Frankenstein 2
From Barbelith
"Red Zombies"
Barbelith thread: The flesh-eating horses of Mars are restless. (http://www.barbelith.com/topic/22291/from/70#post532719)
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Background and General Commentary
Synopsis:
The dusty plains of Mars. A lone figure rides a flesh-eating horse through the silent, uninhabited landscape. His mission of implacable vengeance has lead Frankenstein to places he never imagined in search of the one who had a hand in his creation, the one whom some call an immortal demon: Melmoth the Wanderer. Melmoth is using child-slave labor to mine the Martian gold he needs to fund his immortal war against his ex-wife, but none can escape the Monster's vengeance for long. In the end, only one question remains: Has Frankenstein's long-sought revenge doomed the Earth to defeat at the hands of the Sheeda?
Annotations
| Featured Characters | Featured Locations |
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Page 1
PANEL 1: "First over the horizon comes Fear. And at it's heels, Terror."
Chad - "The first page isn't setting a mood, it's exposition about the moonrises."
The planet Mars has two moons: Phobos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_%28moon%29) and Deimos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_%28moon%29). Both are named after attendants of the god of War. Literally, Phobos means "Fear" and Deimos means "Panic." The caption is describing the moons rising.
Page 4
PANEL 2: "MELMOTH LIVES"
The grafittied NASA landing craft pictured in the second panel is one of two sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking Missions (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/viking.html). The Viking I & II landers were the first man-made vehicles to land safely on the surface of another planet. I would suggest that we are looking at Viking I (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1975-075C), which touched down on the western slope of Chryse Planitia, a.k.a. "The Plains of Gold." That sounds like an appropriate location for Melmoth's secret gold mines. For more information and color photos from the mission, check out NASA's site (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html).
Page 5
PANEL 2: "Shadows stir among the contorted rocks of the Tharsis Bulge on the blasted hemisphere of Mars.
The Tharsis Bulge (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/solar/marsthar.html) is a raised continent on Mars that juts approximately 10 kilometers above the rest of the surface.
Page 6
PANEL 3: "Like the troubling oneiric flotsam that haunts the canvases of Yves Tanguy."
Yves Tanguy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Tanguy) was a French painter (1900-1955). Images of some of his works can be found here (http://p.cuvelier.free.fr/tanguy/index_tanguy.htm), here (http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=4688) and here (http://www.insecula.com/us/contact/A010503.html).
Page 8
PANEL 1: "The people of Limbo Town were much fiercer than I'd planned for."
In Klarion 4, Mister Melmoth attempted to enslave the people of Limbo Town in the caverns deep beneath the Manhattan. He was defeated and 'very badly burned,' which explains why his face is bandaged and also why he is missing his left arm. The glowing object Melmoth has in his hand is a Witch-Brand, which he must have stolen from Limbo Town during his hasty retreat.
PANEL 2: "In the meantime, Mister Silencio. May I welcome you and your lads to my little operation..."
Mr. Benito Silencio and his lads are members of the East Coast Mob. They operate out of Manhattan and are rivals of Don Vincenzo and the West Coast Mob. Mister Silencio last appeared in Klarion #3.
Page 9
PANEL 2: "And I was usurped by an ambitious, evil bitch who dumped me at The First Fall of Camelot and left me to walk home through the long centuries."
The Fall of the original Camelot was depicted in Shining Knight 1.
PANEL 3: "And then I heard tell of Slaughter Swamp... and found the lost Cauldron of Rebirth, there, giving life to a village of drowned corpses... But I had my blood drained and replaced with the Waters of Eternal Life."
Gloriana Tenebrae steals the Undry Cauldron from Camelot 10,000 years ago. Ystin tosses it into the time-stream in Shining Knight 1. It lands in Slaughter Swamp and it's waters seep into the mire. The muck resuscitates Solomon Grundy. Melmoth locates the Cauldron and steals some Water of Life to replace his blood. He sires children upon the women of Roanoke, whose descendants all become Grundies when they die because they still have the Water in their blood. Melmoth gives a drop of his blood to Doctor Frankenstein, who uses it to resuscitate his corpse monster and his bride. Some time after Melmoth abandons the cauldron, Vincenzo Baldi retrieves it from the Swamp and use it to become the Undying Don (as explained by the Superhero Convention-goer in Bulleteer 3), which explains why Don has it in Shining Knight 3.
PANEL 4: "Did I tell you about my wife? She eats civilizations and she's coming to eat yours."
Melmoth's wife is Gloriana Tenebrae. The boy in this and subsequent panels is Billy Beezer.
Page 11
PANEL 2: "Well now, Billy Beezer... Don't think I didn't recognize one of the old gang."
Billy Beezer last appeared in Klarion 3.
Page 15
PANEL 2: "Billy Beezer? Your friends are waiting for you, on the other side of the Erdel Gate where I found them.
Billy Beezer's friends are the Deviants, Manhattan's coolest "kid's gang" of runaway miscreants. The Erdel Gate is a doorway through time and space that connects Earth to Mars. Both the Deviants and the Erdel Gate last appeared in Klarion 3. Frank must have arrived on the scene immediately following the end of the issue and use the Gate to hop to Mars.
Page 20
PANEL 3: "I'm your Father, Frankenstein, when you think about it."
Mr. Tricks - "Wondering if this makes Franky, Misty's brother?"
If we consider Melmoth to be Frankenstein's father, because the same blood flows in their veins, then he would indeed be Misty Kilgore's brother, since we know Gloriana is Misty's step-mother and Gloriana is married to Melmoth. That would also make him a great-great-great-uncle to Klarion and the Witch-Folk of Limbo Town.
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