New Horrors In A Future Landscape — Reviewing ‘Frankenstein: New World — The Speed Of Darkness #3’
by Anton Kromoff
Review
I’m not sure if Frankenstein is going to make it out of this one. While I will miss him, if these are his final few chapters, they are worthy of such a memorable character in the well-storied landscape that Mignola has created.
Overall
10/10Welcome to the table,
When the things that scare us from the past haunt the far-flung future, the terror takes on new and dreaded forms that will outlive us all. Frankenstein: New World – The Speed of Darkness #3 does a great job of showing that.
Let’s get into it.
Written by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Thomas Sniegoski, with art by Peter Bergting, colors by Michelle Madsen, and letters by (you guessed it, the hardest-working person in lettering if his credit count is any indication) Clem Robins, Frankenstein: New World – The Speed of Darkness #3 is packed with non-stop action that leaves you a bit dizzy by the final page.
The book kicks off with Murk, the re-risen vampire entity from before the most recent end of the world. Murk has been growing in power and hunger. Each attack seems to have spawned new horrors in this far-flung future landscape, providing Murk with an army of dark and twisted things to aid it as it seeks out Liz Sherman to drain her eternal flame and grow stronger than anything else in the weird futuristic setting.
Frankenstein and Lilja, on a vision quest to meet up with Liz, have found themselves floating on larger drifting flowers while a swarm of flying horrors assaults them.
The high-flying action sequence works so well across the page. Bergting’s art really lends itself to the fast and frantic pace of the story and captures the movement of Frank and Lilja as they fall and float across the impromptu battlefield, trying to stay ahead of Murk and its forces.
-Spoilers Follow-
Frank clearly seems to be weakening as the journey carries on, and while the two draw closer to their goal of meeting up with Liz in person, whom they refer to as “The Star Lady.” It seems our animated construct, who has lived to see the rise and fall of a great many things, may be entering the twilight of his existence in the land of the living.
The two connect with Liz via a large overgrown statue they find, clearly an artifact of the world before. We get a little more insight into when Liz burned the entire world, casting it all into ash, destroying everything and allowing the new world to start to slowly grow back, wild and unchecked by evil.
However, as is the nature of evil, it has rooted deep, and Murk, seemingly the orchestrator of the grand evil of the world, has unleashed its forces to break through Liz’s protective crystal chamber to feed upon her and gain her power.
Not a great deal of plot development occurs in this issue, but that works very well to serve the panicked and frantic nature of the story that is being woven here. It won’t work as a stand-alone issue unless you really like these characters, but as far as a third instalment, I can see the seeds of the endgame starting to bloom.
Until next time, I’m not sure if Frankenstein is going to make it out of this one. While I will miss him, if these are his final few chapters, they are worthy of such a memorable character in the well-storied landscape that Mignola has created.
