Frankenplan

After repeated failures to stop Frankenstein, something had to change. Bulldog Denny was having about as much success against the creature as British Bulldog had facing his monster.

But then - a new plan arose...

If at first you don't succeed - get help!

At the end of the previous post, i introduced a few of the other stars of Prize Comics. There is a reason i chose those particular characters...

With very rare exceptions like Peter Porker and Captain Carrot, i'm not recalling another crossover/team-up that included cartoon comedy characters with superheroes. From the moment the General and the Corporal showed up at the conference table, my head was spinning.

Of course, once you've caught the creature - what do you do with him...?

...and with that we entered a transitional period for Dick Briefer's Frankenstein. A new direction was coming, but they didn't seem to be certain what that was...

page art by Frank Briefer for Prize Comics #s 23-25 (1942)

Frankenstein - The Supervillain

With the fourth chapter of Dick Briefer's Frankenstein comic, things took a little twist and the strip changed direction with the addition of a new element...

And so it began - an ongoing superhero series with Frankenstein as the Big Bad (and titular star), and Bulldog Denny as "the only human he fears". For over a year Bulldog battled to stop the monster...

Sometimes Bulldog even got to share billing...

The big problem, however, was that Bulldog Denny was - as Nick phrased it - Hopelessly...Hilariously...Outgunned. He succeeded (or survived) primarily by luck against the overwhelming power of Frankenstein. Here's a good example from close to the end of this phase, in which Frankenstein teams with another villain - Doctor Devil...

The creature, of course, routinely did not die.
A new plan was needed...

The addition of a superhero to the mix might seem strange at first glance, but it should be remembered that Frankenstein was appearing in Prize Comics, which was primarily a superhero title with features like The Black Owl having been around since issue one...

Other regulars included Doctor Frost...

...The Green Lama...

...and Yank and Doodle...

There was the occasional humour comic before later Frankenstein strips, too, such as The General and The Corporal...

Adding a superhero in that environment wasn't really that strange of an idea.

Coming up - The New Plan...

Frankenstein page art by Dick Briefer for Prize Comics #s 11-15, 21 & 22 (1941, 1942)