{"id":4232,"date":"2009-11-17T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2009-11-17T06:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=4232"},"modified":"2009-11-18T22:52:45","modified_gmt":"2009-11-18T22:52:45","slug":"vlad-the-impaler-the-man-who-was-dracula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2009\/11\/17\/vlad-the-impaler-the-man-who-was-dracula\/","title":{"rendered":"Vlad the Impaler: the Man who was Dracula"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Sid Jacobson<\/strong> & Ernie Col\u00c3\u00b3n<\/strong> (Hudson Street Press\/ Penguin Group USA)
\nISBN: 978-1-59463-058-3<\/p>\n

Sid Jacobson was a hard man to write about, preferring to let his work speak for him. As writer and editor he masterminded the Harvey Comics monopoly of strips for younger American readers in the 1960s and 1970s, co-creating Richie Rich<\/strong> and Wendy, the Good Little Witch <\/strong>among others, and then worked the same magic for Marvel’s Star Comics imprint, where as managing editor he oversaw a vast amount of family-friendly material; both self created – such as Royal Roy<\/strong> or the superb Planet Terry<\/strong> – and a huge basket of licensed properties,<\/p>\n

In latter years he has worked closely with fellow Harvey alumnus Ernie Col\u00c3\u00b3n on such thought-provoking graphic enterprises as The 9\/11 Report: a Graphic Adaptation <\/strong>(2006) and its 2008 sequel, After<\/strong> 9\/11: America’s War on Terror<\/strong>. This year they released Che: a Graphic Biography<\/strong> of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, the now-mythic icon of rebellion.<\/p>\n

Ernie Col\u00c3\u00b3n was born in Puerto Rico in 1931: a creator whose work has been seen by generations of readers. Whether as artist, writer, colourist or editor his contributions have benefited the entire industry from the youngest (Monster in My Pocket<\/strong>, Richie Rich <\/strong>and Casper the Friendly Ghost <\/strong>for Harvey Comics, and many similar projects for Marvel’s Star Comics), to the traditional comicbook fans with Battlestar Galactica<\/strong>, Damage Control <\/strong>and Doom 2099<\/strong> for Marvel, Arak, Son of Thunder<\/strong> and Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld, <\/strong>the Airboy <\/strong>revival for Eclipse, Magnus: Robot Fighter<\/strong> for Valiant and so very many others.<\/p>\n

There are also his sophisticated experimental works such as indie thriller Manimal, <\/strong>and his seminal graphic novels Ax<\/a> <\/strong>and the Medusa Chain<\/a><\/strong>. Even now he’s still hard at work on the strip SpyCat <\/em>which has appeared in Weekly World News<\/strong> since 2005.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacobson and Col\u00c3\u00b3n together are a comics maven’s dream come true and their bold choice of biography and reportage as well as their unique take on characters and events always pays great dividends. Vlad the Impaler<\/strong> is by far their most fun project to date: a fictionalised account of the Wallachian prince who was raised by his enemies as a literal hostage to fortune, only to reconquer and lose his country not once, but many times.<\/p>\n

The roistering, bloody, brutal life of this Romanian national hero, and tenuous basis of Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula<\/strong>, is a fascinating, baroque, darkly funny yarn, capturing a troubled soul’s battle with himself as much as the Muslim and Christian superpowers that treated his tiny principality as their plaything.<\/p>\n

With startling amounts of sex and violence this book makes no excuses for a patriot and freedom fighter who was driven by his horrific bloodlust and (justifiable?) paranoia to become a complete beast: clearly the very worst of all possible monsters – a human one.<\/p>\n

Sharp, witty, robust and engaging, with a quirky twist in the tale, this is a good old-fashioned shocker that any history-loving gore-fiend will adore.<\/p>\n