Dracula #1

19 Jan 1993-08 Feb 1993. 8⅜"x11¾". £1.25.
36 pages. Paper cover, full color contents.
Dark Horse Comics International

Edited by Dick Hansom.

Cover by Mike Mignola.
r: cover from Bram Stoker's Dracula (Topps) #02 (Nov 1992).

Free cover-mounted badge.

Contents:

.2 Dracula Introduction text by Dave Hansom? / Contents / Indicia

.3 Bram Stoker's Dracula part one, w: Roy Thomas. p: Mike Mignola, i: John Nyberg, c: Mark Chiarello. Lettering by John Costanza.

r: Bram Stoker's Dracula (Topps) #01 (Oct 1992).

31 Inside Coppola's Dracula Inspiration part one, text feature by Gary Gerani.

33 Bloodlines text feature compiled by Dave Hughes.
35 Bram Stoker's Dracula Official Jacket advertisement
36 Even In Your Dreams, You Can't Escape... Aliens in-house advertisement.

There is more to Dracula than the source material and Mignola's stunning artwork. The extremely dark artwork is an iconic adaptation of Coppola's films, worth reading in its own right. The high watermark of adaptations may be Nestor Redondo's classic take on the character, but it hasn't dated well; Mignola's work has a timeless feel which revels in gothic flourishes and pitch-black shadows. Each page contains details which don't necessarily add to the narrative, but add to the tone and mood in delicious ways.

Likenesses aren't Mignola's strong point, and he uses that fact to his advantage by finding the most powerful images for each scene, swapping faithfulness to the source material for artistic expression. This first issue isn't all about the comic, though...

Gary Gerani's text feature on the inspirations for the film takes many well-known facts as a starting point, but doesn't go digging for obscure elements. A great problem when dealing with popular characters is that the majority of adaptations will be largely unknown to the casual reader, and without a list of films and television movies of note, or even a list of notable novels featuring the Count, this feels like a promo piece to get readers interested in seeing the film instead of placing it in a historical perspective.

Dave Hughes notes the success of the film at the Box Office in the US without pointing out how it is performing in other territories, which is slightly annoying. Even a great US take can result in a mediocre profit if the rest of the world shrugs their shoulders. The release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on video is mentioned, though this seems more like contractual duty than a real love for the film, before getting to the releases which actually matter.

Dracula: The Film and the Legend, released as a tie-in to the Coppola film, really was impressive at the time. The competition is rather stingy, with only five copies being offered to readers, but at least its importance to the overall marketing for the film was acknowledged. The Illustrated Vampire Video Guide is also recommended by Hughes, though problems with the guide aren't covered. It would be interesting to see how many of the books he was pushing have managed, in his estimation, to hold the same level of quality all these years later.

And no, the Illustrated Guide isn't the greatest book about vampires on the big screen.

No comic is ever going to have text articles which even come close to a comprehensive background of the character for one simple reason: space. A list of comic appearances alone is staggeringly long, but taking into account television, film, theatre, and audio adaptations, the sheer amount of information which would need to be conveyed is immense. Had the historical article been allocated six pages in each issue, and beginning with the publication of Stoker's book, Gerani might have had a decent stab at crafting something with lasting importance.

Similarly, with so few words to play with, Dave Hughes didn't have much hope of anything other than cursory observations about the works covered.

A truly great adaptation, printed on excellent paper stock, and with a nice badge thrown in for gratis. The accompanying material may be weak, but this is far from a disappointing package.