Fellow fans of old British strip Frankie Stein prepare for a shock to your bolts, because U.S. comics company Image Comics have announced their own version premiering this September!
The latest edition of the Diamond Previews comic catalogue advertises that the full colour 48 page $12.99 Frankie Stein book will be published in the USA on September 7th (or Sept. 8th in the UK and worldwide). Written by Steven T. Seagle and drawn by Marco Cinello the book promises to be "totally appropriate for kids of all ages".
From the synopsis, it's evident that this Frankie Stein has no relation to Ken Reid's 1960s comic-horror classic, or Bob Nixon's affable monster of the 1970s, but it has its own take on the monster-and-father aspect. "Young Frankie Stein is starting to doubt his father's claim that 'Boys live in castles and monsters live in cities'. Taking a leap of faith, Frankie heads into nearby Transylvania, Pennsylvania, to test that theory for himself on October 31st! What's a monster-boy to do in a city filled to overflowing with monsters?"
Described as "a timeless tale of perception and personal identity. And... pumpkins!" it does sound much more sugary and cute than the Frankie Stein we were used to. As IPC's Frankie Stein has been out of print for ages and the creators of the Image version are based in the USA I very much doubt they'd even be aware of the British Frankie.
I'll take a look at the Image version when it appears and while I wish the creators every success with their book I suspect I'll still prefer the manic brilliance of Ken Reid's original (below); a series that deserves its own collection.
Frankie Stein strip from Wham! No.78, 11th December 1965 drawn by Ken Reid.
So while IPc have been doing zilch wth their charachters along come the Americans to grab the name.If this leads to a Frankie Stein tv series or film where does that leave ipc?
ReplyDeleteThat Frankie Stein strip is brutal!
ReplyDeleteagreed i would love some one to publish the complete Ken Reid Frankie-stein wonderful detail and madcap stuff ...who knows after seeing the U.S version someone at IPC media might get an itch to publish the old stuff
ReplyDeleteKen Reid and R.T.Nixon where both genius's at drawing humour both deserve quality collections of their work
That panel where Prof gets the final uber violent cieling destroying smack to the head is perfection!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting another glorious page of Kens work Lew!
And as for the Americans owning the IPC back catalogue? Its pretty sickening, buying out and hording the works of Dead Artists that were being ripped off in the first place, nice touch!
I used to love R.T Nixon's Frankie Stein as a kid (along with Kid Kong as well! Those were the days). I never knew that Ken Reid drew him originally... I would love to see them in print!! Frankie Stein is definitely a favourite of mine from yesteryear... but the new American version does nothing for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's Dennis The Menace all over again!
ReplyDelete