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Advance Review: Dracula – The Company Of Monsters

By | August 25th, 2010
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Written by Daryl Gregory, Kurt Busiek
Drawn by Scott Godlewski
COVER A: Dan Brereton
COVER B: Ron Salas

He’s back from the dead and starring in a new ongoing horror series from the mind of Kurt Busiek. A powerful, predatory corporation acquires a valuable asset — Dracula! They think they own him, but no one can own the Son of the Dragon. There’s a monster in their midst that puts Hannibal Lecter to shame — and he plans to gain his freedom in blood. It’s bloodsuckers vs. bloodsucker, as Busiek brings an incredibly modern spin to the Dracula mythos. Joining Busiek is award-winning author Daryl Gregrory (Pandemonium) and rising star artist Scott Godlewski (Codebreakers). The epic journey starts here, so don’t miss the debut issue of Dracula: The Company Of Monsters, the next breakout ongoing series from BOOM! Studios! Featuring covers by Ron Salas and fan-favorite The Nocturnals artist Dan Brereton.

Vampires are pretty hot in the world right now, with multiple TV shows and comic crossovers. It seems these bloodsuckers are ready to take the world by storm after years hiding in the dark, but am I ready to get bitten? What did I think of BOOM!’s new on-going title by Kurt Busiek?

To get past one of the cheesiest openings I’ve ever written and check out my thoughts on the issue, take a look behind the cut.

I am not a fan of vampires by any right. In fact, I was arguably the worst person to volunteer to do an advance review of this because it almost guaranteed not to receive a good word from me. And my hate of vampire related things isn’t due to all this Twilight nonsense, either. I’ve just never liked vampires as an abstract idea when it comes to “classic” villains.

Well, I will say this – if you are a fan of vampires, you should read this comic. This isn’t the OC with vampires, and this isn’t some half assed vampire idea to cash in on a trend for a buck. No, this is actual vampire stuff, and this is the type of story Bram Stoker wouldn’t cringe at reading. Leave it to Kurt Busiek to get it right.

The story follows Evan, a young man pulled into a very odd corporate gamble. While his job is assured due to family, he finds out that his uncle has decided that to get a leg up on the competition, they’re going to bring Dracula back to life as an asset. An odd concept of course, but a legitimate one in terms of our modern age.

Now, the reason this book actually works quite well is it pays tribute to the true mythology of Dracula as created by Bram Stoker over a hundred years ago. Instead of trying to play of popular trends of vampires in the media, the book spends a rather large time filling us in on the “true facts” about Dracula, aka Vlad the Impaler. Fans of Dracula know that there is a root in actual history, and that’s what this book seeks to reinforce. In fact, throughout the entire issue, there are no actual vampires. We only see Dracula’s corpse, as we knew we would from the solicit for the issue. It’s through this that, as someone who has no interest in blood suckers and neck bites, I can find something quite interesting about the story.

Gregory makes for a good Busiek surrogate. While the story is Busiek’s idea, having Gregory do the script does help to tone it down a tad from some staple Busiek elements, which can tend to include long rants and excessive build up. Gregory does a good job of presenting the important historical elements without dragging it on too much. He maintains a good balance, and his script is illustrated very nicely by Scott Godlewski. Godlewski is not an artist I’m overly familiar with, but he has a very nice sense of style to his work that is easily recognizable. There are also several lush sequences featuring environmental surroundings that fit well with the tone of the story, and the way the script is broken up between visuals makes for a good combination between writer and artist.

I’d say that if you want a real vampire book, and not one that follows every silly trend that every vampire story as of late seems to have to follow, grab Dracula: the Company Of Monsters. This is a book that features Dracula as he was meant to be shown, the way Bram Stoker intended. There’s no eyeliner and gratuitous sex here, just good old fashioned impalings and violence. The concept alone is quite intriguing in and of itself, and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out in future issues once Dracula is ressurrected.

Final Verdict: 7.9/8.0 – Buy


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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