Published by: IDW Publishing
Released on: Apr. 16, 2014
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Bernie Wrightson
Cover artist: Bernie Wrightson
If you missed Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson's first two issues on Frankenstein Alive, Alive! when they were published back in 2012, IDW puts them together in a one-shot just in time for the third issue's debut. And if you haven't read the series before now, you're in for a visual treat.
Niles' story puts Frankenstein's monster smack dab in the middle of a carnival sideshow during the Great Depression. He's got a job, a family of sorts with his fellow freaks, and he goes by the name Frank. No one asks him questions about his past, and he's treated by the human oddities with respect and compassion. During dinner, he thinks back about his troubled past…
After being haunted by his creator and learning of his inability to freeze to death, Franks wandering took him to an active volcano, and he decided that will be how he dies: fire, just like the Vikings. But…that didn't kill him either, it just made him dormant. Encased in stone, his hibernation ended when he was found by en exhibition team and brought to Dr. Simon Ingles. Ingles' fascinations with the occult and all things bizarre helps the two beings form a bond of sorts, and the good doctor keeps Frank hidden in his home, providing him with shelter and feeding him knowledge. The relationship becomes strained when someone sees Frank and reacts most poorly.