Classics Illustrated Deluxe #3: Frankenstein (Classics Illustrated Deluxe Graphic Novels)
The Classics Illustrated series provides readers who haven’t yet read the literary classics directly with a graphic-novel introduction to the plot, characters, action, and even the language employed in their telling. This volume is so faithful to Shelley’s account of the man-made sentient being that the “monster” doesn’t even appear until a third of the way through. For contemporary children who associate the name Frankenstein solely with the monster fit for a Halloween costume rather than with the guilt-plagued doctor who created him, this may be a bit of a wait. The artwork in the beginning, while richly colored and detailed with period costume and European and arctic scenery, serves as simple illustration rather than being vital to understanding the proceedings. When the mostly silent, watchful creature enters the story, however, the images become much more essentially engaged with the narrative. In the end, perhaps the best audience for this is the child who already knows the Shelley version but has a visual orientation toward the world of narrative. Grades 6-9. --Francisca Goldsmith