This will be your only warning. I’m going to post images of naked people every now and then. I don’t expect to post any deliberate pornography or erotica but there will be folks without clothes. If you were a regular reader of the Skook sketch blog then you probably won’t be surprised.
It’s: Frankenstein in the Jungle!

Or maybe: Thirteen Frankenstein Monsters!

Or perhaps: Frankenstein vs Pirates!

Or: Mad scientist attempts to build the perfect mate for his daughter!

Tarzan meets Frankenstein with Pirates! Maybe?

Any way I describe it, The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs sounds like fun. And maybe, if you hadn’t read Frankenstein or Tarzan, you’d think it was a rip snorting adventure. It’s certainly got a lot of action. Unfortunately, for me, there was far too much running-around-being-chased-by-pirates action and not enough mad-science-monster action.

The idea behind the novel is more interesting than the novel that it inspired. One of these days I’d love to give the book a rewrite. There’s actually a lot that I think works. I just think it needs to be crazier than it is. The monster men don’t get nearly enough page time. And the ending is a cop out.

Perhaps I could start by doing an illustrated edition. In my copious spare time.

The above sketch is a version of Jack, the 13th Monster Man. Behind him is Virginia Maxon, the daughter of the scientist who creates the Monster Men. And behind them both is another one of the Monsters. Burroughs leaves most of the creatures undescribed. That leaves a lot of opportunity for an illustrator to have fun.