THE COMPLETE DRACULA – Issue #1 of 5 | Dynamite Entertainment www.dynamiteentertainment.com | Adapted by Leah Moore and John Reppion from Bram Stoker’s novel | Art by Colton Worley
The modern world does not have to be without its classic tales. Especially for vampires, who today seem to fight crime and engage in politics moreso than bloodsucking. When it comes down to it, the origin of a vampire is pretty much unknown due to the parallels and metaphors we use them as in today’s storyline. And why not? They’re brilliant scapegoats, being both our fanciest wish and our greatest fear. They have the ability to do more, and the limitations of no sunlight and no church are perfectly acceptable today. As long as we can text OMG to our BFF, sucking blood from a human is no big deal. The question they’ll never ask though is... where did it all begin?
Dynamite Entertainment wants everyone to start at the beginning for vampires, and takes Bram Stoker’s classic tale and turns it into a reader-friendly graphic novel. Though not to indicate in a dumbed-down kind of way, this retelling is pretty sophisticated and original. In fact, what sucked me in so quickly is the narration in the caption boxes as I could hear Sir Anthony Hopkins read this story to me for some reason. It’s not in flowing, modern speech, but more of the traditional European structure, almost poetic in its constant backflow of words. The adaptation by the writing team of Leah Moore and John Reppion (RAISE THE DEAD) is very addictive, allowing the reader to sink into the beginning of Dracula without scaring them off with too many big words. I don’t know about you, but the movie gave me a headache at times with the speech, but not here. Must be that Hannibal Lector voice.
The art by Colton Worley is not overly stylized or exaggerated. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, concentrating on the words and encompassing the scene in the panel. I could tell that he knows the words dictate the story, and that art is just a helping hand for entertainment value, but he doesn’t let that knowledge dictate his work either. The cool part is that Dynamite allows the reader to see how Worley brings the page to life, from pencils to paints, and you can tell how focused he is in bringing this adaptation to life. I do think it could be a tad better in times of darkness, but I know that’s tricky altogether. But his art does harken back to the classic look of comic books and even crime noir, relegating the scare amongst the creatures in shadow. Dynamite has a hit on their hands if fans appreciate its classic storytelling. Leah Moore and John Reppion are dedicated to the book, and Colton Worley is giving us a great candlelight read after dinner with his delightful art. Dracula is finally here to take back what is his; the true origin of a vampire.
GRADE: 
CONTINUE READING? Better keep your eyes glued to this as you know from the original, things are about to get messy!
