Angel vs. Frankenstein – Review

by John Byrne (writer & artist)

The Story: Well, it’s all in the title, isn’t it?  Comics legend Byrne reveals the untold battle between vampire Angel (of TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and his own titular show), before he gained a soul, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s Monster.

What’s Good: Most people warn against judging a book by its cover but in this instance, I think that would be just fine.  Byrne crafts a fun, if not very sophisticated, tale that is really just an excuse for the two screen monsters to smack each other around.

Most comic books fail at capturing the voice of a particular character from television or film, but Byrne does a good job of getting Angel’s personality down.  Of course, he’s operating under his Angelus persona here (If you’re not familiar, Angel = good vampire with a soul, Angelus = bad vampire with a soul) and Byrne seems to be enjoying himself by making him as depraved as ever.  He also does a nice job of capturing Angel actor David Boreanaz’s likeness quite well without ever having the art look too photo-referenced and stiff.

What’s Not So Good: Byrne’s pencils are certainly not his best, although considering his backlog, you have to cut the man some slack.  They have the feeling of being done a bit haphazardly and quickly.  Perhaps this is a result of him inking himself here, but I can’t say that I was happy with the result.  His design for Frankenstein’s Monster, an aspect of the book that he could have utilized to great effect, is sorely disappointing.  The Monster simply appears to be a rather tall, elderly man.  I’d have expected something much more memorable and frightening considering the character’s iconic status.

Besides being a somewhat fun romp, the script has a few glaring plot holes.  Chief among them, why would Frankenstein’s Monster want to engage in an overly complicated plot involving impersonating his creator’s heir?  For the money?  Really?  If so, it’s never explained.  Also, the ending is rather abrupt, leaving this reviewer with the nagging feeling that Byrne either suddenly decided he was bored with this story, or ran out of time to complete it.

Conclusion: Besides being a long-time fan of the creator, as well as a fan of both characters used here, my expectations were low when I picked this up.  However, I ended up having a fair amount of amusement with the issue.  It’d hardly earn a place besides Byrne’s run on X-Men or Superman, but you could do worse.

Grade: C

-Joe Lopez