Advance Review: Losing (The) Count In ‘Universal Monsters – Dracula’ #3

One of the curiosities of Dracula across his many iterations is how little he appears in many of this works about him. From the original novel to the screen and even on stage, the count dominates nearly every story he’s a part of, but often isn’t seen much. Instead, his mere presence in the story demands that all of the other characters’ talk and action revolves around him.

If there has been a negative in the most recent retelling of the vampire’s myth – Universal Monsters: Dracula – it is just that. We want more Dracula. He moves around the edges of the story, but we rarely see him. Of course, where we do, it typically spells disaster for whoever is on the receiving end of his fangs.

Now though, after two of the best comic book issues published this year, his lack of presence is keenly felt. Sure, artist Martin Simmonds’ paintings are still luscious and sometimes terrifying. He continues to shock us with his illustrations of poor Renfield, Dracula’s servant who is imprisoned in a sanitorium. In one of the few scenes where we actually see the count – or part of him anyway – Simmonds focuses solely on the two characters’ eyes. Dracula’s are intense, then bloody while Renfield’s also turn red with different sized pupils.

It’s a great touch, but much of the rest of the issues is more mundane. There’s a funeral, a sponge bath, a failed surgery, but very little blood sucking. Don’t blame writer James Tynion IV. He’s adapting the old Universal movie, though perhaps a bit too literally given the lack of Dracula himself.

All of this points to what should be a (ahem) monster final issue next month. With Abraham Van Helsing now on the scene, it’s time to lay a trap for the count and send him back to his coffin. If they can find him, that is.

Universal Monsters: Dracula #3 will be available for purchase on December 27, 2023.