Frankie Stein

Real Name: Frankie Stein

Identity/Class: Artificial construct

Occupation: Playmate, teaboy, honourary editor of Monster Fun

Affiliations: Professor Cuthbert Cube, Micky Cube, Shiver Givers, Madame Macabre, Gunther Guffaw

Enemies: Professor Cuthbert Cube

Known Relatives: Professor Cube (creator/"daddy")

Aliases: The Friendly Monster

Base of Operations: Mildew Manor, Puddleditch

First Appearance: Wham! #4 (Odhams Press, 11th July 1964)

Powers/Abilities: Frankie possesses immense superhuman strength and is virtually indestructible. However, he's also fairly dim-witted.

History: After his bored son Micky snuck into his lab and inadvertently disrupted him in the middle of an experiment to turn custard into uranium, Professor Cube decided to create a "playmate" to keep Micky occupied. Mixing formaldehyde, baking powder, epsom salts and a couple of nuts and bolts (but no mention of either human or robotic parts), Cube then ran animated his creation with electricty, promising the watching Micky that this would produce a "lovable little pal...a carefree, happy lad - with golden curly hair...teeth like shinin' pearls! A dimpled, sunny smile! And moreover, brainy with it." However, as the result emerged from under the sheets covering it, the only accurate part of the description proved to be the carefree and happy bit. Recoiling in terror at the monster's hideous physique, Professor Cube declared that something had gone wrong and fled while denying all responsibility, cowardly leaving his frightened son to face the confused construct. Luckily, the monster, who announced his name was Frankie Stein ("I fink"), proved to be extremely friendly, though between his fear-inspiring looks and clumsy superhuman strength, he proved to be a chaos magnet. Though at some level Professor Cube came to accept Frankie as a new son of sorts, the gluttonous and clumsy monster constantly left him in a state of despair, prompting him to spend years unsuccessfully trying to find ways to get rid of his seemingly indestructible creation by any means possible.

Comments: Created by Ken Reid.

Quickly becoming a fan favourite after his debut in Wham! #4, Frankie Stein appeared in most of the subsequent issues until his strip ended in Wham! #166 (19th August 1967). However, such was his popularity that when new horror themed title Shiver and Shake was launched in on 10th March 1973, Frankie's strip was revived. He became the cover star with #53 (9th March 1974), where he remained until Shiver and Shake was cancelled with #79 (5th October 1974), and was absorbed into Whoopee! a week later. It proved difficult to keep a good monster down, and Frankie survived the merger, a regular feature in his new home until Whoopee! was itself cancelled on 30th March 1985. During that time, he also starred in several Frankie Stein specials, and became the editor of sister title Monster Fun.

A collection of Ken Reid's Frankie Stein stories from his run in Wham!, alongside Reid's other work for Odhams' "Power Pack" titles, is being planned for release in late 2018. The beautifully recoloured Ken Reid artwork depicting Frankie, Professor Cube and Micky, seen to the left, is from the cover of that collection.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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