THE BIG SIX #1: F R A N K E N S T E I N, Continued.

Left: Victor Frankenstein flees from his hideous progeny. Frontispiece from the 1831 edition. Right: Early paperback edition, depicting the murder of Victor Frankenstein's bride, Elizabeth, by the Monster.

"I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion." At the time of its first publication, the Industrial Revolution was in motion. Fears of humanity's capability to responsibly control the new technology is just one of the themes the story addresses. The chilling consequences of the abandonment of parental responsibility is another. Victor Frankenstein's callous disregard for his 'hideous progeny' sets up a chain of events that leads to a life of despair and horror.

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