Dracula #4

23 Mar 1993 - 14 Apr 1993. £1.25.
36 pages. Full colour & B&W contents.
Dark Horse Comics International.

Edited by Dick Hansom.

Cover by Mike Mignola.
r: Bram Stoker's Dracula (Topps) #?

Contents:

 2 Dracula Introduction text by Dick Hansom (? uncredited) / Contents / Indicia

 3 Bram Stoker's Dracula, part four, w: Roy Thomas; p: Mike Mignola, i: John Nyberg, lettering by John Costanza, colouring by Mark Chiarello.

r: Bram Stoker's Dracula (Topps) #04 (Jan 1993).

17 Bloodlines text feature compiled by Dave Hughes; photographs by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

19 Vampirella Who Serves the Cause of Chaos? w: Archie Goodwin; a: Tom Sutton.

r: Vampirella (Warren) #08 (Nov 1970).

33 Inside Coppola's Dracula Untitled, part four, text feature by Gary Gerani & Dave Hughes; photographs by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

34 Salem's Slot review of Salem's Lot (1978) by Seamus Ryan; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

35 Subscribe - Comics for the '90s

36 The Galaxy's Greatest Heroes Return in... Classic Star Wars in-house advertisement

The hunt for Dracula begins, and, while Mina sees Renfield, the boxes of Dracula's home soil are purified so that they cannot be used by him. After venting his anger on Renfield for betraying him, Dracula visits Mina - who he convinces to drink of his blood. Knowing that the link between Mina and Dracula can be used to his advantage, Helsing hypnotises Mina.

Some of the colouring decisions make the art too dark in places, with reproduction struggling to cope with the almost-hidden figures on the first page, for example, though for the most part this is an artistic choice which sells the stylized mood. The page which doesn't quite work is when Mina is hypnotised, as the various blues blend into one another. For an adaptation which has, overall, been so strong, this isn't really a problem.

Bloodlines sets its sights on Academy Award nominations for the film, announcing that Bram Stoker's Dracula snagged a nomination in every category of the second Chainsaw Awards, run by Fangoria. The feature's brief, yet tantalising, coverage of Anne Rice's UK promotional tour doesn't state whether the interviews which weren't cancelled were for print or television - small details.

Night blankets a remote area of the rocky mountains, and, softly, silently snow has begun to fall. A cutting wind sends the flakes of white dancing and driving across the rugged landscape to pelt and sting a figure strangely out of place in these surroundings, a girl of unearthly beauty wandering through a winter night. A girl lost in a world not her own...

Vampirella suits the black and white presentation, though it has to be asked - was the finances stretched so tight that some colour could not have been added? After finding herself stranded on a mountain after a plane crash, Vampirella is rescued by Tyler Westron, who takes her to the safety of his retreat for the nervous rich. Vampirella discovers that Tyler is well aware of her alien origins, as she has talked while under sedation, and worse - he has had to amputate her wings. Telling her that he only wishes to aid her, Tyler convinces Vampirella to be patient.

And far from the isolated winter lodge, other events are forming that will in time touch the girl of Drakulon, for as the half-light of dusk settles gloomily over a graveyard in rural Michigan...

Conrad Van Helsing exhumes Kurt's corpse, and, seeing that it is drained of blood, puts a stake through the heart of his dead brother.

Vampirella may not be the most original series ever written, but the effect of so many influences upon this plot assists in creating a larger canvas upon which to paint her adventures. A cult which worships ancient gods, the isolated "hospital" where events play out, a staking in a modern cemetery, a strange monster kept caged in the basement - all of the elements are familiar, yet when woven together in this manner build into something greater than the pieces themselves.

It isn't perfect, however. There are panels which don't work, especially those in which close-ups of major characters don't look like those characters, and the ending trails off, when it should end on a more dramatic note.

No matter the film, reading of the rush to get a completed product in the can in time for its release date, and as Inside Coppola's Dracula makes clear, Bram Stoker's Dracula. had quite a few challenges to overcome. Most interesting of the comments, is mention of the deleted scenes:

Certain elements were lessened or dropped, others amplified. Early test screenings suggested that a little blood goes a long way. Some very sexy scenes were deleted altogether.

So... More deleted scenes than there was on the two-disc DVD release?

As a lifelong Stephen King fan, Salem's Lot always felt like a poor adaptation, whether in its film edit or as a mini-series. Seamus Ryan provides a brief recap of its development, first as a film, then as the eventual mini-series it became, and its sequel. There isn't enough to convince me to give it another chance, and I'm not sure why it is included. Had there been more a involved history of the book and its adaptation it might have been a really useful primer, though without a wealth of detail it merely points to the video's existence.

Stealth marketing at work.

03

Dracula

#05