American Mythology Productions 2017
Written by Mike Wolfer
Illustrated by Roy Allan Martinez
Coloured by Enrica Eren Angiolini
Lettered by Natalie Jane
Set in 1975, The Eternal Thirst of Dracula finds the insidious vampire king in self-imposed exile on a remote island in the Philippines, a tropical paradise where he has created his own kingdom far from the prying eyes of the modern world. Behind the walls of the island fortress lie unimaginable terrors, as Count Dracula and his vampire brides slake their insatiable thirst for human blood throughout the halls of his mansion of the damned. But a hideous enemy lurks on the horizon, far deadlier than the disintegrating rays of the sun, a threat that could destroy all that Dracula has built, and possibly Dracula himself!
First of all I’m a huge fan of Mike’s and I have been for some time now and while he’s multifaceted, he can illustrate as well as he writes, it doesn’t matter to me which one he’s involved in because I’m going to read it. Then of course while everyone is still gaga over zombies Mike has decided to lead the charge in bringing Vampires back and who better than to focus on than Dracula himself. What if he hadn’t died at the end of the novel and had gotten away? Well Mike and company are going to bring one such option.
The opening is spectacular it’s also a chance to see Roy and Enrica in action and I will wholeheartedly admit that the work is stellar and drew me right into the story. The attention to detail is absolutely stunning and the tone, mood and feel tell you this is a horror story no question about it, that certain something is there in spades you don’t get much more proof positive than the setting alone. Then of course there’s the event which transpires and yeah we’re on our way.
I love the fact that it’s 1975 and that the folks we meet are shooting B Horror films, ya know the straight to video kind or at the very least to pack em in at the Drive-In theatre. Actually there was no VHS back then was there so these were for specialty outlets. Back then porn was shown in a theatre still so yeah there was a market for all this. I love the characterisation here I mean it’s every kind of cliché you can think of all rolled into one. The writer/star/director a womanising kind of guy, though at first I thought he was gonna hook up with an actor, not an actress. Then there’s Kandy the black chick who does kung fu baby and doesn’t do the casting couch. She’s blaxploitation at it’s finest my brother mmm I’m telling ya.
So why all the time spent on meeting the film cast and crew? I have a feeling about that but we’ll see if I’m right or it’s just that natural progression of storytelling. I mean it’s obvious that the main man Van Hauser is someone we need to know. As the story gets underway in earnest things become clear and more muddied at the same time.
So I have already said that I’m in love with the interior artwork here throughout the entire issue the attention to detail is more amazing than I could have hoped for. The use of page layout, how we see the angles and perspective in the panels and the utilisation of backgrounds here all help to tell the story in ways you cannot begin to fathom. The emotion they bring, the sense of fashion of that time period, the tone, mood and feel are things that are essential. Not to mention body language that can expand the characterisation.
The way this book is structured is phenomenal. The ebb & flow of the introduction and getting us involved in the story is fantastic. That we get such superb characterisation as well as motivation for what we see unfold and then this absolutely huge reveal at the end all of it makes this so much more than a classic horror story. It makes it a gripping and compelling drama that just happens to have vampires.