“Frankenstein: New World #2” ~ An Amphibious Friendship? [Review]

Frankenstein: New World #2 finally gives our heroes some friendly fauna to interact with. Even better: they’re of the sapient variety, in addition to being amphibious in more meanings than one.

Frankenstein: New World #2 ~ Details

Frankenstein: New World #2 is the second issue (you can find a review for issue #1 here) of this horror action adventure comic book series set long after the fall of the old Hellboy world. Mike Mignola, Thomas Sniegowski, and Christoper Golden all co-wrote it. Peter Bergting is the artist behind it, with Michelle Madsen as the colorist. Bergting also drew the main cover art, with David Hitchcock drawing the sole variant cover art. Lastly, Dark Horse Comics is the publisher behind this comic book issue, as they were for the previous issue.

Frankenstein: New World #2 will go on sale on September 21, 2022 for a retail price of $3.99. You can preorder it in both physical or digital forms directly from the Dark Horse Comics webstore. Alternatively, if you want the version with the David Hitchcock variant cover, then you can also preorder it from the Dark Horse Comics webstore.

Warning: spoilers for Frankenstein: New World #2 below. If you want to see what kind of amphibious friends our odd pair of explorers meet in the new world, then stop here, and come back once you’ve survived the local fauna and flora.

Frankenstein: New World #2 ~ Spoilery Plot Summary

Frankenstein: New World #2 sees Frankenstein and Lilja continuing their journey across this very strange Earth of the distant future. Amidst the wonders and horrors of the local flora and fauna (many of which are hard to tell apart from one another) though, they then hear a scream. Said scream turns out to be from a young frog girl due to being attacked by a group of plant monster things. After a short argument, Frankenstein agrees to help the frog girl, and lays into the plant monsters with his Hyperborean spear.

Once Frankenstein had dealt with all the plant monsters (apparently called “nepenthes” after the genus of tropical pitcher plants), the frog girl introduces herself as Cadoret. With her leg injured by the nepenthes attack, she decides to lead Frankenstein and Lilja to her village. The froggy villagers, grateful for the duo for saving one of their own from a grisly fate, welcome them into the village. Lilja gets to play around with other kids, while Frankenstein gets the frog people’s origin story. Both of them get a night’s rest in the village, guarded by high wooden palisades and bone/tusk spears. Alas though, their rest may soon come to an end. For you see: something has been hunting Frankenstein and Lilja.

A Murky Threat?

While Frankenstein and Lilja have been merrily exploring future Earth, something has been following them a day’s journey behind. Apparently, the creature’s name is Murk, and it leaves behind a trail of black corruption wherever it steps. Even worse, it has a ravenous hunger that no amount of killing and blood of various fauna can satisfy. Even more worse, every creature Murk kills turns into a zombie that can then go on killing and turning them in turn into more zombies.

And to top it all off, Murk has caught Lilja’s scent from a straw doll she accidentally dropped. Apparently, Murk does not like this new scent. Murk doesn’t want to eat; he wants to destroy. Unfortunately, the scent trail is going to take him straight into the frog village. How many of the innocent frog people are going to die a grisly death? Well, that’s what we’ll presumably find out in Frankenstein: New World #3.

Frankenstein: New World #2 ~ The Good

The story of Frankenstein: New World #2 is the best part of the comic. Specifically: the setting. The world of Earth in the far future long after humanity’s extinction on the surface is a very interesting world to explore. Mike Mignola, Thomas Sniegowski, and Christoper Golden have created a truly interesting array of flora and fauna to populate it, with Peter Bergting and Michelle Madsen doing an excellent job of bringing them to life. I honestly can’t wait to see what weird lifeforms appear in the next issue.

Frankenstein and Lilja themselves are also interesting characters. They remind me of Hyakkimaru and Dororo from the titular manga/anime Dororo. They have a similar kind of dynamic, with an older and more experienced warrior-type character paired with a young and innocent child character. I rather like that kind of dynamic, especially with how they both seem to be developing and benefiting from it.

Lastly, the art of Frankenstein: New World #2 really brings the comic to life, as I mentioned before. I don’t think the bizarre flora and fauna would look nearly as good without the talents of Bergting and Madsen bringing them to life. Especially given how ethereal the more sea life-inspired lifeforms look.

Frankenstein: New World #2 ~ The Bad

My one complaint is that we don’t get to see more of how all those dead humans beneath the ground factor into the story. To be fair though, they’ll probably come back at some point. So this isn’t a big complaint from me.

Source: Dark Horse Comics