Frankenstein's Womb

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Marek Oleksicki

I think there are very few comic writers who can pitch a project like Frankenstein's Womb, a 'graphic novella' released this week by Avatar Press, and get it approved. Of course, we're lucky that Warren Ellis has the relationship he has with Avatar; they seem happy to indulge his desire to go off the beaten path, and produce comics like this from time to time.

If this work is to be compared to anything, it would be 'Crécy', his historical piece about the battle of that name.

In this book, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, while travelling to Switzerland with Percy Bysse Shelley, her future husband, and with her stepsister, makes a stop at Castle Frankenstein. While exploring its tower, she meets the fabled Frankenstein monster, who walks her through both the castle and the past and future, while carrying on a discourse about alchemy, life, parenthood, and other topics.

That's basically all that happens in this book, and its quite brilliant. Ellis suggests that the monster has some hand in his own creation, as Shelley would go on to write her famous novel that very summer.

The art for this book is handled quite nicely by Oleksicki, an artist with whom I am completely unfamiliar. He draws in the usual Avatar style.

While I'm intrigued by the news this week-end that Ellis's next title with Avatar will be 'Supergod', I'd be happier to hear that he is scheduled to write another book or two in this format and style.