Title: A Good Head on His Shoulders
Author: Max Allan Collins
Date of First Publication: 1993
Place of Publication: Frankenstein! The Monster Wakes
Type: Short Story
Characters: Victor Frankenstein; Mary Shelley
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; ANDROID
Critical Summary: Louis Alberto Carboni considers himself the “modern Napoleon”. Vacationing in a small cottage near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Carboni feels on top of the world. Clawing his way up a mountain of bodies and crime, Carboni has made a name for himself as the head mob boss of the underground. Born to a poor family in Brooklyn, Carboni and his boyhood friend Carlo Gazia had fled their birthplace at age sixteen to Chicago to help crime lord Danny Torello run whorehouses and build their underground empire. Lusting for power, Carboni was willing to sacrifice anyone to become head boss, including Torello and Gazia. After shooting Gazia through the throat several months back, Carboni has officially secured his reign over the underground. The local townspeople are not amused however and express their disapproval in the local newspaper which compares Carboni’s murder of Gazia with the brutal killings of several doctors and professors at a local med school. The “Medical School Mangler,” as he is known, is still at large. This stormy night however, Carboni is surprised to learn he has an unexpected visitor from the mob doctor: Dr. Stein. Pleased to see his friend, Carboni is surprised to find Dr. Stein distressed and nervous. Dr. Stein confesses to Carboni that he has done something terrible and has come to warn Carboni that his life is in danger. He confesses that his family is not native to Geneva, Wisconsin but instead Geneva, Switzerland and that he is the great-great-grandson of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein upon whom Mary Shelley based her famous novel. His father, ashamed of his ancestor’s crimes, moved his family to the Americas and abbreviated his family name to Stein to avoid relationship with his mad ancestor. Dr. Stein however felt no shame in his family legacy and inspired to follow his ancestor’s footsteps and become a doctor.
While studying in med school, Dr. Stein happened upon his ancestor’s lab notes containing information on how to build a monster. Excited, Dr. Stein set to work only to be discovered by his professors and expelled from med school by the dean. Disgraced and broke, his father set him up with an old family friend who happened to have ties with the mob and falling into a life of crime, Dr. Stein gladly began working for Carboni. However, Dr. Stein confesses that he had not given up on his experiments and, using the body parts of Carboni’s fallen gangsters, created his own monster. Raising the monster as his undead child, he bred into him the desire for revenge and set him loose on his old med school. His creation had massacred all who shunned him. (Thus becoming the “Medical School Mangler”.) However, now there was a problem: the head of the monster still contained the memories of his past life and now, remembering who he was before his death, the monster vowed revenge on his killer. Dr. Stein then confesses that the head of the monster was non-other than the head of the late Carlo Gazia! There is a sudden shriek of terror from the living room. Gun fire is heard and the men scramble to escape but clearly cannot. The tearing of flesh is heard along with the slamming of the front door. Carboni opens his office door to discover all his men brutally slaughtered. Realizing that Dr. Stein purposely brought the monster there to seek revenge, Carboni plans an escape only for the Creature to burst through his office window and swiftly rip his head from his shoulder. Knocking down a bust of Napoleon, the monster places Carboni’s severed head on the bust as his personal trophy. Dr. Stein approves of his Creature’s actions and the two discuss their plan of escape and their future together as the new heads of the mob. Three main themes present in this literary piece is that of Byronic Hero, Mad Scientist/Monster, and Android. Louis Alberto Carboni can stand as an example of a Byronic Hero as he exhibits many of the traits expected of such a figure. As head of the mob, he is “aristocratic”. He is also coldhearted, self-obsessed, and meets a tragic end.
Dr. Stein fits the theme of Mad Scientist/Monster literally as he is actually a mad scientist who creates a creature out of sheer curiosity and sets the creature loose on the world for his own personal gain. The Monster is Stein’s wicked side given life. The theme of Android can be found in the monster himself. He is much more violent and bloodthirsty in this version than his counterpart in the original novel.
Administrative Notes: Kyle Kalmanson, CSUF; Jonathan Donabo (editing)