a way that's fun to read.  And so, while not perfect by any means, it's still a worthy capstone to a magnificent epic series, which I put up with the best of Grant Morrison.  It's been collected in two generous and good value trade paperbacks and I heartily recommend it.  Great writing, mostly great art, it's a peach.

So, What Happened Next...?

Before I sign off on this series finally, lets have a quick look at the post Seven Soldier's careers of these rebooted, reimagined characters.

SHINING KNIGHT: She appeared briefly in Infinite Crisis, the year long weekly series 52 and the Teen Titans.  But when the 2011 New 52 reboot launched, she became a regular member of the "Demon Knights" in the titular series which takes place in the Middle Ages.  Her background was altered a bit and although biologically female, he was gradually and sensitively revealed as trans-man, however the series was cancelled after thirty issues or so and I'm not sure if he is active in the current DCU.

MANHATTAN GUARDIAN: Sadly DC prefer the original concept of the Guardian, so Jake has been reduced to bit parts in major crossovers, although a team-up between him and the original Guardian may be on the cards in the future.

ZATANNA:  She remains a hugely significant character in the DCU, with appearances constantly in the last ten years.  Most recently she is a member of the New 52 series Justice League Dark, a collection of magic orientated DCU characters.

KLARION THE WITCHBOY: Like Manhattan Guardian mainly reduced to bit parts in major crossovers, but it seems he is to be given his own series, it remains to be seen how much his Seven Soldiers history and powers will feature in it.

MISTER MIRACLE:  The Shilo Norman Mister Miracle recovers from his nasty bout of death (thanks to his merging with Motherbox).  He plays a key role in the battle against Darkseid and the Anti-Life Equation in Morrison's Final Crisis. He also plays a major part in Blackest Night/Brightest Day. But as far as I can see he has not so far appeared in the New 52 DCU.

THE BULLETEER:  Despite quitting the superhero business, she was back in action with a lot of guest appearances in many different series.  But again, does not appear to have been used post the New 52.

FRANKENSTEIN: Although his fate was left up in the air in the finale issue, he also makes guest appearences in various crossovers.  During Flashpoint, he got his own alternate universe mini-series.  Then was given his own title once the New 52 launched.  Sadly this only lasted for sixteen issues, with Frankie going on to become another member of the Justice League Dark after its cancellation.

Seven Soldiers Of Victory: Frankenstein (#1-4)

"Fear not.  In wrath's name.  I am at your service" - Frankenstein

Let's get this out of the way right from the start pedants who are looking at the cover and howling "Frankenstein was the scientist NOT the monster!" This is dealt with by Frankenstein saying he took on his creator's name as a tribute to his work.  There easy.  Now lets move on.  Of course Frankenstein's monster has a long history of appearing in every medium you can think of.  DC's version of him first appeared way back in Detective Comics #135 in 1948.  He doesn't have much of a history in the DCU prior to Seven Soldiers so Morrison really goes to town creating a new one for him out of full cloth.  Interestingly he was probably, along with Sir Justin - The Shining Knight, the most popular character of the Seven Soldiers series, and it's easy to see why.  Frankenstein here is based looks-wise on his most famous image in the cinema versions but has the poetic soul and quick intelligence of Mary Shelley's original.  He's also given a very "Hellboy and the B.P.R.D" style relationship with the DCU paranormal investigative agency S.H.A.D.E and his wife, "The Bride" even makes an appearence.  A word about Doug Mahnke's art, I love it!  While I appreciate the fact that art in the style of JH Williams III will leap off the page and make sweet love to your eyeballs, my own preference is for slightly less "real" styles, and the gloriously gothic nature of Mahnke's "ugly aesthetic" here is something I find tremendously pleasing. And it allows Morrison to succesfully experiment with another genre this time, that being horror.

FRankie versus Melmoth's Sheeda maggots.

The story begins with Frankenstein and Melmoth battling aboard a moving train in 1870.  Melmoth was introduced in Klarion The Witch Boy's mini and is Sheeda Queen Gloriana's husband.  He is also functionally immortal.

Frankenstein: "You cannot kill what does not live, Melmoth."

Melmoth: "Nor that which cannot die."

Frankestein blows Melmoth's head off then the train crashes and leaving his fate unknown.  Later by 2005 and town has been built where the train derailed.  We are introduced to a boy only referred to as "Uglyhead".  He can hear other people's thoughts and is surrounded by students all thinking "Uglyhead." Then a dark haired girl passes him telling him not to listen to what they say and he thinks to himself "I shall spare this one."

We then see more thoughts of the students, mainly expressing their insecurities.  The mean teenage girls ask the dark haired girl if Uglyhead is going to be her prom date.  She ignores them and finds her real boyfriend and asks him why everyone calls the boy Uglyhead.  Her boyfriend admits it "something to do."

To be fair, he does have an Ugly Head.

Later Uglyhead confronts a blonde haired girl outside a shop and starts messing with her head first by reading her thoughts then influencing them.

Blonde Girl: [thinks] "Why is he making me feel so insecure."

Uglyhead: "Because deep down you hate yourself and I can see it.  Deep down you're an Uglyhead too."

And we then see the Sheeda on his back, who seems to be focusing his power rather than mind controlling him.  He asks if she is ready to change and later at her house she is tearfully eating pizza and talking to her boyfriend on the phone:

Blonde Girl: "W-well maybe I've got a new boyfriend and he says zits and a fat ass and no confidence would really suh-suit me.... Help me Steve, something terrible is happening to me."

Next day the blonde girl shows up at school looking spotty and plain.  Steve is upset but Uglyhead says now she looks like she feels on the inside.  Finally after mindfucking the rest of them he takes control of them all, so all they can think is "Obey".

Later that night, the Dark haired girl and her prom date arrive at the school, confused as to why it's all dark.  They go into the hall and are confronted with the sight of the rest of the kids being consumed by huge maggoty things.  Uglyhead says the Dark haired girl can be his queen.  Her boyfriend creates a diversion for her to escape by electrocuting himself and the others with the lights. 

The Prom that year was something of a bust.

She runs for it, but in the corridor, Frankenstein bursts his way up through the floor saying something was "left undone."  Uglyhead leaves the main building saying he wants to show the adults what their "perfect children" have become.  Frankenstein picks him up and throws him through a window, then stabs his sword into his neck killing him and his Sheeda rider.  He then sets fire to the school.  The dark haired girl asks if she can come with him and be his Girl Frankenstein. But he responds:

Frankenstein: "I must walk my road alone.  Find your kin and tell them to gather weapons for armageddon's breath is now upon your necks."
And as he leaves he instructs her that if the Sheeda or Dark Melmoth return, to give them the message: "Frankenstein lives!"

Kill it with fire!!

We next find Frankestein looking totally badass, riding a "flesh eating horse of Mars".  He has tracked Melmoth to the planet and is aiming to deal with him for good.  He leads a pack of the horses to Melmoth's base, which is a repurposed ancient Martian civilisation's.  He thinks to himself:

Frankenstein: "Here, under an archaic firmament sullen with cinders and cinnamon.. star speckled with the lights of ulcerated rubies in a mostrous zodiac of spilled blood, vengeance must come."

Martian travel in style.

The action the cuts to Melmoth, heavily bandaged after being set on fire during the events of Klarion's miniseries. he is showing a group of gangsters round his base.  Melmoth tells them that he is all that stands between the human race and extinction.  He fills in some backstory about himself, he was King of the Sheeda until:

Melmoth: "I was usurped by an ambitious, evil bitch who dumped me at the first fall of Camelot and left me to walk through the long centuries.  I've been wandering the godforsaken Earth for ten thousand years now.
He goes onto say he was kept alive by magic and bloody-minded rage, until he found the Cauldron of Rebirth and replaced his blood with it's waters.  He then warns them that his wife is coming to eat civilisation.  He says he's had centuries to plan, build armies and enlist criminal dynasties.  He says he's grown fond of mankind and his plans for it are "more benevolent".  When one of the gangsters asks how he funds all this, he takes them to a huge room full of gold (apparently the tomb of Earth's first superhero, Aurakles, he of Mister Miracle's mini), which is mined by the teenage "recruits" of Team Red (see Klarion's mini).

Aurakle's golden tomb.

Suddenly Frankestein bursts through a wall and lets the flesh eating horses deal with the gangsters.  He smashes Billy Beezer's shackles and tells him his friends are waiting for him on the other side of the "Erdel Gate".  Melmoth is not afraid of Frankenstein this time, he says he knows the secret of his creation, he gave Doctor Frankenstein several drops of his blood to bring his creature to life.  That makes Frankenstein a "Grundy-Man" and he uses a sigil to stop Frankenstein in his tracks.  But Billy Beezer knocks it out of Melmoth's hand, then they all race inside the vault because some "grave protectors" had been activated and were about to attack.

Melmoth says Frankenstein and he are on the same side really and that he is Frankestein's "Dad".  But Frankenstein ignores him and picks him up and starts to feed him to the flesh eating horses.

Frankestein: "Welcome to hell.  For when you enmerge from the guts of these monsters, you will be conscious.  You will still be alive in the form of dung!"
Melmoth screams that "I could have saved them from her!" before his head gets eaten and Frankenstein, his revenge completed gathers up the slaves and takes them back to Earth.

And Melmoth doesn't even make it to the finale issue.

The next issue begins with scenes set in a small American town called Salvation Valley.  It seems drinking the local water has turned everything opposite.  Clever children are now stupid, birds prey on cats, old women fight in the streets using broken bottles and soldiers are turned into cowards.  The fleeing soldiers run into Frankenstein amd warn him about the water.  Then a huge pack of rabbits, squirrels and other usually inoffensive creatures charge him.

Frankenstein: "Madmen say that the meek shall inherit the earth.  Has that awful day come at last?"

As they begin to swarm him, a military helicopter appears.  The side door opens to reveal The Bride (of Frankenstein), although she has two extra arms.  She hauls him into the chopper and once he is safe says "welcome to the S.H.A.D.E mobile" then she shoots him in the head.

Introducing The Bride.

He wakes up in shackles and a man in a bowler hat called Father Time tells him that S.H.A.D.E stands for "Super Human Advanced Defence Executive" or more prosaically, "Superman meets James Bond".  He then offers Frankenstein a job, or else.  Once Frankenstein agrees and is released, Father Time tells them that an experimental super weapon got loose and infected the town.  He says that dead beings like Frankenstein and The Bride won't be affected by it, and they have already lost one expensive super soldier down there.

Frankenstein and The Bride travel back to Salvation Valley by boat, as they travel, Frankenstein notes that he doesn't seem to inspire the fear he once did.  She says that he slept too long and this is an "age of monsters and wonders" now.  Frankenstein says she was designed to be his companion... she says:

The Bride: "You were never my type."

Frankenstein: "Your type?"

The Bride: "Alive. One of these days they'll figure out how to sew on a sense of humour.  Everything is different in the 21st century Frankie."
And the disembark the boat and happen upon a scene of bloody carnage.  A herd of cows have massacred a load of humans.  Frankenstein and The Bride blow them all to bits The Bride says, when they are done, that she got her extra arms in India when she was brainwashed by the Red Swami and had them grafted on.  Luckily S.H.A.D.E rescued her. They then come face-to-face with the super-weapon, a clear, almost jelly like humanoid, it's a "wetform AI" which bled into the local water supply when it escaped.

ZOMG!  Killer cows!

They are then confronted by the missing super soldier "Pilot Zbigniew X".  He says he drank the water and saw his destiny as a soldier not to destroy but create.  Frankestein then blasts the wetform AI apart.  A shocked Zbigniew say they won't kill him, he is too important.  But the Bride cuts his head off and they call S.H.A.D.E back in who preserve the head which has all the expensive bits in it. 

The town is unsalvageable, S.H.A.D.E are having to initiate a "radical enviromental detox".  Feeling used, Frankestein refuses to ride with them saying "I'll walk".  He does however take up the ofer to continue working for them and go looking for a "time monster in Tibet" because that's what we find him doing at the start of the final issue.

Frankie versus Neh-Buh-Loh

Frankenstein comes across Neh-Buh-Loh feasting on the corpse of a flying horse, a flock of which are corcling overhead.  Frankenstein now has an internet connection to S.H.A.D.E and tells them he has acquired the target.  Neh-Buh-Loh has been banished there after Gloriana discovered he hadn't killed Misty, her step-daughter and Melmoth's daughter (see Zatanna's mini).  Neh-Buh-Loh is has a full on Villainous Breakdown.

Neh-Buh-Loh: "I have lived three billion years.  I might have grown to replace this entire universe.  But there is a flaw in me that keeps me small."

Frankenstein: "Let that be your epitaph".

They fight hard against each other while onboard the S.H.A.D.E mobile they travel to Manhattan which is under Sheeda attack.  The Bride jumps down to help in the fight.  We then get an image of a computer readout summarising what happened in JLA Classified (covered in my look at JLA Ultramarine Corps).

Frankenstein: "You're losing heat... to the second law of thermodynamics.. Becoming colder..uuh..slowerm less organised.  Supermen from this universe invaded you long ago.  They could not heal you... instead they gave you medicine to hasten your end."

First Melmoth, now Neh-Buh-Loh, Frankie deals with loose ends!

He thrusts a spear into the now unintelligable Neh-Buh-Loh who finally dies.  Frankenstein contacts S.H.A.D.E and calmly states he needs a new right arm. His next mission is to travel aboard a Sheeda timeship to cause some havoc.  So he gets aboard Castle Revolving which returns to the time of the Sheeda empire.  There he confronts Queen Gloriana;

Frankenstein: "I have vowed to protect humankind from evils such as you".

Gloriana: "Evilsss? We are the children of our fathers are we not?  Humankind has ever preyed upon the Earth and we are only the last link in that chain.. we are survivor organisms."

It's implied here and spelled out clearly in the finale, but the Sheeda are infact an evolution of mankind and their empire is in the future.  Ooh twisty.  Gloriana goes to attack Frankenstein and he activates the explosives he sat up on each of the other timeships in the fleet, blowing them up.  He then runs and locks himself in the wheelhouse of Castle Revolving as it travels back into the past to continue the assault on the Earth even though the fleet has been reduced to just The Castle Revolving.

And he screws over most of the Sheeda fleet too. 

And that ends the final miniseries, with just the single issue finale to go.  I'll 'fess up now, I have never read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but I really like the stoical philosopher Morrison writes him as.  I don't know how true that is to the original, but it makes for a cool comic book character.  Brains plus brawn plus lots a swords and guns make for a total badass as well which probably explains why he was something of a breakout star for the series.  The first issue at the high school is nauseatingly creepy, while the town of killer cows and bunnies is made to look genuinely threatening rather than comic thanks to Doug Mahnke's art.  The way he dealt with Melmoth was hilariously creative and it was heartwarming when he rescued the slaves.  Finally the Neh-Buh-Loh plotline was wrapped up satisfactorily, with the events of JLA Classified finally paying off. This one remains my favourite for the wonderful art and the body horror threaded through it, now with the invasion fully underway, albeit to a far lesser extent than it would have been had Frankenstein not intervened, it's finally time for the finale.  Join me in a few days to see if Grant can pull it off.