Just in time for Spooky Season, I have two bits of exciting news about one of our favorite classic monsters.

For over a year I’ve been talking about Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for Netflix. News has been incredibly scarce from the jump, to the point of rumors coming and going that del Toro had shelved the project as he has so many other others (over 30 to be precise).

However, in January quite a lot of very specific information came out about Frankenstein including a cast list, a brief description of project details, and the fact that in March 2022 Netflix optioned the visual representation of Frankenstein, owned by Elizabeth S. Wrightson. This is the imagining of the monster that American artist Bernie Wrightson (1948-2017), Elizabeth’s husband, developed in 1983. This seemed to indicate that del Toro would be delivering a reimagining of Frankenstein rather than simply a retelling of Shelly’s work.

And this is all important as the first exciting announcement comes from our friends at Centipede Press.

Centipede Press is a specialized independent publisher known for producing high-quality, limited-edition books, primarily in the genres of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction. Founded by Jerad Walters, the press focuses on creating beautifully crafted books with attention to detail in design, materials, and artwork. Their publications often feature illustrations, high-quality paper, unique cover designs, and are produced in limited print runs, making them highly collectible. The press is highly regarded by collectors for its craftsmanship and commitment to preserving and enhancing classic works of genre fiction.

I can attest to the quality, care and workmanship that Centipede Press delivers, being the proud owner of their reprint of William F. Nolan’s Logan’s Run, one of the very first science fiction books I ever read when I was far too young to be reading such things. It deserves a room of its own, under a glass case with spotlights. But for now, it just has its own shelf in my library.

Logan’s Run from Centipede Press

This week Centipede Press announced their own edition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, with complete illustrations by Bernie Wrightson. Measuring 11 × 15½ inches and weighing nearly eight pounds, it includes Wrightson’s finished and unfinished illustrations painstakingly reproduced from multiple sources; original art, archived scans, and rare publications, including fanzines.

The gallery of Frankenstein-inspired art, some in color, encompasses forty-eight pages. It includes a seven-page story, “The Muck Monster,” and a three-page story collaboration with Vaughn Bode. The book will also contain the first complete, uncropped version of the infamous “wedding-night” image ever published, which will appear as a full frame fold-out, not a center spread.

One of Wrightson’s Frankenstein images, courtesy of JustCollecting News

Centipede Press’s edition of Frankenstein is limited to 750 signed copies; signed by George Beahm with facsimile signatures by Bernie Wrightson and Mary Shelley. You can pre-order this masterwork today at the Centipede website, and it is expected to start shipping in December 2024 and January 2025.

The second exciting announcement is that this week Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and its Wrightson tie-in, it has finally wrapped production after nine months of filming. That puts it in a very small percentage of feature films that have taken over 100 production days, and it’s too early to say if that marathon has any relevance to the quality of the finished product.

Frankenstein cast and crew picture taken earlier this year in Toronto, courtesy of Hollywood North Buzz

Netflix and del Toro have assembled some heavyweight talent in the form of Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight) as Victor Frankenstein, Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) as Dr. Pretorious, Mia Goth (MaXXXine) and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) in unidentified roles, and Jacob Elordi (Pricilla) as the monster, so that seems hopeful.

As of now, del Toro’s Frankenstein still does not have a specific release date. It is expected to come in 2025 but has not even had a release month window revealed yet. With the news that filming has completed, it is possible that it could arrive sooner rather than later next year, but Frankenstein will still need some time to complete post-production.

Watch this space, but in the interim, head over to Centipede Press and get in line.