It was only last week that Marvel Comics was announcing that they’d killed off Dracula, but he’s already on his way back in a new monthly series from another publisher, with some help from fan-favorite writer Kurt Busiek.
Busiek is co-writing new series Dracula: The Company of Monsters for LA-based Boom! Studios, which not only resurrects the Prince of Darkness but places him in a new, corporate, climate:
A powerful, predatory corporation acquires a valuable asset – Dracula! They think they own him, but no-one can own the Son of the Dragon. There’s a monster in their midst that puts Hannibal Lecter to shame – and he plans to gain his freedom in blood.
Amusingly, the marketing for the series plays off Marvel’s announcement, with full-page advertisements in trade publication Previews with the text “He’s Back From The Dead!” and the company logo (One of the perils of public domain characters, after all, is that your competitors will use your efforts as their own PR. Sorry, Marvel).
Busiek, who’s written Superman, the Justice League of America, the Avengers, Iron Man and all manner of characters and series for both DC and Marvel Comics, will be co-writing the series with Daryl Gregory, whose 2009 novel The Devil’s Alphabet was named one of Publisher’s Weekly’s best books of the year, with art by Scott Godlewski. Here’s an exclusive look at the covers for the first issue:
The series launches in August.