{"id":13466,"date":"2015-05-02T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-02T08:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=13466"},"modified":"2015-04-30T16:36:38","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T16:36:38","slug":"the-chronicles-of-legion-volume-3-blood-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2015\/05\/02\/the-chronicles-of-legion-volume-3-blood-brothers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chronicles of Legion volume 3: Blood Brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Fabien Nury<\/strong>, Mario Alberti<\/strong>, Zhang Xiaoyu<\/strong> & Tirso<\/strong> translated by Virgine Selavy<\/strong> (Titan Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-78276-095-5<\/p>\n

The epic war between immortal sanguinite siblings rumbles on in the third translated volume of Fabien (Once Upon a Time in France<\/strong>, I Am Legion<\/strong>) Nury’s inspired reinvigoration of the Dracula legend, with Mario Alberti, Zhang Xiaoyu and Tirso Cons each illustrating a discrete epoch in the centuries-spanning and intertwined vendetta.<\/p>\n

The accursed clash of wills began in 2011 as Les Chroniques de Legion<\/strong>: a generational saga which put a new spin on the monster-myth, and Blood Brothers<\/strong> further unravels a triptych of mysteries\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

What You Need to Know:<\/strong> Vlad Tepes Dracula<\/em> and his brother Radu<\/em> possess the power to extend their lives beyond apparent death. Their consciousnesses are carried in their blood and by transferring the gory gruel to other creatures – human or not – they can possess and dominate any number of victims infinitely, carrying their minds and their motivations forever onward into infinity.<\/p>\n

Both have lived for centuries and for all those interminable years they have despised each other\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In this tensely suspenseful third volume some hint of what caused their enhanced states of being and eternal enmity is at last revealed as their story continues to unfold across three very varied theatres of war and through very different aspects of their inhumanity\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The tale resumes in 1812 where Transylvanian snows conceal the many creatures which are Radu as they collectively await the next move of the Napoleonic deserters lured to this frozen wasteland by dreams of finding Dracula’s lost treasure.<\/p>\n

The teller of those tales was Captain<\/em> Armand Malachi<\/em> who led his battle-hardened comrades Kholya<\/em>, Stern<\/em>, Hartmann<\/em> and Feraud<\/em> to the Wallachian Mountains before dying in battle against a band of Cossacks.<\/p>\n

At least that’s the way they all saw it. Vlad, riding Malachi, found it expedient to fall down when \u00e2\u20ac\u0153killed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but now, with his host form actually ceasing to function in the crippling cold, the eternal warrior is forced to transfer his accommodations to something more welcoming.<\/p>\n

When he catches up to his former friends, however, their understandable reaction leads to more violence and in the end only poor Kholya remains of any real use\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Half a world away and back in 1521, Gabriella, Do\u00c3\u00b1a Del La Fuente<\/em>, bearing a scarlet sigil which marks all the blood-possessed, stoically endures the vigorous dynastic intentions of future husband Hernan Torres<\/em>. She had travelled to the New World to be his socially acceptable, church-sanctioned brood-mare but has become far more interested in the Conquistador’s mulatto bastard Martin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Gabriella’s empire-building is not only imperilled by her treacherous body’s needs but also by the impossibly powerful and indefatigably hostile natives who all carry the taint and preternatural vitality of brother Radu\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

When the Indians at last mount a full attack on the half-constructed Torres compound, the Europeans barely repel the assault and then only at the cost of the Do\u00c3\u00b1a’s faithful, steadfast and mystically augmented bodyguard Carlos<\/em> whom she impetuously sacrifices to preserve Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In the gory aftermath the bastard son realises what she is and what she’s done, but when they foolishly consummate their overwhelming passion, the constantly spying priests of the Inquisition make their own move. They are of course, no match for the powers of a Dracula\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Soon Hernan is gone too and Gabriella turns her attentions to making the New World her own. All that remains to bar her progress is the firmly embedded Radu\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In 1887 London is the centre of the world and formerly impoverished scoundrel Victor Douglas Thorpe<\/em> relishes his return to it even as the latest embodiment of Dracula. The new Lord Cavendish<\/em> soon takes his place amongst the aristocracy of the Athenaeum Club<\/em> but cannot escape their haughty disapproval and even outright hostility.<\/p>\n

No one knows why the immensely wealthy old oligarch settled his title and the largest fortune in the Empire upon such a blatant parvenu blackguard, but they all have their suspicions\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

When Chief Superintendent Warren<\/em> of Scotland Yard and solicitor Mr. Morris Webster<\/em> attempt to extort the new Lord with a fabrication of supposition and innuendo they are unaware that they are challenging a sadistic absolute monarch carrying centuries of experience in removing threats to his security, but his summary treatment of them is as nothing to the way the next chancer is dealt with\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Soon afterwards the holder of Thorpe’s old gambling debts attempts to reassert his old hold on the former addict and foolishly uses Esther Harrington<\/em> as leverage.<\/p>\n

When he was human Thorpe had left her pregnant and penniless without a second thought but the new Lord Cavendish is more concerned about making a statement than any sum of money and before long the grimy streets of Whitechapel first run red with his all-encompassing vengeance and then explosively burn in a furious storm of purging flame.<\/p>\n

Afterwards Cavendish cannot really explain why he let Esther live or why he set her up with a fortune and a new life in India\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

And in the cold snows of a dark night gypsies gather around a campfire where an old man tells the story of two brothers who were held hostage by the Ottoman Sultan to keep their lordly father compliant.<\/p>\n

The boys dealt with enforced captivity in different ways. Tough, rebellious Vlad bided his time and nursed his hatred whilst his softer, weaker sibling Radu quickly capitulated, becoming a favourite plaything of the Sultan.<\/p>\n

One day an aged pilgrim came to court carrying a box with two scorpions in it and Vlad discovered the means to fulfil all his dreams, but at such an incredible, eternal cost\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

To Be Concluded\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Bleak, thrilling and sumptuously sinister, this latest instalment is couched, as ever, in a luxurious oversized (211 x 282 mm) full-colour hardback: offering a superbly illustrated and beguiling told, intoxicating mosaic of macabre menace which is a stunning and ambitious treat for all fans of fang and fear\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Les Chroniques de Legion and all contents \u00c2\u00a9 \u00c3\u2030ditions Gl\u00c3\u00a9nat 2012. Translated edition \u00c2\u00a9 Titan Comics, 2015<\/p>\n

The Chronicles of Legion volume 3: Blood Brothers<\/strong> will be released on May 5th<\/sup> 2015 and is available for pre-order now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fabien Nury, Mario Alberti, Zhang Xiaoyu & Tirso translated by Virgine Selavy (Titan Comics) ISBN: 978-1-78276-095-5 The epic war between immortal sanguinite siblings rumbles on in the third translated volume of Fabien (Once Upon a Time in France, I Am Legion) Nury’s inspired reinvigoration of the Dracula legend, with Mario Alberti, Zhang Xiaoyu and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Chronicles of Legion volume 3: Blood Brothers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[63,66,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-classics","category-horror-stories","category-mature-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-3vc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}