This short story in graphic novelized form imagines a Dracula who has been trapped in his coffin since the post-Bram Stoker story time period coming back into action in 1970's Los Angeles. (While there is a nod to the Bram Stoker novel in starting the story in late-1890's Central / Eastern Europe, the book doesn't present itself as a sequel - and purposefully tries to avoid some of the old [and new] vampire clichés.) The book taps into the feel of 1970's noir crime drama. The main character, Quincy Harker, is a photographer whose work appeals to a macabre impulse of those who like to see snuff shots of beautiful people. As such, he goes around to scenes reminiscent of the Manson family slaughter of Sharon Tate and friends to snap his pictures. [Note: While in Bram Stoker's book Quincy Harker was the child of Mina Harker, in this book that's just an Easter Egg-style reference without any intended continuity to the book's characters.] Because Harker is always going out at night to capture images of the recently deceased, he his easily drawn into the family feud between Dracula and his brides.
The artwork is interesting. There is not a single color palette used throughout, but rather different scenes are in different palettes. In the back-matter written by the artist, there is a statement about this being meant to influence the reader's emotional inflection. It's also pointed out in the back-matter that all scenes are set at night, which might not be otherwise apparent. Some panels are colored brightly and colorfully while others are in black and dark blues.
The story is simple and quick. Between drawing on the vampire mythology and on the noir crime cinema imagery, there's not much that's particularly novel about this book. That said, the fact that it puts Dracula's brides at the fore does give it a bit of niche.
As mentioned, there is a writeup at the back by both the author (de Campi) and the artist (Henderson,) along with some draft drawings and scripts for those intrigued by how the sausage is made.
I enjoyed this enough to get caught up in reading it in a single sitting. (That said, it's very short - even for the 80-ish pages - given sprawling panels and sparse / terse dialogue.) If you enjoy vampire fiction, it's worth checking out.
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