PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Legendary Comics has printed one of the most iconic influences in my life. They wrote the entire story based on the Boris Karloff version of the Frankenstin monster, and I was honored to be able to read it. Recently, I sat down with Sara Karloff and Robert Napton to ask just a few questions. They are passionate about this project and have great answers and stories.
The Idea
PopHorror: Where did the idea of the graphic novel come from?
Sara Karloff: Well, it came from Legendary. They approached me. They had done the Lugosi one, which was so beautiful, and when they approached me, I was absolutely delighted. I am so thrilled with the book. It is just, just amazing. It’s beautiful. It’s so well done. The graphic art is breathtaking. They have captured my father’s likeness. Just remarkably, the storyline, of course, is… and the artwork is just over the moon.
Robert Napton: I would add that when we successfully did the Dracula one, based on Bram Stoker’s novel and using the likeness of Bela Lugosi, it just seemed natural, which was so well received. We decided on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein next. I was so thrilled that Sara was enthusiastic and wanted to do it and that we could bring back the art team that did the first one and have this opportunity.
It’s been a thrill. Well, I mean, Sara and I can both speak to this, but I can be very objective in saying that Boris Karloff is the iconic vision of Frankenstein’s monster with all due respect to everyone who has portrayed the creature. Since then, Boris Karloff has been the definitive vision in movies and plays. It’s just iconic, you know, it’s culturally iconic. It surpassed performance in cinema even. I think it’s just that he’s a cultural icon. So yeah, it’s just a no-brainer. There’s no, I wouldn’t even consider doing it unless we could have utilized his likeness. in this new vision of the creature. So that’s my view,
An Icon
PopHorror: Why Boris Karloff?
Sara Karloff: Well, because he was, he certainly was the iconic version of it. He certainly was the first one; he certainly was the film one. He was the obvious one, and he is the iconic one, and I’m thrilled to death that they chose him. I think the fans would have been insulted if they had chosen any other one and, indeed, would have wondered why. And as I say, the artwork captured him magnificently.
PopHorror: What is your favorite movie in which your father played a role?
Sara Karloff: Well, I mean, Frankenstein certainly for the pivotal difference it made both in his career and in his life. I think my favorite film is probably Targets, which he made with Peter Bogdanovich. It was certainly the latter part of my father’s career. I think it reflected my father’s opinion that the real horror is on the street, not the screen. And I think he was portraying himself more than anything. Peter did a remarkable job writing, directing, and acting in the film. My father enjoyed working with Peter Bogdanovich, and it was indeed timely in its release, too timely, so it was removed from the theaters prematurely. It was released during the Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations. However, it was re-released in DVD format, and unfortunately, it’s as timely now as when it was initially released.
Meeting
PopHorror: How did you get in contact with each other?
Robert Napyon: . Well, you know, Lynn Lugosi, I worked with Lynn Lugosi, and Bela Lugosi Jr. on Dracula. And actually, Lynn introduced me to Sara. When I started talking about wanting to do Frankenstein, she said, well, I’m good friends with Sara, and my father’s good friends with Sara. Why don’t I make that introduction? She did, and we’re grateful. It’s a lovely community, and everyone is so supportive of each other who’s in this arena of classic icons and monsters. So, that’s how it happened. I’m very grateful and so glad we could do the project with Sara. We are all good friends, so it’s not difficult to get into with any of the members of the iconic horror genre.
Black And White
PopHorror: Are the black-and-white pages an homage to the black-and-white film era?
Robert Napton: Just to me, this part of what makes it iconic and eternal is that it is black and white. I think there’s a mystical fairy tale quality to black-and-white films of that era. It makes it very accessible to multiple generations because it’s not grounded in its reality if that makes sense. It’s not modern times, it’s not even a historical period, it’s this mythical time. These iconic actors, especially Boris Karloff, a film like Targets where he appeared in color and is beautiful, but. It just changes your perception a little bit.
To think of Frankenstein’s creature or Dracula in color, they had to be black and white. That was just kind of my decision. And the team supported that. And I want to shout out to Kerry Gamel and L. Garing, who did the artwork for both books. Kerry is a longtime monster kid and has been studying how to illustrate these faces for decades. And so he’s an expert. I was very grateful to have him on both projects, especially Frankenstein. He did many chores to adapt the story of Mary Shelley’s novel. Al Ghering is an artist I’ve worked with before, and he came in. Carrie and I worked as a team on both books, and they complement each other. Yeah, none of it’s possible without them and the amazing hard work they do. So I definitely wanted to get a shout-out for them in there.
Sara Karloff: Gee, My goodness, the artwork in this book is just superb, and they captured every aspect of this novel and then put into the novel these images, and these icons and these, oh goodness, the way they have put my father’s image into this novel is just… Incredible, just incredible. It just makes my flesh, woo. It’s just beautiful. It’s just, but I mean, I can; I have learned as people have sent me their artwork of my father to put my fingers over the eyes, nose, or mouth to find out what’s just not quite right. And there’s no. Everything’s right in this artwork. Every aspect of my father’s image is dead on, no matter what angle they’ve put it in this novel. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s dead on. It’s just marvelous. It’s incredible what these artists have managed to put into this novel.
In The End
We thank Robert and Sara for sitting with us for a few minutes. The book’s initial release is October 22nd, but it is now available for preorder.
Here is a preview page of the work in the graphic novel.
