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Dracula: The Company of Monsters #3
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writers: Daryl Gregory, Kurt Busiek
Artist: Damian Couceiro
Cover: Ron Salas

After playing a speedy catch-up on the first two issues, I was able to get my claws on a copy of the third comic in the new BOOM! Studios series titled Dracula: The Company of Monsters.

Let me give you a very quick rundown of the story so far:

Our main character, Evan, has been given the task of studying ancient texts, parchments, and the Romanian language for reasons unknown. It turns out that the company he works for (B.I.) is in financial trouble and his boss, Conrad (who is also his uncle), whisks him away to a dig site where the remains of Dracula have been located. His uncle wants him to use the knowledge gained from his studies to help resurrect the vampire, again, all for reasons unknown.

In the second issue, Evan successfully resurrects Dracula. (If you consider only two guys getting their throats ripped out successful.) Evan’s uncle reveals that the reason he wanted to bring our blood sucking friend back is to gain his knowledge of a text called the Scholomance. We flash to the Carpathians, where an ancient text has been discovered by men working for Conrad. They are soon after slaughtered by a group of rather nasty looking bat creatures.

The third issue opens with a group of what I can only assume are trained vampire hunters, discovering the bodies of the B.I. workers. We then move back to Evan having a conversation with the now walking and talking Dracula, who is in a holding cell with a specially designed suit to keep him in check. Evan explains the current state of B.I. and their desire to buy out another company so that they can become publicly traded. (Of course, their money troubles weren’t helped by the fact that they blew a ton of money on resurrecting Dracula.) We see our vampire hunters again briefly, as they try to lay out a trap for the bat creatures, but it doesn’t go as planned. We flop back to Evan whose uncle reveals that his plan all along was to learn from Dracula just how to become a vampire.

So, are you confused yet? Yeah, so am I.

I am a huge fan of classic monsters, so I was interested to see a new take on the character of Dracula. While it was nice to see the back story of Vlad the Impaler woven into the comic, it hasn’t really managed to help hold my attention overall.

I don’t know if it’s that the comic is trying to hold back on some larger plots or not, but so far, I’ve found it to be more than a little muddled. I want to find it interesting, but so far there has been nothing to really make me go “wow” or compel me to ravenously read each issue. It’s just kind of plodding along.

So far, the title character has proved to be the most interesting part of the story. He seems calm, rational, and sufficiently old-fashioned by way of his dialog.

I can also say this for the book: I am enjoying the art. It’s nothing mind blowing, but it is nice and clean and the characters expressions are good.

I’m willing to give a couple more issues a try. I’m just hoping that it’s simply a slow starter and will start really picking up steam.

Mac Beauvais
mac@comicattack.net
@Macabri