Gr 7 Up—Shelley's Frankenstein can be considered a lot of things; easy reading is not one of them. Grimly's version carefully strips down the original text, keeping only the bare bones of the story, and accompanies it with his comically gothic illustrations. From the Neo-Victorian clothing and emo hairdos to the steampunk backdrop of Victor Frankenstein's lab, Grimly's unique and twisted style blends perfectly with the material and breathes new life into these characters and situations. This graphic-novel format works exceptionally well during moments of dialogue, as readers can really see a range of emotions that would otherwise be lost through Shelley's dense language. Scenes that especially stand out have little or none of the borrowed text at all, relying only on the art to masterfully tell the story. However, some scenes are better fleshed out than others; it can be frustrating when large, unbroken paragraphs of Shelley's prose are presented with only one or two large drawings, and hardly anything is done with the various letters throughout the book. This can throw off the overall flow, but scenes involving Frankenstein's monster are fast paced, well executed, and help to restore the balance. Even with the adapted text and illustrations, this may still be a difficult read for some readers, but Grimly's beautiful and trim version is a great way to immerse a new audience in this important work.—Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI
…less a graphic novel than an illustrated version of Shelley's book that enlivens the prose while retaining its power to both frighten and engage sympathy for the monster-creator Victor Frankenstein…Many of us grew up with the James Whale-directed Boris Karloff horror-film version of Frankenstein in our heads; Grimly provides a new generation with fresh images. This is a richly morose nightmare of a book, a primer for young readers on the pleasures and dangers of decadent languidness…
The New York Times Book Review - Ken Tucker
Grimly’s fans have been awaiting this reworking of Shelley’s 1818 classic for four years, and they will rejoice in the end result. Spidery ink lines and a palette of jaundiced yellows and faded sepias plumb the darkness of the writer’s imaginings. Frankenstein’s bone-embellished military jacket and pop-star shock of hair turn him into a sort of anachronistic punk scientist, but other elements of the work are more circumspect. Crabbed, tense portraits of Frankenstein’s friends and family combine historical detail with theatrical emotion. The images of the dissections that lead to the monster’s creation dwell on flesh and bone, yet show, for Grimly, a certain restraint. Even more notable is Grimly’s refusal to capitalize on the horror of the iconic scenes for which the movie versions of the story are remembered. The monster’s crimes are shown mostly in b&w thumbnails, as if Grimly were hastening through them to probe more carefully the monster’s self-loathing and Frankenstein’s ruin. Fans will return to these pages obsessively; readers encountering the story for the first time may find Grimly’s images rise to view whenever they think of it. Ages 13–up. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Aug.)¦
Grimly enlivens the prose while retaining its power to both frighten and engage sympathy for the monster-creator Victor Frankenstein. This is a richly morose nightmare of a book, a primer for young readers on the pleasures and dangers of decadent languidness.” — New York Times Book Review
“Grimly’s fans have been awaiting this reworking of Shelley’s 1818 classic for four years, and they will rejoice in the end result. Readers encountering the story for the first time may find Grimly’s images rise to view whenever they think of it.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Grimly proves himself a more adept assembler of parts than his subject proved to be; his product is no monster, but a pastiche of style and substance that will reanimate the original for yet another generation of readers.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
“Grimly’s unique and twisted style blends perfectly with the material and breathes new life into these characters and situations. . . . Grimly’s beautiful and trim version is a great way to immerse a new audience in this important work. — School Library Journal
“Grimly’s haunting illustrations dramatically show the range of human emotion connected with Frankenstein and his monster-rage, despair, hurt, lament, and even joy and excitement. Though often dark, Grimly’s version has a whimsical quality that will draw teens in and allow them to better access this classic novel.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“Gris has a natural empathy with the disfranchised, the lost. His line work becomes more elegant and precise with each book but it also becomes more and more emotional and expressive. Gris is a fabulist with the soul of a graveyard poet.” — Guillermo del Toro, director of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth
Grimly enlivens the prose while retaining its power to both frighten and engage sympathy for the monster-creator Victor Frankenstein. This is a richly morose nightmare of a book, a primer for young readers on the pleasures and dangers of decadent languidness.
New York Times Book Review
Grimly’s haunting illustrations dramatically show the range of human emotion connected with Frankenstein and his monster-rage, despair, hurt, lament, and even joy and excitement. Though often dark, Grimly’s version has a whimsical quality that will draw teens in and allow them to better access this classic novel.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Gris has a natural empathy with the disfranchised, the lost. His line work becomes more elegant and precise with each book but it also becomes more and more emotional and expressive. Gris is a fabulist with the soul of a graveyard poet.
Grimly proves himself a more adept assembler of parts than his subject proved to be; his product is no monster, but a pastiche of style and substance that will reanimate the original for yet another generation of readers.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
A slightly abridged graphic version of the classic that will drive off all but the artist's most inveterate fans. Admirers of the original should be warned away by veteran horror artist Bernie Wrightson's introductory comments about Grimly's "wonderfully sly stylization" and the "twinkle" in his artistic eye. Most general readers will founder on the ensuing floods of tiny faux handwritten script that fill the opening 10 pages of stage-setting correspondence (other lengthy letters throughout are presented in similarly hard-to-read typefaces). The few who reach Victor Frankenstein's narrative will find it--lightly pruned and, in places, translated into sequences of largely wordless panels--in blocks of varied length interspersed amid sheaves of cramped illustrations with, overall, a sickly, greenish-yellow cast. The latter feature spidery, often skeletal figures that barrel over rough landscapes in rococo, steampunk-style vehicles when not assuming melodramatic poses. Though the rarely seen monster is a properly hard-to-resolve jumble of massive rage and lank hair, Dr. Frankenstein looks like a decayed Lyle Lovett with high cheekbones and an errant, outsized quiff. His doomed bride, Elizabeth, sports a white lock à la Elsa Lanchester, and decorative grotesqueries range from arrangements of bones and skull-faced flowers to bunnies and clownish caricatures. Grimly plainly worked hard, but, as the title indicates, the result serves his own artistic vision more than Mary Shelley's. (Graphic classic. 14 & up)
