There were no more details to be had about it, although we should be announcing something here, including my participation in the new place, in a few weeks.

And that was about it for my experience at the show. In all, it seemed to work out pretty well (except for the teeming masses who got turned away from getting their show-exclusive Hero Clix Galactus figure...man, that line was crazy all day) and should return here next year, too. The show definitely could stand to either spread out a bit more or limit the number of exhibitors in the place (of course, that'll never happen) to make sure attendees can actually, you know, walk around. It wouldn't kill Marvel Comics to actually participate in these cons, either. I know they had a couple panels, one with Brian Bendis, who announced his plan to write every third book that Marvel publishes, and also one with EIC Joe Quesada, but beyond that, you wouldn't know they were still in the publishing business. There was a big display for the upcoming PUNISHER movie and video game (what, nothing for MAN-THING?), but if there was any more Marvel presence at the show, I completely missed it. Odd as always, that company's marketing efforts.

I couldn't get back down for the final day of the con yesterday, due to honeymoon prep (and to show my dedication, I even had to turn down an invite to a HELLBOY screening last night, too--thanks anyway, Kathy), but really, since I'll be immersed in the San Diego Con in July, this was enough for now.

With comics on the brain this week, I thought I'd also take a closer look at another book that was recently optioned for a movie. And a first-person shooter video game. All this before its third issue had even come out.

I'm talking about Image Comics' SWORD OF DRACULA, written by Jason Henderson and featuring art by Greg Scott (issues one and two) and William Belk (issue three on).

As many times as Dracula's been featured in comics, this take on the character is pretty refreshing, and contemporary -- in this book, Dracula is one of the world's foremost terrorists, with legions of followers who just happen to also be vampires. In addition, his powers have grown to the point where he can control blood itself, molding and shaping it into whatever he needs, be it a sword or even his entire castle, much the same way Green Lantern can create shapes with his power ring (wow, I feel geeky typing that sentence).

The thing with the increased powers, as pointed out by Jason in his essays in the back of the comics, is that this was set up all the way back in Bram Stroker's DRACULA. Even then, the book talked about how Drac's powers grew over the years, so it makes sense that, hundreds of years later, his powers would continue to grow and develop. It's a pretty novel take, and it makes for some good reading, too. I've never actually read Stoker's book (I was telling the writer, Jason Henderson, that while he was re-reading that book as a kid, I was probably re-reading Mallory's LE MORTE D'ARTHUR over and over), but SWORD features lots of little inside bits that are rewarding to old-time fans. Henderson pointed out some of them to me, but I won't spoil anything here (that guy's voice from the con, yelling out "Spoiler!" is still ringing in my ears).

The book's protagonist is Ronnie Van Helsing, a commando leader in charge of a UN-connected and heavily armed covert operation called the Polidorium (the name of this organization also has its roots in Dracula lore, for those who want to see if they can find the connection). So Ronnie's organization is out to unearth Dracula's tomb and end the threat of vampirism even though he's a powerful SOB who's already dealt them quite a few casualties. Which is interesting enough, a good military approach to the Dracula mythos. But then in the third issue (issue four is due out soon), Henderson introduces the real threat of the book, the Nephilim, a pair of fallen angels.

I was initially resistant to reading the issues when Jason sent 'em to me, I think because they were black and white. Not that I'm some four-color snob or anything, but sometimes black and white books just seem to take more time to get into them and...ah, hell, truth be told, I just haven't really had the spare time lately to read or see much of anything. So despite the distinctive covers being intriguing (they're all by former STARMAN artist Tony Harris), and the book just having a cool logo in general, I put the first couple issues aside until I had time to get to them (which'd probably be after the aforementioned honeymoon). This actually might have served me better--reading all three of the issues in a row is sixty-plus pages of story, and by the end of the third issue, yeah, I'm hooked.

I'm not so sold on the new art as of yet, but that's because the detailed art by Greg Scott (he should be drawing SUPERMAN with that name) on the first two issues spoiled me. Scott's style worked great in black and white, reminding me a bit of ASTRO CITY's Brent Anderson, if Anderson bathed his work in shadows (the liberal use of black actually makes it more reminiscent of Anderson's work on that old '80s book SOMERSET HOLMES):

Scott moved on after two issues, replaced by William Belk, whom I keep seeing reviewers describe as "American manga." Luckily, it's not that, but it is a bit more cartoony than the first two issues, anyway:

Belk does try some innovative things with his page layouts, and I'm confident the style (which reminds me a bit of James Fry) will grow on me as he grows into the book, but I do miss Scott. Still, Henderson wanted to channel anime all along, he said, so Belk's style might be more in line with what he intended from the start. "This is Dracula if he were invented by Go Nagai," he said. "I’m a huge anime fan and one aspect I love in particular is the way characters and even matter move in the world of anime and manga – solids flow like liquid, people leap like jaguars. "

Newsarama.com ran an article about the comic being optioned for a movie, and in it, the producers kept saying they saw the movie as a modern-day RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and that Ronnie Van Helsin has echoes of Marion Ravenwood . Which sounds like a great way to approach the adaptation, definitely (although Stephen Sommers's lame MUMMY movies were said to be in the spirit of RAIDERS, too...), as long as having another Van Helsing hunting Dracula doesn't butt up against Hugh Jackman's flick. But really, it shouldn't--the material is so different from other Dracula movies. Henderson describes it as "BLACK HAWK DRACULA," so in a way, a better model for the producers to follow would be ALIENS, another horror movie concept that updated the source material and added a military flavor to it. Add to this the supernatural element and...oh, yeah, this thing has "big summer flick" written all over it.

It also seems natural for a video game, of course (there's an article about the SWORD game's development right here), but right now, all that seems peripheral. I'm just interested in seeing where the story goes. There's a good six-page preview of the book, for those who haven't seen it yet. I'd recommend giving the pages a look, and then I'll push even harder for you to check out the book itself. The prequel is found here. In general, horror comics right now, from Steve Niles' ensemble to Robert Kirkman's THE WALKING DEAD to this book, are probably the most interesting and dynamic comics around. So while I wish I'd jumped on this book as soon as I got the first issue, I've played catch-up in a big way. Of course, now I have to do that again...

Henderson just sent me his latest book, SOULCATCHER (published by Moonstone Publishing, a small li'l brand, meaning it'd be best to pre-order this one if you want to see it), about a young widow with the power to absorb the abilities of the recently dead hunting ghosts in New Orleans. He and SWORD's Greg Scott are also working on a book called SYLVIA FAUST, about a young sorceress on the run in New York City, and he has STRANGE MAGIC due from Marvel, too. Which seems like a nice little mystical niche that's not currently being filled by anyone else. And from what I've read so far, he's the perfect guy to fill it.

Next Week: Wedding prep and THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND

/chris /chris

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