TITLE: Dracula: The Company of Monsters #1
STORY: Kurt Busiek
AUTHOR: Daryl Gregory
PENCILLER: Scott Godlewski
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: August 25

Have to admit, I’ve never ever been much of a Dracula fan, or a fan of vampires in general. With the Twilight craze at its peak, that’s not likely to change soon. But I have a feeling the Twilight tweens could stand to take a look at this title if they’d like to know what vampire with some balls is like.

Our main character is Evan, an employee of his Uncle Conrad’s multi-million dollar corporation. Lately, Conrad has tasked Evan with translating numerous centuries-old parchments relating to Dracula. Evan doesn’t believe in any kind of mystical forces, but is later shocked to see that Conrad plans to use the information from the parchments to resurrect Dracula, whose skeleton is mystically entombed in Athens, Greece. This issue also dives into some of Dracula’s pre-vampire history,

Page 12. Image from brokenfrontier.com.

One thing I can appreciate about this book is that it’s based in the world of the original novel by Bram Stoker. It’s not bound by any modern, or popular interpretation. If nothing else, that gives this title a bit of credibility that it wouldn’t have otherwise.

The premise of this title is Dracula-Meets-Corporate-America, in a “Who is the real monster?” scenario. This issue certainly provides the right amount of intrigue to bring readers back for round two, even though we’re not exactly sure what Conrad wants with Dracula, or what sort of Dracula we’ll get once he’s resurrected. But Busiek and Gregory have laid a nice foundation with this issue. Whether they can follow it up is anyone’s guess.

Interestingly enough, this isn’t a miniseries. It’s a new ongoing. I’m wondering what they’ve got in mind for once they get past the initial story arc. The title has potential, that’s for sure…

***

TITLE: Star Wars: Blood Ties #1
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
PENCILLER: Chris Scalf
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE DATE: August 25

I’d forgotten how good Star Wars comics can be when they’re done well. And this one is certainly done well.

The book opens with Boba Fett surrounded by gunmen, not to mention a rancor. He flashes back to his days training with his father, Jango Fett. We see that Jango refused to allow Boba to be weak, as he sends him to pull a tooth from one of the galaxy’s most dangerous monsters. Then, when Count Dooku send Jango to assassinate someone who “represents a danger to our operation on Kamino.” Fett goes in for the kill, but is shocked when he sees his target’s true identity.

Page 2. Image from darkhorse.com.

What immediately stood out about this issue was the art. I’d never seen Chris Scalf’s work before. But it’s beautiful, and really suits the Star Wars universe. He seems to do almost everything well. The faces look like the actors from Attack of the Clones and carry emotion perfectly, the action sequences look beautiful, and the story flows well.

I’m a sucker for backstory content, so this issue appealed to me from the get-go. In Clones, we didn’t have time to gain a lot of insight into the father/son dynamic Jango and Boba had. That’s probably for the best, as Daniel Logan’s acting wasn’t easy to watch. But this story gives us the chance to explore that without the cringing. It’s clear that Jango and Boba love each other dearly, but the tough-love scenarios young Boba is forced to go through make for a nice, meaty story.

As a Star Wars fan, I’ll probably be coming back for more on this one. I was never as big a Boba Fett fan as a lot of people are, but you can’t deny the character’s appeal, and this story offers a great chance for us to get a look under the helmet.