The Dracula File (2017)

The Dracula File (2017)

Authors: Gerry Finley-Day / Simon Furman | Illustrators: Eric Bradbury / Keith Page / Geoff Senior | Page Count: 96

'As the agent reeled back, a fearful shape rose to its full height..."You will raise no alarm this day!"'

Collected editions of stories from the short-lived Scream! comic continue to return to store shelves thanks to Rebellion's acquisition, of which, at time of writing, The Dracula File is the most recent.

However, unlike last year's Monster (2016) softcover collection, TDF is a hardback, which is a change that I have mixed feelings about. I prefer HB editions over PB, as a rule, but what I like even more is that companies stick to one format, design, and size, so that each successive book can sit nicely beside the first. Is such consistency really too much to ask of a publisher that's as respected and successful as they currently are? I think not.

Regardless, the book itself is an impressive edition, with a fair amount of bonus content at the back, including covers featuring the fearsome vampire and even some never-before-seen and unlettered pages of original art from back in the day.

The story's premise is better than I remembered, and somewhat unusual for what was essentially a comic aimed at a teenage audience. It's influenced not just by the horror classics but also by a Cold War paranoia, and there's even some sophisticated spy/thriller elements bundled in. The undead Count Dracula traverses not just the line between life and death, but years and borders too; i.e., from East to West, from behind the Iron Curtain to the ostensible safety of Britain. All the while pursued by a KGB officer who risks freedom, career, and life to stop the villain.

While the colourful cover art by Chris Weston is an impressive work, it isn't at all representative of the interior art. Frankly, it's completely misleading. Eric Bradbury's interior art is much grittier. His inky-black on white depiction of Britain is wonderfully repellent. The cross-hatched textures give life to the grimy streets; the windy, chilly nights are felt as much as seen. He does equally well with Dracula's supernatural transformations from human to... well, other things.

Where things fall down is in the adherence to comic conventions of the era, in the writing and the format, specifically. It's not a situation that was unique to Scream! strips. Because we can't read the protagonist's mind — or antagonist, in this case — and because most chapters (or instalments) are just four pages in length, in order to convey information in the shortest possible time he all too often announces his intentions to his victims, or even to no one, to empty space. It may be a necessary evil, but it takes a reader out of the action and drags the story down.

The strip, like the comic it featured in, lasted just fifteen issues, so there's no final confrontation to bring closure to the chase. The seasonal Specials that continued the series are fun to read but are less impressive than the weekly chapters. They have different artists, at least one of which is ill-suited to the overall tone, and one even has a sloppy, unforgivable error in lore.