Book Review: Universal Monsters: Dracula by J. Tynion et al.

Universal Monsters: Dracula written by James Tynion IV, art by Martin Simmonds, and letters by Rus Wooton

This retelling of the Dracula story follows the Bram Stoker novel with a shift in focus. The emphasis is on Renfield, the lawyer who went to Transylvania to do Dracula's paperwork so he could come to England. The story starts with Renfield in Dr. Seward's asylum, having come off a boat where all the crew was brutally killed. Naturally, as the only survivor, Renfield is thought guilty, though he is a small man--small physically, small intellectually, and small morally. He feasts on spiders and flies and dreams of helping his master as well as being helped by his master to be more than he is. Dracula goes on his reign of terror in London, though he operates mostly in the background and has almost no dialogue here. As a man of science, Dr. Seward has a hard time dealing with things that are outside his understanding, even when Lucy is killed by Dracula. Van Helsing shows up later in the story and they work together to thwart the vampire, though it is Renfield's small redemption at the end that is the final touch.

The art is very sinister and unpleasant. It's a bit of watercolor style with a lot of black and red. The look is not my favorite but I understand how it is used to amp up the horror in the story. The focus on Renfield is interesting, though not the comedy that the Renfield movie was. The resolution felt more honest and natural. I liked this book but wasn't wowed.

Mildly recommended.