Bottalk Reviews

Kate Marsden, an investigative reporter, tracks her subject.  She ends up following a man through the jungle who claimed a drowning victim.  She falls into the river and nearly drowns when the Creature saves her.   This... is not a good start to be quite honest.  The story spends too much time setting up Kate and her situation.  A down on her luck reporter, trying to catch up with her subject, paying bribes and taking too much medication.  It is something you've seen in a hundred movies and TV shows.  We're here for the Creature.  You know it.  I know it.  Let's just get on with it.  The modern setting adds absolutely nothing here.  I had hopes for something set in the sixties or maybe even the seventies or eighties.  But a modern day reporter coming across the Creature just feels... wrong.   six out of ten.

Renfield relates his experiences at Castle Dracula. Mina refuses any of the safety measures Van Helsing has developed. She is under Dracula's thrall. Renfield enters Carfax Abbey to find Dracula and Mina there... but as Van Helsing and the others approach Dracula thinks Renfield has betrayed him and kills Renfield. Van Helsing finds the vampire in his coffin and drives a steak into his chest. Renfield's story at the beginning of this issue is, from the novel, the experiences of Jonathan Harker. In the end this, the final issue of this mini, ends up being more about Renfield than Dracula or Mina. I find this interesting. Especially how they have given him Jonathan's backstory. As usual, the art here is beautiful. Especially the pages splashed and slashed with red. eight out of ten.

At Lucy's funeral Mina and Johnathon stand in the rain. Dracula is spotted, but he will not enter the grounds. In the asylum Lucy and Renfield have a conversation, much to her father's consternation. As Dr. Seward and Van Helsing discuss the situation Dracula sinks his teeth into Mina. Again, I feel I have little to say about the actual events of the issue. There are differences with the source material... but I feel like that is a given. So many versions of Dracula exist, each with its own changes and nuances. The art is the absolute highlight of this series. Some pages feel completely soaked with blood. The feeling of dread and foreboding radiates off the pages. Even something simple as Mina in the rain feels otherworldly. eight out of ten.

Through a crowd of people Dracula watches Mina and Lucy. Lucy appears quite taken with Dracula and once Mina leaves, he makes his presence known. Much later, Mina finds a bloody Lucy laying in bed, a smile on her lips. Once again, the art is the selling point of this comic. The story of Dracula has been told again and again, but I find the artwork really helps sell it. The madness of Renfield and even the softer moments of Lucy crushing on Dracula are wonderful. eight out of ten.

The first several pages have various characters discussing Renfield and later, the dead crew of a ship. I assume they are referring to the Demeter from the novel Dracula. Lucy and Mina discus similar subjects before returning to a crazed Renfield and a sequence where a wolf stalks a woman, turns into Dracula, and attacks her. The issue ends with Renfield freaking out and a final shot of Dracula in his coffin. If you are familiar with the story of Dracula through any number of adaptations then you can easily follow this comic. It does jump around from various groups of characters. If you are looking for something intense and bloody, this isn't it. As stated, you have different characters sitting around discussing horrible events. The madness of Renfield, the murder of the ships crew. But it is not boring. The art is wonderfully done. It has the feeling of an early 90s Vertigo comic. It feels fluid and helps the conversations move along from panel to panel. seven out of ten.