Compass Comics; $35 (crowdfunded) 

 When writer-artist Graham Nolan and writer Chuck Dixon’s Joe Frankenstein first hit from IDW Publishing in 2015, I somehow missed the first issue, so I ended up not reading the four-issue series. Then I compounded my mistake by completely missing IDW’s hardcover collected edition as well. 

 Since then, Nolan’s crowdfunded an impressive and growing library of titles under his Compass Comics banner, including The Chenoo, Alien Alamo, The Ghosts of Matecumbe Key, Monster Island, Return to Monster Island, and Giant-Size Two-Fisted Manly Tales. All have featured great art, compelling stories, solid production values, and timely delivery (not always a thing with crowdfunded projects). 

 So, I was happy when I heard in 2023 that he was adding new editions of Joe Frankenstein to his Compass Comics line-up. The first issue collected the first two IDW issues and added in an introduction previously only available in the hardcover. It also included behind-the-scenes material as well. The second Compass issue, likewise, included developmental artwork and insights. 

 The story presented a good twist on the Frankenstein legend. Joe Pratt lived his life in and out of foster homes until that fateful night while delivering pizzas, he was attacked by a coven of vampires! His young life might have ended right there if not for the invention of a guardian angel, who turns out to be the Frankenstein Monster. 

 Joe learns despite what he always believed, he’s not actually a Pratt. Instead, he’s the last heir of the Frankenstein line. The monster has been watching over the Frankenstein descendants, protecting them from his Bride and her creatures of the night as she seeks what the monster has and she does not: eternal life. The secret lies in the Monster’s blood, but the code to unlock it is in Joe’s. The problem for him is that she wants it all. 

 Once I had the first issue, I couldn’t wait for the second. Both were solid entertainment.  

The third issue, which just arrived this week, adds a new chapter to the story.  

 Illustrated by Anthony Gonzales-Clark (who provided the variant covers for the first two issues), Nolan and Dixon take readers in an unexpected direction. It’s 1927 and Joe’s great-great-great grandfather, Frederick Frankenstein, along with Mr. Lazarus (the Frankenstein Monster) are in search of the “Eye of Ra,” a staff that was used by the ancient Egyptians vanquish a vampire infestation. That plague has returned and finding the Eye might be the only way to stop it… if it can indeed be stopped.