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Published by: IDW Publishing
Released on: May 21, 2014
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Damien Worm
Cover: Damien Worm
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Through a series of events, the monster created by Doctor Victor Frankenstein found himself in the White Chapel district of London at the very time when Jack the Ripper was running amuck and committing his heinous acts of murder. Jack, known in this tale as Dr. John Moore, offers the monster sanctuary in exchange for the monster allowing the doctor full access to examine him and see just how Frankenstein created this creature from body parts.
Moore decides to make a mate for the monster, to help him with his loneliness and self-exile from humanity. Or at least that's what he tells the monster. In order to do so he needs to obtain some body parts, and explains to the monster that the hospital is very generous to him and he can get the parts he needs. He of course leaves out the fact that the “hospital†is a dark alleyway and his parts don't come from cold cadavers on a morgue slab. The monster's natural curiosity makes him ask questions about the monster running loose in the city killing prostitutes, worried they all think HE was killing women. The good doctor poo-poos the idea, and proceeds on with his work. Dr. Moore's choices of features on his creation don't meet the standards the monster is expecting and things don't go too smoothly for all involved.
This series was such a satisfying story from start to finish. From the originality of the story, meshing two monsters from the turn of the 20th Century era both fictional and non-fictional, to the characterization of the monster and the Ripper, it never fails to slake the thirst for some solid gothic horror. The symbiotic relationship between the two characters and the events as they unfold and ultimately end up fit so perfectly together; it seems almost plausible as an explanation of the crimes and the killer. It's clever and, aside from the fact that there is the monster, it's as good an explanation as any theories on Jack the Ripper of which this reader is aware. That of course is not the purpose of the story, but it does create an interestingly different way to think of the motivation behind the crimes.
Damien Worm's artwork is the other reason this story has the satisfying effect it does. His art makes the book so wonderfully dark and brooding and actually pretty scuzzy. Kind of one of those stories that makes you feel a bit dirty and in need of a shower. One of the things that stands out the most is the way he forces you to look at what he wants you to see. If the background is unimportant to the panel, there isn't really one. The focus is on the person talking or taking some form of action. But when he wants you to focus on the surroundings, the detail comes out and you really see the talent he has. If asked to describe his work on this book in summation? Grotesquely beautiful.
This will no doubt find its way to a trade paperback release, which really it should be read as one single book, as it's just that kind of story. And when that book comes out, this story will without a doubt be enjoyed just as much if not more than the first time.
