Every Thursday, Clay N. Ferno reviews three comic book/graphic novel picks that you might want to take a look at.
THE CURSE OF DRACULA: Deluxe Hardcover
Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date:
February 13, 2013
Format: FC, 96 pages; HC, 7″ x 10″
Price: $14.99
ISBN-10: 1-61655-064-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-61655-064-6
This week sees the deluxe hardcover release of a 1998 Dracula story from vampire comic masters Marv Wolfman and the late Gene Colan; the classic Marvel Tomb of Dracula creative team from the 1970s.
This edition includes a new forward by Wolfman as well as sketches and reproduced pages of Colan’s pencil work, sans touchup or Dave Stewart’s colors.
Set in the late 90s, Dracula is back from the dead and a Van Helsing (Jonathan) carries on his familial tradition of seeking to stake the vampire and stop his bloodlust. It is well after dusk as the scene opens on the hills of San Francisco where we are introduced to the Van Helsing gang armed to the teeth hunting down vampires on a feeding frenzy.
Though not officially to be considered a sequel or associated at all with the Marvel Comics’ Tomb of Dracula series, it is hard to not make the connection here. With Dracula being in the public domain, and so many vampire stories spanning multiple generations dating back to the Middle Ages and sometimes back even further, the Wolfman and Colan Dracula of this book is very familiar. The immortal vampire starring in this role is more Dee Dee Ramone than the Jack Palance complete with black leather motorcycle jacket and Beatle’s haircut.
The protagonist Van Helsing has been hunting vampires since at least 1989, when his vocal chords were severed from one of the blood thirsty beasts. He is accompanied by driver Simon, a half-human/half/vampire Hiroshima (parallel to Marvel’s popular Blade character), and an ex-KGB agent Nikita Kazan. The support hunters do little to carry the story as a whole, but the crew does provide some great dialogue moments for the story and allow for greater schemes in the third act. Sebastian Seward, another descendant of Stoker’s John Seward is saved by the team.
Dracula seduces an influential Senator’s wife, while the gang investigates a coven disguised as a nightclub downtown. The carnage and horror of victims half alive from being drained are on display in the vampire den.
To reveal more would spoil this fine story, but ask yourself, what motivation does an age-old vampire have to get involved with Senator Charles Waterson’s wife? Also, how can you raid a blood-pantry for the local bat guys and gals without quite spilling some of the stuff everywhere?
There’s plenty of classic horror and scary moonlight scenes as Dracula and his henchmen transform between man and beast, and sometimes appear as a peculiar and disturbing combination of the two, Man-Bats capable of carrying a man five stories high to intimidate him.
The hunters become hunted themselves as the battle rages on in the third chapter of the book (originally a three-issue limited series). The same vampires vying for their master’s attention are willing to sacrifice all for him. Sadly for them, these cold undead children of the night are no match for the well trained Van Helsing and Seward troop. Armed with automatic wooden stake assault rifles (we’ve always wanted to say that), bullwhips and grenades our team has the upper hand.
These soldiers in the fight against the night fight bravely, but can Jonathan and Sebastian honor their legacy? Can they drive a stake in to the heart of the world’s most powerful vampire?
There’s just so much to drool over in this volume. Gene Colan’s amazing draftsmanship at nearly seventy years old. No inking was necessary for the pages, the pencil art was so finely rendered and has such visceral texture that inking these pages was unnecessary. Oh, if only so many Jack Kirby pages were treated with the same reverence! But I digress. Gene Colan defined the look of Dracula for many people and his work with Marv Wolfman (preceded by Gerry Conway and Archie Goodwin) at first challenged the convention of the Comics Code in the 1970s, and introduced two black characters into the Marvel Universe. Wolfman and Colan created Blade just four years after Stan Lee and Gene gave us Falcon.
This book would make fine television, and I credit this to the storytelling on the page and in the script. Wolfman knows inherently where to place the beats of a great story and has crafted many iconic storylines from the The Crisis on Infinite Earths and the origin of Robin III, Tim Drake.
This affordable hardcover is full of action and highly recommended for fans of Gene Colan’s art as well as anyone who appreciates a modern but pre-Buffy take on vampires.
STAR WARS #2
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Carlos D’Anda
Cover: Alex Ross
Colors: Gabe Eltaeb
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $2.99
Star Wars #2 hit shelves yesterday, written by Brian Wood (DMZ, Mara, Northlanders) and drawn by Carlos D’Anda (Batman Arkham City).
The series is pitched as a being set in a simplified Star Wars Universe, right after Episode IV.
This is a perfect jumping on point for me for a number of reasons. I never got into any of the expanded Star Wars Universe, and playing with Return of the Jedi action figures was such a defining aspect of my childhood that everything from the prequels to the the popular video games seem non-canon.
My all-black Luke action figure fought courageously against Vader, Kithaba and Bib Fortuna on my cousin Todd’s soft carpet. The galaxy seemed to melt away around us as we obsessed over filling our C-3PO and Vader action figure carry cases.
I can get in on the ground level with this new series of comics because of my ability to relate to the stories on a 9-year-old’s level. Extracting what is great about the original trilogy and being able to tell new tales of the Rebel Alliance is a pretty cool idea. I can do without the Han Solo vs. Chewie prolonged one sided conversation whereby Han is translating to the reader what the Wookie is saying. That gag gets tired after a few pages. The other rebels are on training mode in the rebel fleet and are about to go off the radar in some new stealth X-Wings. No appearance of Darth Vader in this issue, just a mention of him as Colonel Bircher takes control of Vader’s personal Star Destroyer.
All in all a fun issue but mostly setup for battles between the trailing Slave I and Millennium Falcon and also Luke alongside Wedge seeking out a new rebel base under guidance of Princess Leia. I want to see where Wood takes this book, as the premise is restrained by the parameters of the events in the original Star Wars movies and hopefully there is more meat in these side stories than there may initially appear to be.
MUDMAN #6
Writer & Artist: Paul Grist
Colors: Bill Crabtree
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $2.99
It’s been a while since the debut of Paul Grist’s (Jack Staff, Kane) hilarious take on the trope-filled teenage superhero tale Mudman from Image Comics.
Grist cites a family illness for the delay in this issue, and it most certainly was worth the wait for issue 6. I’ve transitioned to reading the title digitally now.
Owen Craig has mud powers, which is exactly what it sounds like.
His body turns into mud, he can throw mudballs, he can create an Iceman-like mudslide to save a damsel from an oncoming bus. Fans of Spider-Man, Superboy and Invincible should get a kick out of this story set near Grist’s current home in the fictional Burnbridge On Sea, where tide and weather create a silty mess year round.
Issue 6 came out yesterday, continuing to be a fun book very aware of it’s influences and slick British humor and delightfully clean illustrations. Grist’s panel layouts, thick slabs of muddy ink and expressive acting make Mudman a top of the stack book with intriguing new character development and a break from the recent Big Two reinventions of New 52 or Marvel NOW! Starting with a dude that’s cooler than Peter Parker and less neurotic than Mark Grayson, Owen Craig is stepping on familiar slick territory after his accident gives him Mud powers, and bullets from bad guys fly right through him.
The story opens with issue 4’s mysterious goth Captain Gull acting as Owen’s mentor. Owen accepts Gull’s help and sacrifices studying for his big school test and precious sleep to push his limits and learn to control his power. Where do these mentors come from, anyway? I could have used someone randomly handing me a phone number and with a secret meeting location when I was a young super hero on the come up. Think of all of the mistakes I’ve made since then. Now, I merely am reporting on these guys.
Many Marvel, Spidey and Daredevil quips pepper the story along the way and add to the fun. Grist has a handle on referencing comic culture in a way that’s not insulting to fans. Issue 6 has an Uncle Ben facing the robber moment turned on it’s head with his best pal Newt, a graffiti artist, throwing up a piece in the local bus shelter. While painting, two criminals tussle over a briefcase. Naturally, Mudman arrives late to the scene after neglecting his training duties. Newt and the briefcase are long gone and a discouraged Owen, unaware of the conflict. He makes it home to barely make it to class and the test he’s barely prepared for.
Mudman and Owen, separately are tested in this issue and the greater defining aspects of Mudman as hero and teenager are yet to be revealed. As is always the case early in a hero’s career, he is reluctant. I’m confident Paul Grist has more in mind here to round out the rug-ruining hero over the next arc. More regular scheduled issues are promised for 2013, and I look forward to taking a break from the familiar capes and cowls to take a visit to a seaside town in the UK to get my slickers covered in mud this year.
