Preview: Expanding On A Classic — ‘Fiends Of The Eastern Front Omnibus’ Volume 2

by Richard Bruton

Out right now, Ian Edginton and Tiernan Trevallion build on a classic with Fiends of the Eastern Front Volume 2.

Back in 1980, Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra came up with the devilishly simple idea of Fiends of the Eastern Front.

Vampires! Nazis! War!

There you go. Perfect concept right there. But the execution of the concept was what made it so good, this bloodthirsty tale of the Romanian Captain Constanta and his platoon of blood-sucking vampire soldiers cutting a swathe through the troops and turning the already deadly Eastern front into their hunting ground.

It was quite perfect, but perfectly short, 10 episodes and done. And that was it, nothing more from an idea just full of possibilities. In fact, it wasn’t until more than a quarter of a century, in 2006, that Dave Bishop and Colin MacNeil took the Fiends to Stalingrad.

But with Constanta so long lived, surely there was so much more of his story to tell? And that’s precisely what Edginton has done with his Fiends tales, the bulk of which are found in this volume. He fleshed out the idea, joining withTrevallion to spin out so many fascinating tales of blood and war, of magic and blood… so much blood.

*Fiends of the Western Front*… Trevallion’s certainly got the gore down just right

We begin both in the ’70s and in WWI and Fiends of the Western Front, with Lieutenant Tim Wilson haunted by his memories of war generally and the horrors he saw perpetrated by Constanta in the nightmare of France 1916. Throw in The Black Max and his monstrous bats and there’s horrors a plenty here, plus the beginnings of the intrigue of someone hunting the hunter.

Following this, we’re back to Romania, 1921, with Wilson searching for the vampire in Constanta, and both he and we discover, through a blood red folk tale, the origins of the man that became the vampire. It’s a magnificent deep dive into folklore, into ancient magics, familial ties, and history, and it succeeds so well in expanding the myth and legend of Constanta.

Diving deep into history, deep into mythology – the origin of a Fiend in *Constanta*.

Next we have my favourite of what’s in here, 1963, where Edginton and Trevallion go all classic Cold War spy fiction on us, albeit Smiley with a very bloody vamp twist and a liberal dose of magic, witchcraft, and ancient things.

It’s Constanta active and in a Berlin where unnatural, supernatural fiends are at play for both East and West. Yes, think Le Carre meets Lovecraft, and then go even further into the madness, add in some very major players in Russian and English folklore and that’s how much fun this one is.

Spycraft with a bite – the Fiends have a very red cold war in *1963*

Finally, one last short, Silent Night. Of all things, this one’s a Constanta Christmas tale. Less Ho-ho-ho and more the screaming of innocents. Although there is a lot of red involved at least.

Four stories that explore the mythos and legend of Constanta, both Edginton and Trevallion outdoing themselves here to make something quite wonderful.

By taking everything great about Finley-Day and Ezquerra‘s classic wartime story featuring vampires vs nazis and bringing so much more to the story – Edginton and Trevallion take Fiends of the Eastern Front to plenty of places new and give us all-new nightmares to savour.

Merry bloody Christmas never had such a literal take – *Silent Night* – a Fiends Christmas tale.

Okay, if I haven’t already sold you on this one – and trust me, it’s a really good collection of horror that jumps about the timeline just perfectly, here’s the 2000 AD PR bumf for it…

“In 1970, Lieutenant Tim Wilson is haunted by the memories of war – not just the bloodshed of the battlefield, but the horrors witnessed at the hand of Captain Constanta, who rescued him after a gruesome encounter with the King-Bats of Maximilian Von Klorr – the Black Max himself! Years later, Lt. Wilson sets on a journey to hunt down Constanta in his native Romania, and uncovers his origins among beasts and creatures of magic.”

Collecting the work of Ian Edginton and Tiernen Trevallion, the second omnibus of Fiends of the Eastern Front follows Constanta’s bloody trail across history, and brings monstrous terror from the skies of wartime France to the streets of 1960s London.