Michael Walsh talks us through the creative process behind Skybound’s Universal Monsters: Frankenstein comic

Michael, to kick us off, how did you come to be doing the Universal Monsters: Frankenstein comic?
I had worked with Skybound editor Alex Antone before – he tapped me to do a write and draw a short story for the Creepshow anthology comic book. We had a great time on that and built a really good rapport and working relationship. Then he tapped me to draw an issue of Creepshow that was written by Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella. After that, he reached out and said: “We’ve got to do something bigger together. I’ve got the Universal Monsters property. Are there any of the Universal Monsters characters you’re interested in writing and drawing a four-issue mini-series for?” It was tough to pick because I think all of them are interesting, but Frankenstein has always been one of my favourite monsters in the horror world. I also think there’s so much depth thematically there – and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel is one of my favourite horror novels of all time. So, I was so excited to try and do an adaptation of the James Whale movie, but lean into some of the thematic elements from Mary Shelley’s original novel.

And were you familiar with the original movie?
I love that original movie. I think it’s gorgeous. It’s like you’re just looking at a bunch of paintings one after another, but it is a product of its time… A lot of those characters have so much potential. I took it as this challenge to try and integrate both versions of the monster, while still telling some of my own story – and being able to play with some of the body horror elements that are so prevalent in other work that I’ve done.

“Universal really understood what I was trying to do.”

You introduce a really interesting fresh perspective with your comic, in the young boy Paul. How did you come to bring that aspect to the story?
That was actually the first thing I thought of when I was trying to develop an idea for the plot of this story. We needed a character who was new to the mythology, so that it felt like there were some stakes. We needed some uncertainty in the future of one of the characters because most people have heard of the story of Frankenstein. They know about the doctor. They know about Frankenstein’s monster. They know how it all plays out. So, I wanted to introduce a character that would have a new viewpoint that we’ve never seen this story through before. I also thought it would add a sense of innocence that could humanise the monster a little bit.

The fact that parts of Paul’s dad are used in the creation of Frankenstein’s monster also hits home how horrific that part of the whole thing is.
Exactly. What Dr. Frankenstein does is such an abominable act and it feels like it’s never painted that way. He’s never painted clearly as the villain of the story. The desecration of the bodies of people’s loved ones is never touched on in any of the adaptations. In this version of the story I’m telling, I wanted it to feel like you were almost rooting for the monster and looking at Dr. Frankenstein as the villain – at least in the first few issues.

Talk me through that early stage of the creative process. Did you rewatch the movie?
I knew that I wanted to weave my story in-between the scenes from the original film, but I also knew that I wanted to show off my take on those iconic moments – like the ‘It’s alive!’ moment.

The nice thing about rewatching it is realizing how you mis-remember much of it… A lot of people remember seeing the monster on top of the laboratory being struck by lightning and then the doctor screaming “It’s alive!” – but you don’t actually see that moment in the movie. You see the monster being raised up by chains up to the rooftop and hear a crackle of lightning. Then you see the monster come back down and then we get the “It’s alive!” moment… You never actually see what happened there on top of the building! Getting to tell those moments – moments that are part of the collective unconscious but not actually in the movie – was a really interesting task.

And I watched the original film around 100 times throughout the course of writing this book. I wanted to make sure that in every scene, Paul could technically be in the shadows of what we’re seeing in the original film. That was a big task – mapping out all of the rooms and the hallways that we see in the movie. On these sets, you often never see the other two-thirds of a room, so that allowed me the space creatively to design the rest of what these rooms could look like.

You did the art and the writing for this comic. What comes first, the visuals or the script?
I’m a very visual thinker, so a lot of times I’ll have an image in my head first. That’s why I was an artist before I was a writer. It’s also why the medium of comic books is the perfect medium for me to tell stories, because I’d rather show than tell.

When I’m able to write my own scripts for things that I’m drawing, I can oftentimes have some of that imagery in the script as well. So, it’s a mix of laying out how I want to pace the structure of the story and having those key dialogue beats I want to hit. That’s how I work structurally when I’m writing.

Are there any moments or panels you’re particularly proud of in the book?
There’s three moments in the book that I’m particularly proud of. I really liked the interaction between Elizabeth and the monster right before Elizabeth and Dr. Frankenstein are supposed to get married. In the film, we only see the monster enter the room and Elizabeth scream –then the film cuts, so we don’t really see what happened between them. Then next thing we see is Elizabeth passed out on the bed. Getting to fill in that moment – and have that play into revealing where the heart of the monster came from – was great. I also think that shot from the film where Elizabeth is passed out on the bed is one of the most gorgeous shots in the film, so I didn’t want to mess with that shot. I wanted to play that straight.

I was also really proud of the iconic scene of the monster throwing the little girl into the water. That scene is hard because there’s no dialogue and you have to get across a lot of the emotion of the monster… There’s the playfulness at the beginning of the scene and we wanted to play up the brightness of that scene, which was coloured by my partner, Toni-Marie Gryffin – she was incredible throughout the process. She came up with some really interesting palettes. The marriage of colour and tone – and the way we had the flowers overlaid over the top of the panels – meant there was an elegant motion and movement to the storytelling, which I was really proud of.

The other thing – that I won’t spoil –is the way that I was able to end Paul’s story very quietly, but with a lot of emotional resonance for people that read all of it. I tried to say a lot with very few words in the last few pages of the book. It was also a very special moment writing that because I was a new father… Paul, his relationship with his father and his search for that father figure was really important to me.. I was going through that at the time, thinking about my own relationship with my father, thinking about my relationship with my son and how that’s gonna look moving forward… What would it be like if I were to die young and what my son would have to go through. Paul’s arc was really important to me and I needed to make sure that I didn’t write a cliched moment as his ending.

And the ending was different in the original script. In the process of writing Paul’s character, I kind of found that new ending… Sometimes characters end up writing themselves and taking themselves in directions you didn’t anticipate as a writer. I think hat’s one of the most rewarding things that you can happen to you as a writer.

It’s a beautiful ending. And brave in way, because I imagine it’s not what people might expect from the ending of a Frankenstein comic.
Yes – and Universal was fantastic throughout this whole process, and in how they embraced that ending. I’ve worked with a lot of licensors – pretty much all of the Marvel and DC properties, as well as X-Files, Star Wars, Ninja Turtles… Universal really understood what I was trying to do. They respected the fact that I was trying to honour the original film and integrate iconic imagery from the film into the comic – while still doing my own thing.

Is there anything about this process – and working on this particular IP – that has informed anything you’ve done since?
Every time I draw or write something, I learn from the process and take those lessons into whatever the next project is. Making a comic is problem-solving, and you hope you retain those solutions in your head going forward.

Frankenstein has become part of an unofficial trilogy that looks at what I have to say about childhood, boyhood and young adulthood. I did a book called The Oates & The Elphyne – a middle grade escapist fantasy. That’s about childhood, coming to terms with what death is and growing up a little bit. Then Frankenstein is about boyhood and coming to terms with independence and becoming a young man. And then I have another horror story I want to tell that’s about the process of becoming a man from young adulthood.

I’ll keep an eye out for that. Outside of comics, you’ve done artwork for Magic: The Gathering and even a Disneyland hotel. Does your work away from comics help fuel your overall creativity?
My head is always in a million places at once. I’ve got like a little bit of OCD and it’s really easy to take my focus away from something that I’m not super excited about. Every time I finish a big project like Frankenstein, it’s nice to take a month or two and do a bunch of smaller projects that have less emotional depth and weight.

If I take a few Magic: The Gathering cards and draw some exciting images of dragons breathing fire, that’s a completely different skill set and headspace to be in. It means that when I do come back to comics, I have the energy and the excitement to tell a new story. I’m very lucky that I’m able to spread my wings in a lot of different directions, so that when I do write and draw my own comics I’m able to put my entire heart into that.

And is there anything else you would say fuels your creatively?
I am a person that likes to make things, and for a long time I drew as a hobby before I was a comic book artist. I was just drawing all the time for fun. Now drawing has become my job, I’m not able to really do that for leisure anymore… There’s so much purpose every time I’m sitting at my drawing table that it’s pretty much impossible for me to draw for leisure anymore.

So being able to have a creative outlet that’s about making money is key, and music is a big part of my alone time. It’s a good way for me to decompress – to sit with my guitar and just strum a few songs or sing a few songs to myself, for nobody but myself. I find that really gratifying. I also love watching movies, playing video games, playing sports… I play Magic: The Gathering for fun.

Also, I’ve got a two-year-old kid and a happy relationship with my wife. My family is really important to me. I can’t just work all the time because I feel like I would become complacent, and my work would become stale. So having other outlets and a lot of people that are important to me in my life is vital. And having a life outside of my work ultimately makes my writing more interesting.

Last question! Are there any brands out there you think would be ripe for the comic book treatment?
I think it would be really interesting to see some Lord of the Rings comics. I’m a big fantasy guy. I’m kind of surprised we haven’t seen a lot of Lord of the Rings comics. That could be really cool with the right artist and the right writer. I’m not sure I’m that person, but I would love to see it! I’d also love to see like more adaptations of the Stephen King books. It could be a great comic! Taking some of those classic novels and doing adaptations would be an interesting direction.

Great picks. And do you take an interest in the licensing of your own comics?
Yeah, I have a multimedia agent in LA who works on getting my properties in front of producers. I’m a co-creator on a comic book called Comeback that has been optioned. It’s set to be directed by Nacho Vigalondo. I’m always thinking about the big possibilities and about other ways we could mine characters that we’ve created.

For Exquisite Corpses – a comic I’m currently working on with James Tynion IV – we’re creating a card game to launch along with the comic book. The problem is that drawing and writing comics is a pretty all-encompassing pursuit. It’s a very intense job. And most people who are creating comics are just one person – they don’t have the infrastructure to pursue many things outside of the creation of the comic. It’s rare that I’m linked up with someone like James who has a team to facilitate the creation of t-shirts and games and all that stuff. But it’s something I would love to be doing more of.