Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: A Dark Graphic Novel

by Sergio A. Sierra (Adapter), Meritxell Ribas (Illustrator)

Author Sergio A. Sierra and illustrator Meritxell Ribas reanimate Mary Shelley’s classic tale. Traumatized by the death of his mother, young Victor Frankenstein vows to discover the secrets of life and death. He assembles a monster from parts of corpses and uses electricity to bring it to life. Horrified by what he has done, Frankenstein abandons the creature, who is met by fear, rejection, and violence wherever he goes. He learns to loathe himself and his creator and sets out to destroy everyone Frankenstein loves. This title includes safe 'PG' text and illustrations.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Horror, Audiobook, Fantasy, Science Fiction

95 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Sergio A. Sierra was born in Barcelona in 1975. He combines his passion for writing with his work as a distributor of merchandise and collectible figures. He studied Classical Philology and, for a time, wrote reviews of Asian fantasy cinema and anime for the official magazine of the Scifi channel and in the culture section of free newspapers in the city.

In 2007, together with Meritxell Ribas, he published their first illustrated story, "Pincel de Zorro", for the publishing house Ediciones Ondina. In 2009, the Parramon publishing house released his comic book adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", once again in collaboration with Meritxell Ribas.

In 2012, he wrote "Pergamino, el hijo del cazador de libros", his first illustrated novel for the Catalan publishing house La Galera. In 2013, this time with the artist Alex Sierra (Las Tierras de Arran and Tierras de Ogon), he published the first volume of "Yôkai – La Conspiración Heike", which was released simultaneously in France and Spain by the publisher 12 Bis.

In 2013 and 2014, he adapted several classic children's tales for the Catalan publishing house Vicens Vives.

In 2017-2018, he again collaborated with Alex Sierra under the Belgian publisher Sandawe to release the first volume of his comic book album "Hel'blar, Los Cazadores de Draugar" and "Hel'blar, El Rey Bajo El Túmulo".

In 2019 and 2020, he advised on the “Mitología Nórdica” book collection for the publisher RBA Coleccionables and wrote two of the novels that make up the collection: "Thor y el Poder de Mjolnir" and "Thor en la tierra de los Gigantes", which have also been published in France, Portugal, and Latin America.

In 2025, Sergio A. Sierra will make his debut in the catalog of the Aventuriers d'Ailleurs label with the highly anticipated reissue of his Frankenstein (under the title "Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus"), which has been unavailable for several years.

Reviews

[Mahayana Dugast · Rating 5 out of 5]

That level of revenge reminds me of The Count of Monte Cristo which ends a little happier.
This very well-known story doesn't end so well, and the revenge is so poignant and so sad, very well written of course, and deeply heartfelt.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will admit I haven't read the entirety of the source material for this book. However. It appears that this adaptation has taken out the true visual horror by having the artwork be more blocky and cartoon-like. I believe if this had been a little less watered down it would have made it much better. At times I found myself reading the words and just glancing at the art because it wasn't giving me the expected and desired effect of reading this horror classic. The only real way to tell this is supposed to be dark fiction is by the lack of color in the artwork.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relectura número 🙄
Frankenstein siempre será uno de mis clásicos predilectos. ¿Qué más puedo decir? Ante semejante obra maestra no me salen las palabras...
Y bueno, esta adaptación de Sergio A. Sierra junto con la magnífica ilustración a grattage (rascado en tinta) de Maritxell Ribas es un tesoro.Y he de decir que no soy yo mucho de estas técnicas (grattage), por ese motivo aún más, Meritxell, a tus pies 🙇🏻‍♀️. Qué tendrá este clásico que siempre me impresiona releerlo y volver a admirar todo de él como si fuese la primera vez que lo hago.

«Tenga ambiciones y aspiraciones en la vida, amigo. Pero no se deje cegar por ellas, ni olvide a aquellos a los que ama.»
Víctor Frankenstein.

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

But within me, there was an ambiguous need that pushed me to seek acceptance from those who shunned me.

Victor Frankenstein was playing around with electricity — and there were unintended consequences!

The monster he created (—reanimated—) is unnamed, which has left a gap to be filled with Frankenstein's own name.

This work is an adaptation of the startling creation of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and I found the balance in this graphic novel between text and illustration to be unsatisfying. It was text-heavy, and the illustrations did not do much more than illustrate the text. In the best graphic novels, text and drawings each work together to propel the story forward, each supplying information.

Rounded down to 3 stars. For those disinclined to read the original Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, this is a suitable replacement.

[Silvana Berreta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

The art style drew me to this, and it is helpful in making the plot explicit. It mitigates the actions of Frankenstein's monster, subduing the murders and making the physical monstrosity bland and blockish. It also loses the horror of the true monster of the story - Frankenstein, only to attempt to explain it away by keeping some final (preachy) words.

All in all, a decent version for a quick and dirty with original text, but it keeps my blahs about the original. I was hoping for a version that made it more compelling for current audiences, which seemed to be the whole point of this, but this is not that version. This keeps the weaknesses of the original and loses some of the strengths.

If anyone has the rec for the one that takes the preachiness and boredom out of the original, I'm all ears! (Yes, I know the mundane is part of the point, but that doesnt contribute to the read for me)

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second Printing

The art is stunning and shockingly appropriate within a well adapted story.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly drab adaptation of an established classic. Frankenstein adaptations are legion, with most making the initial error of assuming the source material must be made more accessible to contemporary audiences. Unfortunately this is almost always executed through dumbing-down the text. So from the outset the adaptation assumes the reader to be less intelligent than they actually are. Adults also error in assuming younger readers also need things simplified and rendered dumber in order to be understood. Too much children's and young adult literature condescends like this and it does no one any favors.

The text of this adaptation reads like a summary of Frankenstein with most of the narrative very passive rather than present and active. The illustrations, while stylistically appealing (itself more a populist gimmick than a thematic or narrative decision), hardly ever drive the narrative action or offer thematic insight. Most of the panels, while shallowly moody, don't evoke anything or show anyone doing anything--visual storytelling at its most boring and subservient. The pictures look nice, but they do nothing--no heft, no propulsion, no mystery, and certainly no horror. It's all very nice, inoffensive and obnoxiously un-frightening.

But I appreciate the attempt, and I do think this adaptation at least values its source material more than some of the awful film adaptations of recent years. I don't care about narrative fidelity, and too often contemporary adaptations are hamstrung from the start by some slavish demand that adapters be faithful to the original--itself a misguided desire that values lifeless replication over vibrant imagination. I care about taking the source material seriously and doing something interesting with it. I sense Sierra and Ribas admire the source material, but their work here suggests that admiration rarely nurtures inspiration.

[Montse Gallardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una adaptación muy buena, con un dibujo que me ha encantado. me encantaría ver los dibujos originales (la técnica utilizada es grattage: se dibuja y luego se raspa; el efecto es casi tridimensional; a mi me recordó a figuras de madera talladas)

La síntesis de la novela de Shelley es muy buena, muy centrada en lo esencial, y el grafismo, oscuro y detallado, acompaña muy bien a la trama.

Recomendable

[Currently_Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow me sorprendió mucho la historia, se que Frankenstein es un libro súper conocido, un clásico de la literatura, pero yo no lo he leído y sabía poco de la historia justamente porque pretendía leer el libro. Me gustó mucho esta novela gráfica, entiendo que resume bien la historia y los dibujos aunque muy darks, me parecieron bonitos y bien hechos.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nueva revisión en viñetas al mayor clásico de Mary Shelley que destaca por una interesante propuesta gráfica, muy deudora del grabado (al menos en su aspiración estética), y un guion que respeta en lo posible la premisa original.

[Love of Hopeless Causes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unable to listen to the original, I hoped this would be the cure. Alas, this is even worse: stiff prose, difficult font, immature art. I liked Frankenstein before all this, but I'm afraid his monster stock has crashed.

[Maggie Ritter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to be mary shelley

[layla leinen 💌 · Rating 2 out of 5]

i prob shouldn’t even count that i read this bc i had the audio at 2.5 speed and i had no idea what was going on…but i spent time reading it so im counting it.

so books for school just aren’t my vibe…this wasn’t terrible and was really good for analyzing in class and my essay but i understood nothing until my teacher went through it😭

[Clair De Lune · Rating 5 out of 5]

"¡Qué mudables son nuestros sentimientos y
qué extraño el apego que tenemos a la vida,
incluso en los momentos de máximo sufrimien-
to!" es una frase que rescato de esta sublime, penosa y profunda obra. Ha sido una obra de pocas que ha hecho florecer en mí sentimientos encontrados, de profundo pesar y de profunda solidaridad y nobleza. La forma tan sutil de describir a los personajes, logra cautivarte y más aún darles vida en tu imaginación, pero la forma en cómo describe los sentimientos del hombre es tan exquisita y tan real que me cuesta imaginar que exista otro autor que goce de tal talento en la pluma.

[Alisa Cupcakeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro en general me gustó bastante. Las ilustraciones y la edición en general me parecen muy buenos elementos para esta novela gráfica.

Le daría 5 estrellas peo tengo mis reparos porque siento que se aleja del sentido de la obra original pues me sucedió que sentí más empatía por Víctor Frankenstein que por su criatura y cuando leía la novela de Shelley me paso todo lo contrario, entonces he quedado con esa sensación rara de que no es lo que había leído antes (hace 10 años ya).

[Israel Serrano · Rating 4 out of 5]

No tengo palabras, me encantan las ilustraciones, las frases tan exactas, tan completas, es hermosa esta novela gráfica, mejor que cualquier adaptación de esta novela.

[valplanta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las ilustraciones Juan, las ilustraciones!!!

[Georgia Mendoza]

Reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley sparked my interest in analyzing the dangers of science and learning more about the 1800s, including the enlightenment and romanticism movement. I enjoyed the plot of Frankenstein and how Shelley used a frame story to tell this story that ultimately questions what it is to be human. I was really intrigued by the relationship between the main character, Victor Frankenstein, and his monster. The way Shelley allows readers to view each perspective, lets readers empathize with each character and sort of get their side of the story. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way Shelley uses romanticism and the enlightenment because they clash all throughout the story, showing another point of view and furthering the theme of the dangers of the acquirement of knowledge and science. Overall, I was greatly fascinated by the storyline, themes, and history Shelley portrays throughout Frankenstein.
Although I absolutely enjoyed Frankenstein, there was some difficulty in analyzing the deeper meaning behind the text and jumping from perspective to perspective. The way Shelley starts off the novel in the letters from Walton really confused me at first, leading me to be unaware of where the story was taking place and who was talking in later chapters. Jumping from each perspective did allow me to sympathize with the characters, but sometimes I got lost in who was narrating. Also, the words contained in Frankenstein are much of an older tone, and difficult to understand. Frankenstein overall is a pretty complicated book to follow and understand.
Frankenstein allowed for me to learn more about the romanticism and enlightenment movement, the dangers of the acquirement of knowledge and science, and familial responsibility. The elements of romanticism portrayed in Frankenstein, led me to learn that I am more on the romantic side rather than the enlightenment aspect. Frankenstein overall just better informed me on the key elements involved in romanticism and the enlightenment. Victor Frankenstein's quest for knowledge portrays to the readers the consequences of his overly ambitious desire to learn how to reanimate human life. Readers see that due to creating this creature, he killed basically all of his family, whether it was the monster's revenge, or from the grief of all the deaths. Victor defeated natural bounds, leaving readers to question whether he has too much power from the knowledge he has learned and how else could it affect society besides the damage that was already done. The theme of familial responsibility plays a big role in Frankenstein, as Victor grows up in a perfect, loving family who supports him until he is in his grave. Meanwhile, Victor abandons his creature of his own creation and despises him, but still allows the creature to roam and not tell anyone, knowing he could harm many people. We learn to stay in touch with the reality of what family and love can provide for us, and not get distracted by the pursuit of knowledge.

[Jordan Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, may seem like a simple horror story about a mad scientist and some monster he created, but it is much, much more than that. The story is layered with multiple meanings that can be discovered if the reader digs past the surface. In this matter, the book was very intriguing to me, as I found myself searching for hidden messages the author had placed throughout the novel. This book was also willed with adventure and uncertainty that excited me. I would recommend Frankenstein to advanced readers who long to look beyond the written words in novels and discover the author's many innuendos. I also recommend this story to history fanatics, as there is much information of the 1700s and its language found in Frankenstein.
Although Frankenstein was a captivating read, it was, at times, easy to predict what would happen next. Mary Shelley foreshadows quite a lot in this book, however, this often leaves the reader with a clear indication of what is to come in the following pages. The language used was also difficult to understand, as it was written in the 1700s and shared the antique language. Shelley also includes a multitude of deaths in this gothic horror. Some death has an effect on those who hear of it, however, when death becomes such a common conception, it tends to lose its significance towards the audience.
In reading this book, I learned a multitude of literary tricks. Through Shelley’s allusion to nature and innocence, I learned to understand romanticism. Romanticism is the idea that emotion and feeling are more useful than thinking and science, this idea is one that was a major motivation is Shelley’s writing of Frankenstein. Throughout the novel, Shelley often alludes to science as an evil scheme that has many consequences, and nature as a beautiful, serine concept that calms those who indulge in it.

[Riane Hicks · Rating 1 out of 5]

The literature I felt was hard to read in this age, coming from the point in time it was written. Going off of that the story line and plot I thought was very detailed and keeps you interested. I would recommend the book to someone who wants to dive into older literature. I would not recommend this to someone who has a hard time understanding older literature. I liked how the story included a little peek into what life and the time back then were like.
I personally did not like the old literature. I personally find old literature hard to read and comprehend and relate it to my life. I found trying to stay engaged in the beginning of the novel hard. After the plot developed it got a lot easier to stay engaged and understand the plot.
In this book I learned a little about what life entailed back in the 19th century. Life back then had a lot simpler look on things but also a lot more attention to detail. Arranged marrages in the age that the story was written was a normal thing and that was a new thing and hard for me to try and see that happening now.

[Mia Stastny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining to read for a school essay. I enjoyed how it started out in a different POV and then changed to Frankensteins. I learned that science could lead to terrible mistakes if not thought through correctly, and if there are no boundaries. The plot taught me a ton about what Romanticism and Industrialism was like back then. Overall, I would recommend this to the readers out there who can stick to a book, and have patience with the reading.

This book was a little difficult to read, with some older English words that nowadays we aren't used to seeing. Older literature is harder for me to read and comprehend, so it was harder for me to keep reading. Other than that, this book was really fun when I gave it patience and kept going.

While reading this book I learned a lot about Romanticism and Industrialism and how nature, weather, and characters likes and dislikes relate to so much of it. I also realized how arranged marriage was normal back then, and how science can either lead to good or bad.

[kaue · Rating 4 out of 5]

O mais divertido é que ele te prende do início ao fim. Mesmo que você largue a leitura, é impossível não ficar fissurado assim que retorna, é um livro muito magnético. A maior parte dos capítulos são bem divididos e os surtos filosóficos dos personagens são um deleite ainda maior. É incrível entrar na cabeça de Victor nos seus momentos de maior tormenta, ou na cabeça de Frankenstein nos seus momentos de solidão e exclusão social. É difícil sentir raiva do monstro, pois ele só segue a imagem de seu criador, a crueldade é um modo de vingança humano, e muito certamente Victor o utilizaria (como fez) sem pensar duas vezes. Um livro incrível e excepcional sobre relações familiares e angústia, todos abordados com grande sensibilidade e respeito.

[Francien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wat dit boek zo slecht maakt was ten eerste mijn eigen verwachting. Iedereen kent het concept Franckenstein wel, nou komt 99% NIET overeen met dit concept. Wat in zichzelf niet slecht is. Afgezien van het feit dat de persoon die het monster maakt echt een verschrikkelijke, non stop jammerende, egocentrische en egoïstische klootzak is. Al zijn acties zijn extreem dom en frustrerend. WHHHHHAAAAA. Verder bestaat het boek voor een groot deel uit zeeerrrrr gedetailleerde omschrijvingen van de natuur (op een saaie manier) en is de schrijfster vrij discriminerend? als in mensen uit de lage klas zijn lelijk en hebben een slecht karakter en alleen iemand van adel of met geld kan knap en wijs zijn. Het monster perspectief was interessant. Toch blijft mijn conclusie lees dit niet. Er zijn veel klassiekers die wel de moeite waard zijn en dit is er geen van.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this out for my 8 year old from the library but upon reading it, maybe she’s still too young to read this. I liked the illustrations in here but didn’t like the typeface used in some of the sections which made it hard to read the text.

I’m not sure how someone who hasn’t heard about Frankenstein would understand this story since it leaves out a lot of the plot. I think this is best for someone who knows the gist of the original book.

[Kesstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Te cagas con este libro. Todo lo que ha hecho el cine y la cultura popular es un invento, no es nada la novela que parece que iba a ser, es demoledora y muestra las dos partes de la naturaleza humana, lo más romántico que he leído hasta el momento, lúgubre, cargado de sentimientos de duelo y de dolor que me ha encantado la tía una puta genia no diría que es una novela de terror pero te mantiene con algo parecido mientras la lees, un saludo

[Stephanie Parras Hidalgo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frankenstein es nada de lo que espera y todo lo que necesitaba leer. Atrapante, llena de lecciones y vivencias, donde te enteras lo que es un verdadero monstruo.

[✨lee✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ahhh this makes me want to read frankenstein! this story was so well written and the art fit PERFECTLY! wonderful graphic novel, and great for like...halloween time

[Karob · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5🌟
Mogli tą historię opowiedzieć dużo krócej, strasznie mi się dłużyło, ale poza tym bylo w miarę ciekawee. Jedyne co to bohaterowie średnio mi podeszli.

[Salma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me MONTHS to read FRAKENSTEIN NO WAY IT WAS ALL SUMMARIZED IN THIS COMIC