Dracula World Order

Writer: Ian Brill
Artists: Rashan Ekedal, Declan Shalvey, Gabriel Hardman, & Tonci Zonjic
Company: Self Published

Vampires. Out of the many monsters of cult fame, your zombies and creatures from the Black Lagoon, vampires are and always will be, my favorite. Chalk it up to watching things like Lost Boys and reading John Steakley's Vampires and Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, I guess. It's been shown over the years that you can do so much with them, place them in any genre, and get a result that works. I'm partial to the, "I'm gonna rip out your throat and suck you dry 'till the cows come home," type of vampires, but like I said, there's a vampire out there for everyone. Ian (Darkwing Duck) Brill's take on the fanged femoral feeders is both classic and served up with a twist.

That twist is that his Dracula only wants the top 1% of humanity, the ones that hold the most sway in the land of the humans. The rest are fodder, the delicious snacks that are snuffed out when the midnight munchies take hold.

All kidding aside, Dracula World Order is a collection of short vignettes that form a loose tapestry of a world that has been taken over. The world building is smartly done and a lot is accomplished in the span of these short stories. Brill also tackles a lot of different themes at the same time, themes such as: Family, Experimentation, and Revenge. Instead of having Dracula be the main man behind the comic, Brill instead utilizes Dracula's son, Alexandru, as our eyes as ears. The decision allows a few glimpses that we normally don't get to see, like a peak behind the curtain of villainy.

While the story is satisfying, one of the biggest draws of this book are the artists that it features. The collection of raw talent that has been collected here is astounding. For people like Rashan (Solomon Kane) Ekedal, the work here, which is his depiction of the vampires taking over, is some of the best that I've seen from him. Then there's people like Tonci (Who is Jake Ellis?) Zonjic, who's work is dark and moody and bloody glorious. Gabriel (Hulk) Hardman, who's work you can see here (to the left) expresses a tremendous amount of movement and character in each and every panel. And then there is Declan (Thunderbolts) Shavley, who's handle on depicting glorious gore in all fashions becomes a testament of awesome. Each and every one of these artists brings something to the game that makes their story memorable while at the same time creating a cohesive flow. The change up in art isn't shocking or jarring. It works.

The only problem with the book that I can find is that the availability for the issue is rather limited. For a list of brick and mortar stores that have the issue, visit: http://draculaworldorder.tumblr.com/about_DWO. For those inclined towards the digital frontier, I know that it is also available on the Comixology app. Other than that, Dracula World Order provides a heck of a lot of entertainment. The building blocks for a kick ass world are there and I can't wait to see more from Brill and the artists that he wrangles up.