Skybound has announced its next Universal Monsters series will be The Bride of Frankenstein Lives, a four-issue sequel to the 1935 film reteaming writer Kelly Thompson, and artist Mattia De Iulis. Picking up directly from the movie, the book will see the Bride (played originally by Elsa Lanchester) survive the destruction of Frankenstein’s castle, and embark on a journey of self-discovery. “With no memory of her past or understanding of what she is, The Bride takes her first steps into this strange new world. With danger seemingly lurking around every corner, she must solve the mystery of where and who she came from… and discover what makes life worth living.”
Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives #1 cover A, by Mattia De Iulis
Thompson says, “The original Bride of Frankenstein is a brilliant film exploring the creature’s failed attempts to find friendship and community, and then the desperate act to force others to create that which he cannot find. What it’s not about, however, is how the Bride herself feels about her creation. Through The Bride of Frankenstein Lives, we get the opportunity to explore not only her search for who and what she is, but her search for the women that were destroyed to create her — all brought to striking vivid life via Mattia De Iluis’s incredible visuals.”
De Iluis adds, “When I first read Kelly’s script, I knew right away this was going to be something special. We are finally giving the Bride the center stage, she’s no longer someone’s property, she is a human being fighting for her own story. And for me, it’s an honor to translate that onto the page.” The artist and writer previously worked together on The Cull, the Substack series released in print by Image in 2023, as well as Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Blind Spot in 2018, and DC’s Absolute Wonder Woman Annual earlier in 2026.
Issue #1 will be released in time for Halloween on October 28, with a host of variant covers you can check out below, along with a four-page preview. It will mark Skybound’s eighth Universal Monsters series, with issue #1 of the seventh, Blood of the Wolf Man, available now. That book’s fourth and final issue will be released on September 23, the same day as Skybound’s take on Phantom of the Opera is collected in hardcover. Bride of Frankenstein Lives itself will arrive several months after Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s critically and commercially disappointing take on the character, The Bride!, and will also coincide with the 40th anniversary of the death of Elsa Lanchester, who passed away on December 26, 1986.
Cover B by Joshua Middleton
Cover C by Artgerm
Cover D (connecting) by Luana Vecchio
Cover E (black-and-white, 1:25 incentive) by Joshua Middleton
Cover F (1:50 incentive) by Rosemary Valero O’Connell
Cover G (1:75 incentive) by Christian Ward
Cover H (1:100, foil incentive) by David Talaski (SRP: $5.99)
Cover I blank sketch variant (SRP: $5.99)
Cover J (foil variant) by Artgerm (SRP: $5.99)
Cover K (Die Cut, foil Hairiant) by Ryan Sook (SRP: $5.99)
