While Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan busied themselves with the full-colour Tomb of Dracula series for Marvel Comics, the wicked count also haunted the pages of the black & white magazine Dracula Lives in a variety of serials and one-offs set at various points in his history. Easily the best of the lot was the ongoing effort at adapting Bram Stoker's novel by the hands of writer Roy Thomas and artist Dick Giordano. Unfortunately the magazine ended before they could finish the adaptation (the last chapter they completed appeared in the magazine Legion of Monsters). It remained incomplete until 2004 when Marvel republished the chapters and finished the story in the four-issue limited series Stoker's Dracula.
I was working for Marvel Comics at the time this book came out and I was so pleased to see them wrapping this up, complete with Roy Thomas & Dick Giordano and printed in black & white so that the new pages would sit well with the previous. Giordano's style had changed somewhat in the 30 year interval but he was game and it's easily my favourite project of his latter days. Giordano passsed away within 5 years of this project's completion, proving Marvel got in just in time. Now the full story is available in trade paperback as Stoker's Dracula.
Of all the comic book adaptations of Stoker's novel, this is my favourite version. Some of that is down to the moody atmosphere in Giordano's black & white pages, particularly in the ink washes adding a sense of fogginess. This is a neat project and I'm so happy it was brought to completion.
No comments:
Post a Comment