DRACULA #7: TALES FROM THE CRYPT
On this day back in 1993 came the seventh edition of Dark Horse International’s Dracula comic, now firmly in its post-movie adaptation stage. Irish artist Kilian Plunkett’s cover was unique to the UK comic, what with the issue containing part two of the same American issue of Topps Comics’ Vlad the Impaler from last month. Blog regulars should recognise the name too, as Kilian contributed the superb cover to #8 of Aliens in a completely different style.
The 13-page second part of Roy Thomas’ strip kicks off with defeat. Vlad’s time in his late father’s role of Prince of Wallachia was short-lived after the Sultan who raised him to be a brutal warrior died. The sultan’s son, Mehmed the Conqueror sought to invade and take over all of Europe, so Vlad allied himself with the Hungarians to defend his home of Transylvania against Mehmed’s ally and the man who killed his family, Danesti. After more history book-like retelling of battles he chases him down.
But Vlad’s actions weren’t to protect the people of the land. As a plague hit the country the poor were ignored and left to die so that he could march to defend Christendom and avenge his father’s death. That’s right, he was fighting for power in the name of god while ignoring those in need. Some things don’t change. At one point he sees a comet in the sky and in a rare bit of fun he tells readers how he wouldn’t know anything about it until he met someone called Halley hundreds of years later.
After this, a brief moment of what appears to be open-minded kindness takes over Vlad. He doesn’t hunt down Danesti’s supporters, instead explaining how he knows they simply believed in their leader and did as they were told. He invites the royal court and their families to an Easter feast and begins to describe the castle he wishes to have built in his name, Castle Dracula. Then the other shoe drops. He shall force them to build it.
The art is just as superb as it was last month. Esteban Maroto’s line work and Paul Mounts’ colours lend a seriousness to it all. The grotesque moments really are grotesque and the power behind the man is palpable when he launches into a tirade against those who sucked up to him the first chance they got, when they’d previously called for his death.
All of a sudden the rich and powerful, who were all too happy to stomp over those less fortunate than them to retain their positions, are pleading for leniency. The elderly ask to be left behind, to be spared the many years of hardship ahead. In response, Vlad beheads and impales them as an act of treachery and it’s this image that’s left to imprint itself on our minds as the final page of the strip this month.
While the script still feels like those strange little historicals found in year one of Marvel UK’s Transformers (Dracula’s script brought to the page with skill by letterer John Costanza) the art once again elevates it. The fact the story slows a bit to concentrate on one battle and its aftermath helps too. It no longer feels rushed and it’s beginning to develop a bit of depth to its main character. That in particular bodes well for future issues.
On to the Bloodlines news pages. The film was a “loose adaptation”? Oh dear, is Dave Hughes turning against the movie he hyped so much now that the comic is no longer a tie-in? Francis Ford Coppola’s movie updated the racist undertones of the original novel to modern sensibilities, but to describe it in this way is rather odd. I’d forgotten all about the fact the movie brought a brief resurgence in monster movies and I’d like to see Robert De Niro as Frankenstein’s monster, so that might be one for this Hallowe’en.
I wonder if The Mummy film mentioned here is what would eventually become the Brendan Frazer and Rachel Weisz movie released six years later? What would Dave have made of it not being a horror film? That section under ‘Neck Romancers’ really hasn’t aged well and it’s shocking to see this reported on as something normal, and yet again the writer’s obsession with Sadie Frost returns, despite the actor being English, not Eastern European.
The Mega-CD game is generously described as receiving “rave reviews”. In reality, UK magazine Mega Power described it as, “One of the best movie tie-ins to date, but still an appallingly bad game.” Given how the game would only work on a Mega-CD, which was a very expensive add-on to the Sega Mega Drive, it’s a rather niche prize. Sadly, it also looks like the promised series of interviews with female horror writers is already making way for men.
The Vampirella back up strip, still written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Tom Sutton, sees Adam and Conrad Van Helsing (the latter of which is confirmed as blind) catch up with the alien vampire heroine but the younger Adam is incapable of killing her. We’ve seen hints that his newly developed psychic powers may be picking up clues as to her good nature but Conrad doesn’t want to hear it and fears she’s hypnotised him.
The Carnival of the Damned sees Vampirella head to a wonderfully atmospheric fun fair like something out of an episode of Tales of the Crypt. We meet Pendragon, a drunken mess of a magician who fears the Crimson Chronicles book when he sees it in the hands of Vampirella. She explains she made a promise to a dying man to hunt down all who follow it. The Van Helsings are also here, Conrad convinced Vampirella is evil because he can sense evil so strongly around him. Um, Adam? You maybe want to explain the carnival to him?
It seems the carnival’s owner summoned one of the servants of chaos to save him from financial ruin but he soon discovered he was being tricked in order to bring forth demons, so Pendragon burned the book and it destroyed the carnival. With only half his power brought forth, the demon is the new owner and can hold back the flames to stop killing everyone but in doing so they’re trapped, unable to leave.
While searching for Vampirella, Adam enters the House of Mirrors and sees a vision of his mum being killed by a vampire! He tries to break the glass to get to her and gets sucked in. We find out Ashton (the human form of the demon) feeds off souls in this way to slowly gain enough power to break through into our world. Sensing Vampirella, he’d planted a mental vision in her head to entice her to find the carnival.
If he can get her to read from the book he can access all the power he needs. It’s a complete tale told in 14 pages and I’ll hand it to Archie, it contains enough story to fill a strip twice the length without feeling crammed in. It has that horror anthology feel and I think it works a treat. Her first strip may have been forgettable but since then she’s been the highlight of the comic. I also like the fact this doesn’t boil down to an action scene, instead it’s a battle between the minds of Ashton and Vampirella.
On TV this would’ve needed impressive acting so it’s a brave move for a comic and Tom pulls it off brilliantly; it’s suitably tense and horrific. The Van Helsings also escape while the carnival burns and it’s here that I have my only gripe. Conrad is convinced Vampirella set the fire to kill them, yet when they thank Pendragon for saving them he doesn’t take the chance to clear her name, instead giving a cryptic “I was just following another” response.
After a brief interview with Anne Billson (which is nowhere near as in-depth and interesting as last month’s with Anne Rice) comes the letters column, Fang Mail. However, the highlight of the page is the first mention of Jurassic Park in the comics checklist. Like Dracula it’s three-weekly to begin with, the first two issues detailed here and on the back page is the full-page advert for the launch.
Dracula continues to be a unique comic, one that I’m enjoying a lot. A thoroughly interesting history lesson followed by a classic horror anthology strip (of sorts) is about as different to anything else I’m ever likely to include on the blog, so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. I hope you are too and that you’ll come back for #8 on Sunday 13th July 2025.
