THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN by Donald F. Glut

If you love Universal's monster flicks, if you love Hammer horror, if you love Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky werewolf movies, if you love Marvel's Bronze-age horror comics, YOU MUST GET THIS SERIES!!!! For those who've never heard of Glut's New Adventures of Frankenstein, it's comprised of eleven novels:

1. Frankenstein Lives Again
2. Terror of Frankenstein
3. Bones of Frankenstein
4. Frankenstein Meets Dracula
5. Frankenstein vs. the Werewolf
6. Frankenstein in the Lost World
7. Frankenstein in the Mummy's Tomb
8. Return of Frankenstein
9. Frankenstein and the Curse of Dr. Jekyll
10. Tales of Frankenstein
11. Frankenstein and the Evil of Dracula

They were all completed by 1973 at the latest, which is the publication date for Glut's nonfiction Frankenstein Legend. He lists the novels there in a chapter on Frankenstein in fiction, and notes that only the first two had been published, and then only in Spanish (with cover art by Esteban Maroto). I hope nobody held their breath waiting for the entire series to appear in English, because more than a quarter of a century would pass before that happened. Although most or all of the novels were published in German, and some of them in English (see reviews of the first three here, here, and here), a whole new millenium would be upon us before Dennis Druktenis stepped up to the plate and finally made this almost-long-lost series available in English in its entirety to horror fans.

Don't rush over to Amazon just yet, though. You won't find these novels there. Druktenis published them as magazines, rather than paperbacks. Initially, I must admit, that put me off, but I urge you not to let it put you off. Now that I've read Tome #8, I can tell you they'd make essential reading even as elementary-school-purple-ink-mimeograph stapled manuscripts. Druktenis does magazines, not books, but he used the means at his disposal anyway to bring this long-awaited series to horror fans, and he did everything he could to make it special. He got original art by Rick "Spine" Mountfort for wraparound covers and interior illustrations. He even reprints Dick Briefer Frankenstein comics in the backs of almost all the tomes!

I'll have more to say about these novels later. I didn't mean to post about them until I finished the whole series, but I couldn't wait! If you're a monster fan, this is must-have.

Glut's Frankenstein Series: Two Complaints

I'll have a lot of good things to say about this series, but I have two big complaints as well.

First, typos and technical errors (spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.) riddle Glut's writing. These stories are obviously labors of love. They're fan fiction in the best sense of the term. It's astonishing, then, how careless he was about editing and correcting them. It really must be seen to be believed. A lot of times, it looks like he changed his mind about a verb (for example), added another, but then forgot to edit out the first! Sure, that kind of thing can be overlooked, and I do overlook it, at least to the point that it doesn't ruin the stories for me. I have to wonder, though, if all those careless errors played a part in keeping these novels out of publication for so long. Might the series have been published in the seventies if the manuscripts had been more polished and error-free?

That brings me to the second, more substantive complaint. This series, as published by Druktenis, isn't the original series as written in the sixties and early seventies. It's been "updated" for the new millenium. That means all the cameras are now "digital" cameras. All the phones are "cell phones." Oh, and people now do research on the internet (though not much, it would seem). Imagine if Naschy's Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf were similarly "updated" by inserting stock footage of people talking on cell phones and looking things up on Google. That's about the effect of these updating additions. Worst of all, I shudder to imagine how much grooviness was taken out so the series wouldn't seem "dated." Argh! I came to this series really wanting a strong, groovy sixties/seventies vibe, in keeping with the years when it was written. It's still there, but badly effaced. For shame, for shame.

Having said that, I'm still enjoying this series quite a lot. I'm midway through the ninth installment and looking forward to the grand finale in the eleventh, when Dracula and the Werewolf both return.

Mountfort brings to life Glut's world of classic monsters.

Wrapping Up Glut's Frankensteiners

Having now finished the entirety of Donald F. Glut's New Adventures of Frankenstein series, I'd reiterate my previous recommendation of it, but perhaps a bit less heartily. (Actually, I didn't quite complete the series--I skipped most of the stories in Tome #10, Tales of Frankenstein, since they seemed unrelated to the series continuity.)

Overall, this is a big, uneven series with a lot of ups and just as many downs. I'm a huge fan of the Frankenstein monster, and my reading preference runs to multivolume epics like this, so just following the Monster's saga through ten fun, pulpy novels was quite enjoyable for me. His story leads through just about every pulp, comic book, or B-movie scenario imaginable. The cast of his antagonists includes a robot, several magicians, a secret international terror organization (think Dr. Evil, not Al Quaeda), a hunchback, a werewolf, Dracula, a horde of mummies, dinosaurs, a Frankenstein gorilla (reminded me somewhat of Hammer's "Monster from Hell"), Mr. Hyde, and more mad scientists than you could wave a torch at.

[SPOILERS] The bad news is that Glut doesn't always capitalize on the opportunities he sets himself. The first time the Monster battles Dracula, they both have been significantly weakened by other factors previously in the story, so it's a lot less climactic than it could be. The final volume begins very promisingly with an awesome "female vampire" sequence in Transylvania. The action quickly draws Dracula, the werewolf, and the Frankenstein Monster together in a Black Castle in Bavaria. Anyone hoping for a truly apocalyptic monster mash to end all monster mashes, though, is in for a rude disappointment. There is some confrontation between Dracula and the Monster, but the three classic creatures never meet for the expected grand finale, and all are dispatched one-by-one by the human protagonist. Speaking of which, the main human protagonist for the series, Dr. Burt Winslow, doesn't even make a cameo in this final Tome. The man who first revived the Frankenstein monster and then sought his destruction in one adventure after another is replaced by a new doctor who hasn't even been introduced until this final Tome. [END SPOILERS]

Glut is no master of plot or characterization, but his love for the material shines through, drives these stories where they need to go at a brisk pace, and breathes life into otherwise stock characters. His enthusiasm is infectious, despite the technical shortcomings, and in that sense reading these novels is a lot like watching Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky monster rallies. Again, in conclusion, I'd highly recommend this series--though not quite as highly as I would have liked.

Don Glut´s Frankenstein in Germany

Don Glut´s Frankenstein series was published in Germany in the Heftroman. They published the whole series, except the short-stories, beginning in 1971.

Curt already said all there is to be said to this series. So here are just the beautiful covers, which were made by Thole.

Except the last two, which were published a couple of years later.

This is one of the rather few instances Thole did do motives from the novels. Not the first one, which is your generic universal Monster, but the later ones. Especially Return of Frankenstein is great, as the monsterape Goron is drawn as he was described in the novel.








1. Frankenstein Lives Again (German Title: Frankensteins Return)

2. Terror of Frankenstein (German title: Frankenstein´s battle with the robot)

3. Bones of Frankenstein (German title: Frankenstein and the blind girl)

4. Frankenstein Meets Dracula (German title: Frankenstein meets Dracula)

5. Frankenstein vs. the Werewolf (German title: Frankenstein and the Werewolf)

6. Frankenstein in the Lost World (German title: Frankenstein meets the dinosaurs)

7. Frankenstein in the Mummy's Tomb (German title: Frankenstein in the Mummy's Tomb)

8. Return of Frankenstein (German title: Frankenstein and the gorilla)

9. Frankenstein and the Curse of Dr. Jekyll (German title: Frankenstein and the Curse of Dr. Jekyll)

10. Frankenstein and the Evil of Dracula (German title: Frankenstein battles Dracula)

They really don´t make ´em like this any longer :-)