By Steve Baxi — From 1976 to 1983, Argentina was in the midst of what was called “The Dirty War,” a military dictatorship that led to thousands of deaths and disappearances in the country, the toll of which are virtually impossible to report accurately. Much of my understanding of these events comes from Antonius C.G.M. Robben’s 2018 book, Argentina Betrayed: Memory, Mourning, and Accountability. According to Robben:

“The most succinct summary of the mode of operation was provided by Vice-Admiral Luis Maria Mendia, who told officers shortly before the military coup: ‘Thus, we shall act with civilian clothing, in quick operations, intense interrogations, practices of torture, and physical elimantion by means of operations in aircrafts from which, during the flight, the living and the narcotized bodies of the victims will be thrown into the air, thus giving them ‘a Christian death.’” (Robben, p. 10-11). 

In the years following this authoritarian government, Alberto Breccia published a series of Dracula stories which satirized the horrors he witnessed. According to his former collaborator, Carlos Trillo, Breccia’s metaphors were a mode of survival, allowing the surreal and grotesque images to say all they needed to say without risking political retribution. The radical beauty of Breccia’s work is that the interpretations of these images are not rigorously policed by dialogue or dense text, but rather are entirely up to the relationship between the mind and the image. They allowed for an interpretive freedom, as a replacement for political freedom, to exist in Argentina at the time.

Alberto Breccia’s Dracula presented here by Fantagraphics, complete with sketchbooks and notes, is a treasure of comics history and powerful statement about the need for art in dark times. Each story roughly tracks a washed up Dracula as he traverses the landscape of a changing world, losing his bite (literally) and former glory. The tragedy, as well as the humor, is asking how the world could become so dark that even the Prince of Darkness himself feels lost. 

Breccia’s style focuses on heavy blacks, water colors and densely populated crowds that force the reader into a controlled overstimulation. His gaze is not condemnation, but rather a morbid fascination with the state of our world. Things are dirty, villains and heroes are unclear, and any sense of pleasure is purely hedonistic. The opening story of this collection, “The Last Night of Carnival” operates as almost a swan song to the days of Dracula’s glory. His power, his dominance, his dictatorship of culture is now a mere footnote to the base pleasures and horrors we’ve witnessed. Dracula himself is lost in this world just as we are lost in the frenzy of crowds. Every panel requires a moment of readjusting to find where Dracula is, and the abstract designs force a slower pace as we try to parse out where Dracula stops and the outer world begins. 

The humor is drenched with political irony and sharp critique. “I Was Legend” is perhaps the best example of this as we follow Dracula through death, poverty, miltary violence and torture so horrific that Vlad the Impaler himself has no choice but to take up the cross and pray for our souls. In “Poe? Yuck!,” Dracula stalks Edgar Allan Poe only to find himself inebriated by Poe’s high blood-alcohol level. Our two prophets of darkness are themselves weak and subordinated to the world around them.

Dracula in particular is a beautiful choice of protagonist here since his public domain status, intentionally or not, provides another window into the questions of radical freedom and imperialism of western culture that Breccia is wrestling with. While Breccia’s legacy is clear in mainstream American comics through artists like Dave McKeen, his true bite is in taking western iconography and juxtaposing it with the grimy decadence all around him. The opening story lampoon’s western imperialism in the form of “Superman” trying to save the day from our thirsty vampire only to die just as impotently as Dracula, and in “I Was Legend,” a sign reads “Things Go Better With Coca Cola'' behind a soup line. 

Alberto Breccia’s Dracula is a classic for good reason. The storytelling on display here is earnest, almost like laughing with a friend as you air out your troubles. Breccia is not nihilistic, disengaged or judgemental of the world. Rather, he’s holding your hand through a dark valley. More and more, we live in a world of monopolized culture, we have lived through and continue to see art in dark times. Thus, Breccia’s Dracula is as important today as it was in 1984. Just as this collection takes on new artistic meaning today, it is crucial to help highlight the consequences of the real historical horrors which inspired it.

Graphic Novel Review: Alberto Breccia’s Dracula

Alberto Breccia’s Dracula
Writer/Artist: Alberto Breccia
Publisher: Fantagraphics
In this wordless, full-color collection of satiric short comics stories, an internationally acclaimed cartoonist chronicles the waning days of the most famous vampire of them all.
Alberto Breccia's Dracula is composed of a series of brutally funny satirical misadventures starring the hapless eponymous antihero. Literally defanged (a humiliating trip to the dentist doesn't help), the protagonist's glory days are long behind him and other, more sinister villains (a corrupt government, overtly backed by American imperialism) are sickening and draining the life out of the villagers far more than one creature of the night ever could. This is the first painted, full-color entry in Fantagraphics' artist-focused Alberto Breccia Library, and the atmospheric palette adds mood and dimension. It also includes a sketchbook showing the artist's process.
Dracula has no co-author, and so Breccia's carnivalesque vision is as pure Breccia as it gets. Created during the last of a succession of Argentine military dictatorships (1982–1983), this series of short comics stories ran in Spain's Comix Internacional periodical in 1984. The moral purpose of Breccia's expressionistic art style is made explicit; he shows that every ounce of his grotesque, bloated characters' flesh and blood has been cruelly extracted from the less fortunate.
Alberto Breccia's Dracula is part of the The Alberto Breccia Library series.
Price: $19.99
Publication Date: August 24, 2021
More Info: Alberto Breccia’s Dracula

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Steve Baxi has a Masters in Ethics and Applied Philosophy, with focuses in 20th Century Aesthetics and Politics. Steve creates video essays and operates a subscription based blog where he writes on pop culture through a philosophy lens. He tweets through @SteveSBaxi.