A Halloween Treat

I love books. Owing to my recent economic downturn, I've had to curb my book spending (which is nothing like Ellen Datlow's, but still enough to make me wince when I see the credit card bill) recently, but this... this I could not resist.

I also really love well-made books. A hardcover something to be held. I love the feel of the cloth, the solid permanence of what it contains is what a book should be. A book should be forever.

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is a classic. I've read it several times, and I've never seen a better visual interpretation than Bernie Wrightson's moody line art. Far from the James Whale square-head with bolts sticking out of his neck, Wrightson's creature is beautiful and hideous at the same time, a creature that evokes both the pity and fear that the story evokes.

Marvel published Wrightson's Frankenstein in 1983, but Dark Horse just put out their own version this year. It's a gorgeous black hardcover with a bound-in ribbon bookmark, large enough to command attention on the shelf, no mean trick since Frankenstein is a fairly short novel.

The perfect Halloween treat.