Review — ‘Frankenstein New World: The Speed Of Darkness’ #2 Continues To Delight

Welcome to the table,

Time is a funny thing. We only get what we get. Then we are gone. The far-flung future and the long-gone past are but dreams to us. The landscape that crops up in them is a thing of wonder and speculation.

Dark Horse Comics’ Frankenstein: New World really feels like it farms that sentiment in its own unique way. Let’s dive into what’s been going on in the newest story, The Speed Of Darkness.

Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden with art from Thomas Sniegoski, colors from Michelle Madsen, and letters from who I still assume is the busiest person in comics, Clem Robins, The Speed of Darkness #2 opens with some solid world-building around the growing dread creature who has been slowly following Frankenstein and Lilja for what feels like years now.

The thing known as Murk serves as this vampiric corrupting force that hungers and feeds, profaning everything it touches. It’s this remnant of the world before, the far-flung past that we, as a civilization, currently occupy. It really does an excellent job of illustrating both narratively and visually what that mindless greed and hunger given flesh form does to a world.

While Frankenstein and Lilja are continuing on their journey to find the seemingly immortal Liz Sherman, using shared visions and supernatural intuition, Murk is slowly feeding and growing its mindless forces of monsters. It follows the energy signal or psychic threads trying to consume the light that it senses from Liz.

While this issue feels a little slower than past offerings, it does a great job of giving the reader a chance to catch up to current events and take in the “New World” that the story is taking place in.

Sniegoski’s art lends itself to these characters in a way that feels so organic. His understanding of sequential storytelling really shines in the later half of the issue where our protagonists need to take flight, in a manner of speaking, as Murk’s corrupted thralls give chase.

I’ve really come to rely on Frankenstein: New World  — The Speed of Darkness as the source for new weird fiction in my life, and it has yet to disappoint. Mignola’s well-storied world has so many interesting corners of both time and space that we get to explore through these stories. Each one is starting to fall into its own genre while still maintaining that storytelling level of excellence I have come to expect.

For long-time fans of Hellboy stories, there is a development in this book that harkens to something that happened to Anung un Rama ages ago. It feels echoed within these pages, and I’m very curious to see what comes next with that bit of lore.

Frankenstein: New World — The Speed of Darkness continues to set the benchmark for weird fiction in sequential storytelling and is a perfect title for long-time fans of Hellboy or those just starting to explore the well-storied landscape.

Until next time, I really hope we get some kinda Murk figure or statue because I love the odd design of this awful little thing. Dark Horse Direct … I’m looking at you!