Horror Hospital

Paul Cornell and Emma Vieceli’s The Modern Frankenstein updates Mary Shelley’s classic tale for the lockdown generation

PUBLISHED BY HEAVY METAL’S new Magma Comics line, Paul Cornell and Emma Vieceli’s The Modern Frankenstein is very much set in the here and now, even alluding to Covid-19.

“This is absolutely about modern life,” Cornell tells Red Alert. “And there are indeed references to the pandemic, and to the possibility of further ones.”

Centring on outstanding young medical student Elizabeth Kieve – who becomes involved with maverick surgeon Dr James Frankenstein – the five-parter doesn’t simply update Frankenstein; instead it uses Mary Shelley’s seminal 1818 novel as the starting point for a story of extreme medical misadventure.