Graphic Novels by Raven Gregory and others
NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.
Today we have a double dose of monster fighting mayhem as I am reviewing a couple of new collected editions of Van Helsing by Zenescope Comics. Despite it really having nothing much to do with the property, the recent Syfy Channel show Van Helsing was based on this series. They must have gone the I, Zombie route as the vaguest premise and title are the only things similar. If you are a fan of comics like Vampirella, Lady Death, and maybe Witchblade, you will probably like this series as it takes characters from classic monster mythos and reinterprets them as kickass ladies that take no prisoners. The same company makes action-oriented comics based on various fairy tale princesses and other literary characters that I will need to check out at some point.
Despite these books being the eighth and ninth collected volumes in this series, I honestly had no issues understanding what was happening, so it seems like they aren’t bad “jumping on” points in any way. Having a passing knowledge of the classic characters is enough to understand what is happening. The second book has characters that I was unfamiliar with from previous volumes, but with them being a descendant of Robin Hood, A wolfman, and Frankenstein, it wasn’t hard to settle in. I may have to go back and read some past comics to see how we got here exactly.
“Introducing Helsing’s deadliest villain yet! Liesel Van Helsing returns in a brand new series set to turn the inventive huntress’ world on fire. A mysterious being rises from Helsing’s long forgotten past hell bent on revenge. A being whose secrets could very well destroy Helsing…and all she holds dear. Don’t miss this exciting new series written by fan favorite Wonderland writer Raven Gregory and artist extraordinaire Allan Otero!”
We are introduced to Liesel Van Helsing as she is continuing her fight against the many denizens of the night that insist of doing evil and harming mankind. With her steampunk attire, and collection of silver stakes and bullets, she is a formidable foe for many a creature. Somebody steals Dracula’s corpse (who was defeated in a previous volume) and its up to Van Helsing to figure out what’s happening. I enjoyed the simple plot set-up and great action scenes in the book. The author has taken characters that everyone knows (Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde for example) and altered them to a degree that keeps them fresh and different from other books and films like this.
The art is solid and easy to follow, the character designs are interesting and there are some interesting kills for those that like bloody monster demises. The dialogue isn’t spectacular, but I’m keeping in mind that I am jumping in at volume eight of a long-running series, so I’d imagine that the character building from previous volumes is somewhat unnecessary here as we are looking for cool fight scenes, where there are plenty!
“Van Helsing is still reeling from the revelations of recent events after her world came crashing down around her. But she won’t have time to catch her breath as something catastrophic is heading her way. Will she be able to handle some of the deadliest creatures in all existence? Alone any of these would be formidable foes, and Liesel will have the ultimate challenge laid before her, with taking them on all at once. The odds are not in her favor, and it doesn’t look good for the legendary vampire hunter.”
Van Helsing vs The League of Monsters directly follows Dracula’s Daughter and plays out a lot like a big budget blockbuster crossover ala The Avengers or Justice League. All of these monsters are being rounded up into an army with the freshly resurrected Dracula at the helm and his sinister daughter at his side. With Characters like The Wolfman, The Mummy, and even Frankenstein throwing their weight around, it’ll take an equally impressive army to fight back. Good thing Van Helsing has friends of her own.
I think I preferred the previous volume a lot more, but this volume has a lot to offer for fans of classic monsters. When Universal stumbled epically trying to make a shared “Monsterverse” a few years back, I look at something like this done very well and successfully, and wonder what they were smoking? So, if you want to see this concept done right, look no further than these comics from Zenescope.
While these books aren’t literary classics or anything, they are a ton of fun, and at the end of the day, that’s mostly why I read comics. I LOVE these sort of “cheesecake” books with pinup-styled art that harken back to comics from the past, and will support any company that does them.