Terrifying generations across multiple mediums for over a century, Dracula’s latest interpretation by Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones bridges the gap between the historic Voivode of Walachia with their unique, nightmarish, vibrant take on Stoker’s bloodthirsty vampire in an extravagant, garish ’90s style that succeeds the iconic, pulpy Hammer Horror line.
In this first volume of four, Wagner and Jones team up to tell the origins of Vlad’s transformation from Vlad Țepeș “the Impaler” to the Prince of Darkness. Following a bloodthirsty historic battle against the Ottomon Turks, in which Vlad used a decoy to fake his death, Vlad embarks on a journey to discover the secret Scholomance in order to begin his foray into the dark arts under the tutelage of Lucifer, chronicling his rise to become Lord of the Undead. Operatic and gothic, Wagner weaves the historic influences behind Stoker’s novel that brings together the literary and fantastical, crafting a compelling, mythical appreciation for the vampire as if to view him through the lens of a folklorish legend rather than simply adapting the character straight from the novel.
As an origin story set centuries before the events of the book, the Medieval backdrop of Walachia feels fantastical and macabre, depicted by Kelley Jones who lavishes over gory details – namely the infamous “forests” of impaled victims that gave Vlad Țepeș the moniker, “Impaler”. Visually stunning, Kelley Jones’ instantly recognisable style breeds new life into the age-old thirsty corpse, infusing elements of Bernie Wrightson’s intricate musculature and detail with perfectly gothic backdrops that cover moody Walchian mountain passes and forests to impossible gothic castle architecture alluding to a Mario Brava or an expressionistic, Horace Walpole necropolis. In some ways, a midway point between Castlevania and Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), where the colour pallet (courtesy of Jose Villarrubia), operatic and garish to haunting and gothic, brilliantly draws the eye across the page: within the opening pages, red is reserved for Dracula, straight away showing the power colour plays in Kelley Jones’ vision. In this sense, colour choices consistently serve to heighten Jones’ exceptional style assuring us that if you’ve ever been a fan of his before, not only is Dracula the perfect character for Jones – see his work on Batman and his magnificent cape! – but this book is proof that he is still in his artistic prime.
