It’s quite different this month, isn’t it? Although John Bolton’s new logo is reminiscent enough of the movie’s for it to feel like a natural progression for the publication. Inside, the continuation of Vampirella’s story and the Bloodlines news pages help with the transition into something very different too. The movie adaptation was a Topps Comics production in the States and Dark Horse International sticks with them for the next main strip.

Speaking of sticking, there’s a free glow-in-the-dark sticker (which I admit looks a lot better through my iPhone’s lens than in person). It’s a somewhat child-friendly gift for a comic with a strip containing bloody beheadings. In fact, it’s rather strange the comic no longer comes with the “Not suitable for younger readers” warning. Although I doubt the sticker would’ve convinced many parents to buy this for their child!

Movie adaptation writer Roy Thomas is scriptwriter for what is basically another adaptation, this time of history books. A three-issue mini-series marketed in the States as “The True Story” of Dracula, in reality very little of the real Vlad the Impaler made it into the Count character in Bram Stoker’s book, such was Stoker’s limited knowledge of Vlad or the time in which he lived. This issue contains 15 pages of the first chapter but there’s so much crammed in I was surprised after reading it that it wasn’t more.

Introducing himself as Dracula complete with fangs, a crumbling castle and assorted monsters and supernatural entities, he welcomes us to his tale by gliding in on a green mist before presenting “the year the cross-wielders call 1431”. His father, Vlad Dracul is a protector of Christendom, was named after the Order of the Dragon and is the military governor of Transylvania and Prince of Wallachia. He’s actually just a strongman for sultan Muran, receiving fortune, land and protection in return for loyalty and the people’s taxes. We see a happy family life with young Vlad, Mircea (oldest brother) and Radu (the youngest). However, it’s not long until we see their true nature.

Young Vlad snitches on someone questioning why their family name means both “dragon” and “demon” in the country’s native tongue. Taking pride in showing his boys how vicious he can be to anyone who questions him, his father has learned from his overlords who impaled their enemies’ heads on spikes (something Vlad III would later become known for). His father takes them to Gallipoli to learn about how their nations relate to one another, but it’s upon this trip that a major event in Vlad’s life takes place.

Muran has discovered elder Vlad has been playing east and west against each other and reaping the benefits. The Turks had invaded the sultan’s lands of Transylvania and Wallachia and Vlad had stood back and let them, thinking he could befriend whoever the ultimate victors would be. In revenge for this disloyalty his two youngest sons are taken in as “guests”, but they’ll be treated as hostages if their father is ever disloyal again.

Young Vlad trains to be just as vicious a warrior and becomes good friends with the sultan’s son Mehmed, learning how to rule through fear while his younger brother becomes loved by the harem! During the next year their father proves his disloyalty yet again and in an uprising he’s killed, whilst his eldest son and heir to his throne Mircea is buried alive. Muran then passes down their belongings to young Vlad who he sees as a more loyal successor.

I’ll admit it’s difficult to review this. Esteban Moroto’s (Conan, Red Sonja, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs) art, Paul Mounts’ (Fantastic Four, Ultimates, Reborn) colours and returning letterer John Costanza evoke a lovely classical feel despite this being a new comic at the time, and I find it fascinating because I never knew any of the story of Vlad the Impaler beyond the few pieces in Dracula which were somewhat accurate. However, I’m not sure if it works as a comic strip.

As a history lesson it’s very entertaining and I was drawn in by the story of this man in his youth. But, as a comic strip it reads like an adaptation of a text book, with chunks of the text turned into speech for the players. So yes, it’s a strange one. The original story it’s based on is interesting, and I look forward to comparing it to Dracula, but it’s presented in such a stilted way in its script.

In the middle of the comic is a multi-page, in-depth interview with Anne Rice, writer of the Interview with the Vampire series amongst others. For once it’s not just quotes lifted from various other sources, Dave Hughes actually met the lady herself during what sounds like an exhausting promotional tour. I’ll admit it’s a novel and movie I know nothing about but from reading this and doing a bit of research I have to say I’m intrigued. After last month’s feature on the BBC’s Dracula mini-series this comic is filling up my Hallowe’en viewing rightly.

I’d no idea the novel was released the year before I was born. I’d always assumed it was relatively new when the film was produced. The movie was still in preproduction during this interview and there’s no mention of Tom Cruise. In fact, I was disappointed to read online of Anne’s negative reaction to his casting. However, once she saw the movie she said he “is Lestat” and admitted she was completely wrong (even calling him up to apologise) so now I’m even more eager to watch his performance.

“We want our rewards from life and we don’t sacrifice them to bring justice to all mankind. The whole lure of the sensuous world fascinates me.”

Anne Rice

I’m always fascinated to learn of a writer’s process, whether I’ve read their work or not, and this feature does not disappoint. It covers the original novel’s creation and how long it took to go from initial idea to finished story. There’s also an interesting dissection of the appeal of vampire stories, although this would appear to be flipped on its head a few years later when Buffy became such a huge hit.

The Bram Stoker’s Dracula movie is cited as proof that tastes were changing, although I think Anne’s description of Silence of the Lambs seems a bit overwrought. It’s in the creation of her original novel, the changes made to the character, her belief it wouldn’t work but she kept going, as well as the ultimate reception that combine to be really interesting. It also doesn’t hurt seeing John Bolton’s gorgeous illustrations from the comic book adaptation of her second novel.

(I did ask Siri to play the Sting song mentioned here and I only made it halfway through it.)

There’s no one-off strip like last issue’s Werewolf which I’d have preferred over Vampirella, but fortunately her tale is a vast improvement over her previous entry. It’s a complete 12-page story by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Tom Sutton, in which she is tracked down by a member of the chaos cult. This is done via a cat, so I was immediately enjoying this more than last time. The two villainous characters are a frail elderly lady and her unwilling but ultimately murderous son with echoes of Psycho, released nine years earlier. (Son Lenny even spies on Vampirella through a hole in a wall behind a painting.)

Their backstory boils down to the cat being mind-controlled by Mrs Jethryn because she’s bound to the library building by a curse that allowed her son to be resurrected. After a battle with Vampirella, Lenny’s happy to be killed and finally freed. I can happily report the cat gets a happy ending too. Released from her control it runs off home with the woman’s soul trapped inside, unable to influence the cat or even make her presence known. I’ve no problem with much older strips appearing (for example the classic Machine Man in early issues of Marvel UK’s The Transformers was a great fit) and this small story is fun to read. However, we see Vampirella stealing a raincoat to protect her from the weather… so why can’t she steal some actual clothes?!

Dave returns for his usual Bloodlines news pages and you may wonder why you see Space:1999 here. It’s because of the guest stars who might be of particular interest to readers. I’ll also admit the two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation sounds intriguing, and that’s coming from someone who’s never seen a full episode. I do find it strange Children of the Night’s narration is criticised when you consider how Bram Stoker wrote Dracula.

On a more positive note I was thrilled to see the interview with Anne was just the first of a series with female authors, so that’s something I’m really looking forward to next month. The issue ends with the first letters page, Fang Mail, which is a great name and there’s an advert for Manga Mania which had a whopping 88 more pages yet only cost 45p more. You’ll see examples of these Dark Horse International adverts in a special collection at a later date on the blog.

The comic had proved to be a success while it was adapting the movie with good sales and a good reception from readers. However, now knowing it would be cancelled just a few issues later it’s clear not everyone was a fan of the new contents. Still, I look forward to finding out more about Transylvanian history when #7 hits the blog on Sunday 15th June 2025.

iSSUE FiVE < > iSSUE SEVEN

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