Random Retrospective #21 – Flashpoint: Frankenstein And The Creatures of The Unknown #2

The results of FLASHPOINT – the wiping clean of decades of continuity and history, the rebooting of basically every character in DC’s pantheon – was divisive to say the least, but the event itself wasn’t that bad. True, the main storyline seemed rushed (there was little to no build up, it just appeared on the horizon suddenly) but while it was running, the rest of DC seemed to grab hold of the concept of a new world and run with it. It was basically a shared Elseworld for a few months, leading to a slew of mini-series and one-shots where, as always, some were better than others. Jeff Lemire’s FLASHPOINT: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE CREATURES OF THE UNKNOWN was definitely one of the better ones.

Lemire reinvented the Creature Commandos and teamed them with a Frankenstein that was straight out of Grant Morrison’s SEVEN SOLDIERS event, a pairing that worked splendidly.

Arrayed against them are the US military in the person of General Sam Lane and the rag-tag group he’s using to track them down, including Miranda Shrieve, the grand daughter of the Commando’s original leader back in World War II.

She’s working under the belief that her grand father was killed by the Commandos and so is more than happy to hunt them down and, in the final battle in this issue, explain her motives to them. Just before she and her squad kill them, however, the foot soldiers are taken out by the appearance of Frankenstein’s Bride.

By the end of the three issue mini-series, Shrieve has been told that General Lane is the real villain and cause of her grand father’s death, and she joins SHADE to work alongside the Commandos.

It was a good short series and, once the New 52 launched, I was pleased to pick up the FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF SHADE ongoing that picked up many of the threads here, though always confused why Miranda Shrieve never made the jump from the mini-series to the ongoing.