Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Andy Smith (penciller), Keith Champagne (inker), Pete Pantazis (colorist)

The Story: It’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, monster style.

The Review: One of the oldest tales in storytelling history is the journey to the Promised Land, the place which holds all the answers the questers seek.  Though some may argue the journey itself offers the greatest spirit of adventure and the most relatable value, at times the destination winds up the real climax of the story.  Many characters discover upon arrival that their struggles up to that point were only a prelude to their greatest conflict yet.

And so it goes with Frankenstein’s team when they reach Romania, where many questions that have dogged them all along finally do clear up.  But as with any good mystery, the revelations come with some significant fallout, leaving none of the Creature Commandos untouched in its life-altering consequences.

For Frankie and Bride, their futures pose the most uncertainty, but wherever they end up, you can take a lot of comfort in that they’ll be together.  Despite their ruthless vocations, the couple has a surprisingly potent, albeit low-key, chemistry.  Frank, being the strong, silent type, doesn’t exactly cuddle his wife, and she won’t wins any awards for cutesiness (“Holy #$&*!!”), but they nonetheless have an endearing devotion to each other, even when the chips come down.

Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #2 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Ibraim Roberson & Alex Massacci (artists), Pete Pantazis (colorist)

The Story: You grew up in a swamp?  You really are from the sticks, aren’t you?

The Review: The vast majority of Elseworlds turn out either uninspired or middling, leaving a much smaller percentage with premises strong enough to support an enjoyable one-shot series.  But every now and then you get a really terrific story that gets you attached to its parallel world and characters.  In those cases, you’re almost always out of luck, because chances are they won’t come back anytime soon, a real waste of creative potential.

So right around now seems a good time as any to thank our lucky stars Lemire will be back with Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos in the fall, because it’s easy to see there are a lot of great stories left to be told with these characters.  Don’t take that to mean this issue is perfect or even particularly outstanding, because flaws do riddle the script.

For one thing, the plot is a bit slow to get moving in a productive way, as last issue acted mainly as a prologue and this one only just manages to give our heroes a vague destination (Romania—because that place is just a hotspot of fun lately), but no real mission statement.  There still lingers a question about what they’ll do with themselves in this modern world they’ve woken up in, especially with their former military commissioners gunning for them.

Maria Shrieve, monster-hunting descendant of original ally Matthew Shrieve, may prove the answer.  It can’t fail to puzzle you how she clearly knows the difference between the original Commandos and those who ultimately turned on her family (“…these creatures weren’t loyal foot soldiers like you…”), yet she still nurses a rash, misdirected resentment against the ones her grandfather held dear.  But amidst all that somewhat unnecessary drama you can definitely see how our heroes will prove useful to her personal crusade.