FRANKENSLIME

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN (1994)
dir: Kenneth Branagh

FRANKENSLIME
MAD #334, March/April 1995
w: Dick DeBartlolo
a: Angelo Torres
Frankenstein, like its companion monster Dracula, has had several different versions over the years, to the point they could be considered iconic, though every one of them has been based on the movie adaptations from the 1930s. In the 90s, Francis Ford Coppola went back to the original source material, adapting the two books and taking nothing from the movies. The green Frankenstein's Monster with the flat head and the hunchbacked Igor are gone. Earlier I posted MAD's version of Bram Stoker's Dracula, now here's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which he produced two years later.

Victor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) is a medical student whose teacher (Robert Hardy) doesn't approve of his goal in bringing back life. Professor Waldman (John Cleese) believes him and was doing experiments of his own on but abandoned them because of possible consequences. Henry (Tom Hulce) is Frankenstein's friend and Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) is an adopted sister he marries.

In the foreground of the middle panel is Marty Feldman from Young Frankenstein with the Ab Normal brain

Frankenstein performs an test similar to Ben Franklin's, attracting lightning to see if it would work for his experiments. Meanwhile, Waldman is giving smallpox inoculations and one man (Robert DeNiro) refuses to take it (shades of the anti-vaxx sentiment of today) and stabs Mr. Waldman to death. The man is hanged and Frankenstein uses his and Waldman's bodies to re-create life. Elizabeth sees how Frankenstein lives surrounded by body parts and chemicals amd machines and can't love him back.

Using Dr. Waldman's notes, Frankenstein resurrects the body, and it escapes, living on the property of a family. It is barren from winter weather, but he finds crops for them and provides them overnight. Only a blind man is aware of the monster's presence and has sympathy for it not able to see how hideous it is, in one of the scenes similar to the story we know.

The monster is chased by an angry mob, another familiar scene not parodied here, and is only angry at Frankenstein for making him into a monster. All will be forgiven, though, if he is given a mate. Frankenstein eventually does convince Elizabeth to marry him, and during their consummation the monster attacks, kills Elizabeth, and wants her to be his mate. Frankenstein brings her back to life, and he and the monster battle over which one she should choose.

The parody ends with Dr. Frankenstein instead marrying his friend Henry. The actor playing Henry was the lead in Amadeus, the reason for his costume.

As I mentioned before, the character of Frankenstein, which the monster is usually called, has been adapted and parodied countless times over the years. Too many to list. Here are only two.

FRANK N. STEIN
MAD #8, December 1953/January 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder

FRANK N. STEIN
Crazy #1, December 1953
w: Stan Lee
a: Bill Everett