Frankenstein - In The Beginning

We've looked briefly at the most famous incarnation of Dick Briefer's classic Frankenstein comics - the comedy period. As noted however, the series didn't start that way. Not even close.
In fact, this is how it started:

"Born out of Death, a hideous monster stalks the Earth, wreaking havoc on the Human race..."

Note quite a comedy there, eh?

As odd as the humour comics were in and of themselves, the thing that made Briefer's Frankenstein truly odd in my eyes was the ongoing evolution of the book. Briefer's art shifted to match each change in tone, keeping his unique feel regardless of the differences in each version.

So, let's go back to the beginning - to the first three stories which established the series...

With the 4th tale, the series took it's first odd turn...

page art by Dick Briefer for Prize Comics #s 7-9 (1940, 1941)

Fun With Frankenstein

Let's continue our look at Dick Briefer's classic Frankenstein strip during the comedy period with a trio of tales from 1946.

I mentioned last time that Briefer created the first few stories under the name Frank N. Stein. Six years later, he added a recursive layer to the weird humour of the series and brought in Frank N. Stein as a character -

Man - That nose still weirds me out. Just how bad was ol' Victor with the scalpel?
Anyway...

The nature of the series at this point was quite fluid, allowing Briefer to let his mind and brush wander as he pleased. Even off to the bottom of the ocean to visit Davy Jones (Not the Monkee)...

At the end of 1945, Frankenstein's popularity spawned his own title while he still continued to appear in Prize Comics. The first 17 issues would continue in the comedy vein before taking another twisting turn in direction and tone.

In this tale from early in the series, we see once again that Briefer can take the character anywhere to suit his mood and story.
Or anywhen...

As previously mentioned, however - it was not the somewhat deranged humour and unique character art that truly made Briefer's Frankenstein so Odd. It was the ever adapting nature of the strip that really stands out...

page art by Dick Briefer for Prize Comics #s 62 & 64 and Frankenstein # 3 (1946)