Mike Mignola, the writer and artist who created Hellboy, paired his demon hero with Frankenstein’s monster in the 2011 graphic novel Hellboy: House of the Living Dead (drawn by Richard Corben). In 2015, Mignola wrote a spin-off for the creature, Frankenstein Underground, drawn by Ben Stenbeck and colored by Dave Stewart. (The pairing is very much in keeping with Mignola’s gothic style.)
Mignola’s monster looks like Boris Karloff, but has Hellboy’s physique and pale gray, not reptilian green, skin. Victor Frankenstein, who is briefly seen in flashbacks, resembles Peter Cushing from the Hammer “Frankenstein” films. The comic briefly mentions “Frankenstein’s” roots in the writings of ancient alchemists; fitting, since Mignola is himself a pulp fiction alchemist. “Hellboy” is a delicious mix of Jack Kirby, HP Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, while “Frankenstein Underground” sends the creature on an adventure straight out of the original comic.
In 1956, the creature is in South America after traveling the world for over a century and experiencing nothing but scorn. He carries not only the burden of rejection, but also the guilt of the lives he has taken in his crusade against his creator. Frankenstein Underground is about how the creature eventually falls into hell – or rather, into a subterranean hollow earth filled with dinosaurs, warrior tribes, and evil wizards.
Mignola is not a religious person, but he was raised Catholic and has said he likes to use that faith as material for his stories. This is evident in Frankenstein Underground #2, which reveals that in 1855, the monster’s guilt and suffering became so unbearable that he sought refuge in a church, kneeling before a statue of the Virgin Mary and begging for peace.
Dark Horse Comics
The priest of the church then attacked him, accusing him of being a demon. Mother Mary (done in golden white, standing out like a light among the dark shades of the comic) remains a symbol of hope throughout the rest of the story. If Frankenstein’s monster was not actually born, can he still be a child of God? If not, then perhaps he can only find peace underground, away from God’s eyes.
Frankenstein Underground is available in both print and digital editions. Mignola also co-wrote a sequel, Frankenstein: New World, which will be released in 2022.
