A Diversity of Lions

We pick up from where we left off yesterday, with the all-important question of how subjective the Frankenstein Creature’s appearance is.

ADoL: How important do you think the Creature’s appearance is to any particular adaptation? If he’s more good-looking or less, does it change the rest of the story? (“Rocky Horror” is probably the most extreme example, of course.)
RAE: Well if characters are running around saying “He’s hideous!” he better damn well got hit with the ugly stick. I think either way, though, he becomes an object that other “proper” human beings project onto, and feel it’s their right because he’s built, not born.

ADoL: He’s the Other. The “not-us.”
RAE: People who don’t know that he’s an artificial human pretty much set the standard for humanity.

ADoL: Elaborate?
RAE: Well, if they scream and try to attack him it shows how stupid, selfish, and violent humanity can be. But if they’re kind to him, it at least shows that there’s some hope left for humanity. It tends to end badly for them, though…. At least, if he’s ugly. But if he’s unbearably hot, all they want to do is get in his pants without bothering to ask if he wants it, too… I don’t know where I’m going with this.

ADoL: Is he really ugly, though, is the question. Personally, I think it’s probably more the Uncanny Valley effect that makes him seem monstrous. Either that, or Victor was so focused on minutia that he stopped noticing the totality of the face he was making. Like “Oh, this is a lovely nose” and then “this forehead is awesome” and “I love these cheek-bones,” without paying attention to whether those parts fit together well or not.
RAE: I like to think that he looks dead, and that a walking dead man was not as cool-sounding then as it is now. But I like your second theory. If that’s what I ran with the Creature would look a lot different than how I normally draw him now.

ADoL: Have you ever drawn the Creature simply as the Creature? It seems to me that, in the works that I’ve seen, you put enough of a spin on him that it shapes his character so much. Like, Wilhelm is clearly Wilhelm. Even if every event in the novel is part of his backstory, he’s still more a part of Friends of the Dead than he is Frankenstein. It seems especially true for Cain/Abel, of course.
RAE: Well, Wilhelm started out as being simply the Creature. I drew him almost immediately after reading the book. It was only once I collaborated with my friend on the comic, and I just happened to have a design for the Monster already drawn.

ADoL: Let’s go over your different Monsters, though, for anyone reading who’s not familiar with them.
RAE: Wilhelm is the Creature as imagined in my webcomic, Friends of the Dead. The

whole story began due to our mutal love of the film Van Helsing, and how amazingly silly it is. Both of us were hyped up when he heard it was coming out, thinking it was going to take its cues from the original novels. It didn’t, and while we still enjoy it, we decided to come up with a story that was “literarily correct.” Basically we have the Creature living as a hermit after the events of the novel. He’s already dead, so he can’t grow old and die. And he reconsidered killing himself, since going back down south where there’s trees in order to cut wood and bring back to the North Pole to burn himself was just too much work. And the weather was much nicer.

ADoL: It’s like he becomes the Bride of Frankenstein version of DeLacey.
RAE: Yeah, Wilhelm takes up playing the violin, because through popcultural osmosis I thought the blind man in the novel played a violin. But no, he plays a guitar, but the violin looks better.

ADoL: Is it fair to say that the Creature in your Paradise Lost painting is Wilhelm?
RAE: Because I had only one way of drawing of the Creature at the

time, yes, but I always thought of it as the Creature from the book and not my version.

ADoL: So it’s not Wilhelm, it just looks like him.
RAE: Yeah.

ADoL: Do you consider Wilhelm attractive?
RAE: Hell yeah. But the reserved, shy, creative type, not the aggressively sexual type (like Dracula). But it’s mostly how I write him. Physically attractive, too.

ADoL: He’s more handsome than beautiful, in my opinion. He’s very masculine.
RAE: Yeah, Bishifying him hurts my brain to be honest. But out of all the characters he’s supposed to be the ideal “strong yet sensitive” type of guy.

ADoL: And that’s intended to be a valid read of the Creature, and not necessarily a subversion.
RAE: that’s what I think, if he had the time to mellow out and maybe not have everyone treat him like shit.

ADoL: So Wilhelm’s from a comic that’s basically Gothic monster stew, but Cain and Abel are a more direct take on the Frankensteinian mythos, correct?
RAE: Yes. It’s an alternate universe remix of just about all the Frankenstein stories I’ve read so far.

ADoL: So we have Dr. Pretorious from James Whale’s 1934 film Bride of Frankenstein together with Prima from 1973’s Frankenstein: The True Story, for example.
RAE: Yep, those. Also re-imagined versions of Justine and Safie, who don’t get used in the retellings much. I don’t think Safie’s made it into any adaptation at this point.

ADoL: Well, Justine was focused on a fair bit in Branagh’s version. Though some would say, grotesquely so.
RAE: Anyway! Cain and Abel. Cain is in fact the same creature that Victor creates in the novel. He goes through the same situations in the book, up to the point where he gets shot after rescuing the girl from the river. It’s then that he meets Justine, who is 11 years old. Rather than running away from him, she offers him berries she’s picked.

ADoL: D’awwww.
RAE: Yes. Crowning moment of heartwarming. Suddenly the Creature has someone he can talk to, someone he can simply have a friendship with. His personality softens, and he’s a generally mild and sweet guy. However he realizes that people are horrified are his appearance so he avoids them. He does make an attempt to confront Victor, but when Victor freaks out at the sight of him he decides it’s not really worth it. He does, however, live vicariously through books.

ADoL: If the pictures you’ve posted of him are any indication, he seems much more Byronic than Wilhelm.
RAE: I think you’re misreading the image. Out of the bunch I think he’s the most innocent, or should I say of the two. He hasn’t killed yet.

ADoL: Which is pivotal in every version of the myth.
RAE: He’s a combination of the novel’s Creature with Clancy Brown’s version from The Bride. In The Bride, the Creature (named Victor!) has a dwarf buddy who teaches him how to interact and be a decent person.

ADoL: How much do you think murder affects the Creature? Or will that be revealed through reading the story?
RAE: I actually never considered that. Maybe in yet another story I’ll play with that. But I do think that murder’s pretty much his moral event horizon. That’s one of the reasons Wilhelm’s a hermit in FOTD. He’s a murderer, best way to not murder people aside from killing himself is to stay away from them altogether.

ADoL: Cain has his books, and Wilhelm has music. How do those pursuits reflect the differences between the two?
RAE:Cain’s a learner, Wilhelm’s a feeler. Cain has cut himself off from the world, thinking he has no part in it, but he’s aware of the good in it and wants to know more. so he reads. Wilhelm on the other hand has both felt and caused great pain. Music is his way of releasing his emotions when there’s no one to talk to.

ADoL: These are both things you enjoy, too. Will we see a Rachellian version of the Creature who paints, eventually?
RAE: Possibly. Cain also writes, later on.

ADoL: Does Wilhelm compose?
RAE: I haven’t considered. I plan on having him play Beethoven a lot. Beethoven’s one of my favorite composers because he’s so dramatic and never scales back. It’ll be incredibly angry or incredibly melancholy or incredibly happy, which is why I think Wilhelm would be attracted to the music, he can relate to such extreme moods.

ADoL: What fuels Cain’s creative impulse to try writing?
RAE: Later on in the story he’s on the run, and has to leave his books behind. He still misses them, and mentions that to Safie. She gives him a journal and pen as a gift, so he can write his own story instead of reading everyone else’s. So it’s kind of him realizing, he’s not a spectator anymore. He’s important. He has a story too. Which is why I’m trying to play him off as both the leading man, and the idealistic teenager on his first quest. He may be well-read, but he’s not well-equipped with worldly wisdom

ADoL: It’s the story of salvation, though. He receives the words in a book, then he participates in the nature of the book by reading them, then he’s given means and brought up, transfigured into an author/creator himself. And he gets the means through Safie, which is a lot like Sophia, or the Holy Spirit…. But, I’m reading into it, I’m sure. Though that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
RAE: Probably. In both cases. But it’s Abel’s story, too–his character arc influences Cain’s. Abel is Victor’s second attempt at creating life, using a different method, suggested by his colleague, Septimus Praetorius. This was me basically asking, “why does the second creature always have to be female? Wouldn’t he try to get the male right before moving on to the female?” But Abel turns out looking handsome and youthful. Victor is overjoyed… and also incredibly naive, as he leaves his new creation in Septimus’ care while Victor goes on holiday with Elizabeth (they are happily married). When he returns, he finds Abel much different than he was before–no longer happy and inquisitive, but withdrawn and mute and only responding to Septimus’ instructions. As if you couldn’t tell from the name, Septimus is a bad man. It just sounds so mustachio-twirlingly evil. “Doctor Septimus Praetorius.”

ADoL: I know Abel is distinct from the Creature story-wise, since Cain is the Creature, but it still feels like he’s an incarnation of the mythic character. Like, there are varying interpretations of what the Creature is like, and you fit two of them into the same story.
RAE: Yes, particularly Michael Sarrazin’s from Frankenstein: The True Story. He’s the version that his creator actually adores. But while Cain, who is despised, gains a positive influence, Abel is affected very negatively. By a very very bad man. And unlike Cain, Abel does get around to killing people.

ADoL: So you divided the character in half?
RAE: Essentially. Or subverted it in two different ways, whichever works for you.

ADoL: What gave you that idea?

RAE: Well, it all came in a dream. Some of my stories come about that way. And I had no idea it was a Frankenstein story, until Abel ran away and bumped into Cain. Then I was like “Ohhhhh,” and worked backwards from there. Victor and Septimus used to be one person, but I split them because i didn’t want this to be a “Victor is utterly depraved” scenario. Dean Koontz did that well enough. So that’s two characters being split. Dr. Praetorius offered a handy villain outlet, by virtue of his name alone. Even though, fun, there’s nothing inherently sinister in the name itself. It just sounds dastardly.

ADoL: But this Praetorius isn’t necessarily the Ernest Thesiger version we all love?

RAE: Oh, no. His persona kind of skipped in from the main villain from the Doctrine of Labyrinths, but I scaled him back a bit. He was a bit too twisted for the sake of being twisted, so I had to give him a good motive—”For Science!” with a serving of sadism. Actually, he’s more like Koontz’ Frankenstein than I previously thought, except he never actually states outright that he thinks he’s better than all of humanity. But the sentiment is there.

ADoL: Not a sympathetic villain.
RAE: Nope. The story structure also lifted a bit (way more than I was aware of until we started talking about it!) from The Bride. The film starts with Frankenstein making the titular bride for himself and shoving his first creation out the door. So Praetorius takes hints from that Frankenstein, as well.

ADoL: It sounds like his existence kind of exonerates Victor by absorbing the more vicious interpretations of the original novel’s Victor-figure.
RAE: He relishes in the whole “I can make you into whatever I want it to be” sort of thing. Victor comes off as more of a genius ditz.

ADoL: Any last thoughts on this story before we move on to Beautiful Wretch?
RAE: None, except I really need to work on finishing FOTD so I can get to work on this one.

ADoL: Your fans really need to start being more vocal and harsh.
RAE: I know. They’re too understanding. They understand even when the only thing to understand is the fact that I’m lazy.

ADoL: So let’s talk about the real reason we’re here tonight.
RAE: Boy! it only took us 3 hours!

ADoL: It’s quite possibly a personal best! But so. It’s rather pointless to ask whether the Creature in Beautiful Wretch is intended to be beautiful or not, isn’t it? I mean, it’s right there in the title.

It’s a very stunning piece of art. One might even say “shocking.”
RAE: I hoped it would be. We’ll see how the general public takes it this weekend.

ADoL: The initial reaction to the painting is, obviously, how little clothing the Monster is wearing. Because I think, however used we are to seeing him running around by now, many of us still prefer him bandaged up on the table before the lightning strike. You’ve given us the extreme opposite of that.
RAE: my initial concept was that the Monster would be nude, but I was a bit wary about that. I mean, I wouldn’t mind drawing him nude, just as sketch practice, but it didn’t feel right for this one. Then I remembered one of Bernie Wrightson’s rejected drawings, which had the Monster taking its first steps, with bandages covering the notable bits and I tried it out, and it worked much better. It has a more wholesome, angelic quality to it while also being scandalous.

ADoL: The way the cloth covers him makes him almost appear Christ-like. As though he’s just come off of a cross, and is more divine for it.
RAE: Yeah, that was the thought too.  It looked very religious, and I realized that was the direction I wanted to take. The original idea was supposed to be a lot more…conquering? Ruling. The concept was based on the song “Somebody Super Like You” from the Phantom of the Paradise, which is about assembling the perfect hero/idol.

ADoL: With a dual meaning of being both Frankenstein’s Creature and Dr. Faust.
RAE: Yup.

ADoL: Given the lyrics of Somebody Super Like You, do you think the speaker is creating the idealized subject, or are they appealing to some sort of super-existing being just waiting to be born? All the lines start with “We need a…”
RAE: I’d say the former, because once assembled, he doesn’t actually do anything. He just lets them do anything. Here’s this ideal, that we never need to aspire to, since he’s gotten there already. And because he’s such a nice guy, he won’t challenge us in any way. He’s just a figurehead.

ADoL: He’s the perfect vicarious thrill, in other words.
RAE: Ah, sure, ok.

ADoL: Is it possible for humanity to create the sublime image like that, though?
RAE: Not sure what you’re asking.

ADoL: Well, I think we’d both agree that the Creature is sublime, yes?
RAE: Yes.

ADoL: But is he sublime because of Victor, or does his sublimity come from something else?
RAE: I’d say from something else. He starts out, in my opinion, superior to Victor, who seems to leave his creation out of pettiness. But then the Creature becomes even worse than petty, he becomes wicked. I wouldn’t say Victor is wicked.

ADoL: Does wickedness cancel out sublimity in a person?
RAE: I’d say it’s more like a star becoming a black hole — we have sublime in a good way, the star, but when it’s gone it doesn’t just pop! disappear. It becomes its own antithesis.

ADoL: If the Creature becomes his own antithesis, does he reach any synthesis? In other words, does he manage to regain any sublimity by the story’s end?
RAE: Well, suicide was looked at rather positively in Romantic fiction… or should I say Gothic. Maybe both.

ADoL: Dying itself has a bit of the sublime to it, don’t you think? It’s utterly mysterious and terrifying, but it can be beautiful at the same time. And nobody knows for certain what happens after it. At least, nobody living.
RAE: True. So if death = sublimity, then yes, the Monster attains it. Being a Christian, though, I’d say he’d attain sublimity if he asked forgiveness. He doesn’t.

ADoL: Is there anything atoning about his death?
RAE: I wouldn’t say so. It doesn’t help anyone. It only assuages his own guilt. He calls it a sacrifice, but since he has nothing and hates everything, what kind of sacrifice is it?

ADoL: So your painting of the Creature as a divine or semi-divine figure seems to exist free of the confines of the story, then. Or is it representative of his pure state at creation?
RAE: the former.

ADoL: He’s transcendent, then. But the darkness and the scars are still a bit off-putting. Maybe not quite repulsive, but at least intimidating.
RAE: Well if he didn’t have them, he’d be just a guy. They’re part of what makes him him. He’s scary is what he is. But so are thunderstorms…and some people find them invigorating and wonderful.

ADoL: Like Victor Frankenstein.
RAE: Yup. And it’s like he tried to channel that into something he could make. You could say maybe that’s why he ran away from it. He saw way more than he expected to see.

ADoL: There was more to what he made, than what he had made. It came from somewhere outside him.
RAE: Mmhm.

ADoL: It sounds like you’re describing him as an artist, now — trying to channel a sublime vision into a creative force.
RAE: Now if he were an artist, he probably wouldn’t have panicked.

ADoL: A failed artist, then? Or perhaps, far, far too successful.
RAE: No, he was a very successful one. He just didn’t know how to appreciate it.

ADoL: Now that’s truly tragic.
RAE: Indeed. Though I haven’t met an artist quite like that. I’ve seen ones who are unaware, uncaring or unsure of their talent, but not ones who are afraid of it. But then again, we’re not literally bringing the dead back to life. We’ve been taught into thinking that there’s somehow a difference.

ADoL: I think it’s why Victor isn’t sublime himself—his divine potential fails. In Genesis, God looks at what he made and said “It is good,” and it was. In Paradise Lost, Satan decides to pursue Evil the way others pursue Good, and he achieves it. But Victor created something good and calls it evil. He’s the opposite of both of them, knowing he wants something but unable to recognize it.
RAE: It’s more tragic than someone creating something evil and calling it good, because it’s such a waste.

ADoL: For humans, at least, it seems goodness and sublimity are tied up with potentiality. “You could be wonderful if…” Finishing up, though, Beautiful Wretch seems to offer a lot of contradictions, then. What do you hope those who see it do with those feelings, after they go home?
RAE: I’ve no idea. rather selfish of me, I realize, trying to show off my work without really thinking what people get out of it.

ADoL: What did you get out of it?
RAE: I guess I felt closer to Victor than I normally would while creating. I selected his features not to be beautiful on a surface level, but to be true. Not the “he’d be wonderful if…” version, but the “this is how he is, and he’s wonderful” version. So I don’t know if anyone will get this out of it, but I’d like to hope that people will view anyone… anything… with fresh eyes. Embrace contradictions, because that’s how things and people are.

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You can find more of Ellett’s work, including her comic Friends of the Dead, at her online gallery at thenumber42.deviantart.com. Her blog, The New Atlantis, can be found here.