American Mythology Productions 2019
On Sale Aug. 28th 2019
Written by Mike Wolfer
Illustrated by Ev Cantada
Coloured by Victorino Muyo Jr.
Lettered by Natalie Jane
Firmly believing that vampires aren't real, Van assumed that the whole thing was some elaborate hoax, but was shocked to learn that everything was all too real when a hideous vampire monster attacked the island. Dracula informed Van that he needs his help to defeat the vampire creatures who hope to rule the world, but why had Dracula chosen him? Because Van is the last surviving member of the Van Helsing family. Van managed to escape the island, but can he possibly escape the nightmares to follow?
Now let me say that I don't really worry about release formats so long as we are going to keep getting these two issue instalments regularly. So long as that happens we're golden Pony Boy. The opening here is everything to me, it has this duality to it that I wasn't expecting and that they are keeping me on my toes like this it utterly marvellous. It grabs your attention and pulls you in and then as if staring mesmerised into Dracula's eyes you just aren't able to go anywhere. Being set in the mid 70's when schlock B-Movies were all the rage and throw in this blaxploitation and you've got yourself a pretty sensational premise and setting for this to occur in.
Mike does a sensational job with how he's structured this and creates this amazing ebb & flow as the pacing takes the story & plot development and the character development through this wildly thrilling adventure. The way Mike is writing this and the fact that he can use the dialogue, characterisation and the story itself to create this kind of tension is amazing. While he talks to his friends and entrusts them with what has happened there's a moment when Van looses his cool and it is the most authentic moment that really packs a punch. It is so strong and so in your face and it represents so much anger and frustration being let out all at once. So that so much is story driven here is marvellous to me, yes we get action and some unexpected reality facing but it's the story takes centre stage and it just shines.
The interior artwork here is pretty darn stupendous if you ask me. The opening alone shows this creativity and imagination in bringing to life things from nightmares. The way that we see the utilisation of the varying weights in the linework to create this strong attention to detail makes this A-List and not B-Movie. Now we all know I am huge backgrounds guy because I think they are essential to expand the moment and bring a size and scope to the story. So to see them utilised here like they are is a joy to me even if it is just the night sky I appreciate that extra effort. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show off this super duper eye for storytelling. The colour work is amazing as well. Seeing light sources utilised to show off the shading and shadows is extremely well done. How the colour blocking is used to create some really spectacular highlighting through various hues and tones makes a huge difference in how we enjoy the story.
The respect that Dracula either has or pretends to have for Abraham is something to see. We all know Dracula isn't an honest being and he's going to manipulate things to his advantage with words, and boy does he double speak a lot. But how we see the events play out here certainly ensure that Van is going to do what he can as he does exactly what Dracula wishes. Now if this is a legit encounter or an orchestrated one is unknown but that the reader thinks about it and takes the story further and off page is how you properly engage them.
American Mythology is a company who has some of the most stellar stories and ideas. The quality is always exceptional and this is the kind of book, story, franchise that I WANT to read.