By d. emerson eddy — October is generally a good month for ghosts and ghoulies, things that go bump in the night, and horror stories and this year does not disappoint. Just in time for Halloween, Mark Sable and Salgood Sam's crowd-funded graphic novel mixing history and horror as a Comixology Original in Dracula: Son of the Dragon.

In this first volume of what I hope is many, we follow the actual history of Vlad Dracul and two of his primary sons, Vlad Dracula and Radu, through to essentially Dracula's repatriation with his father after being held as a “ward” by the Ottoman Empire. It blends in bits of historical fact and fiction, building on myths of the strigoi and arcane schools to tell a very compelling story. Mark Sable has a deep love of Dracula overall and has put in a lot of time and research into both truth and fable and it shows here in the script. It's also very impressive that it never feels like dry recounting of historical fact. This isn't a textbook, though it delivers a lot of information, it still flows nicely as a story. Of a Vlad Dracula telling his tale to a motley crew of diverse holy men looking to see if his soul is still worthy of heaven. The fantastical elements of the Scholomance are also an intriguing part of the lore that often seems to get left out of retellings, beautifully spotlighted here as part of the intersection of fact and fable.

I've been a fan of Salgood Sam's work since Saint Sinner for Marvel's Razorline with Clive Barker and Elaine Lee. He has an ability to seamlessly change elements of his style to work with whichever story he's telling, going from some trippy surrealism in Revolver to gritty, visceral horror in Sea of Red. Here, his artwork tends towards the latter, with a very earthy style mixing a blend of historical authenticity with horror and fantasy elements. It works incredibly well, giving you that kind of feel you often expect from non-fiction biographies in comics, kind of like Rick Geary's work (although an entirely different art style). Still, we see Salgood break out some gorgeous layouts, especially during some of the more fantastical moments in the story. 

Salgood colors his own art here, with flats from Becka Kinzie, opting for a relatively muted colour scheme of brown and green earth tones. This too gives it a grounded feel, making the reds of the dragon jump out all the more when we see the beast. Likewise, Salgood letters his own work and it very nicely becomes part of the overall visual design for each page. I really quite like the place headings.

There's also a wonderful set of end notes from Mark Sable that goes into the research and provenance of many of the different bits of history and lore that went into crafting the story. For enthusiasts of both Vlad Tepes' history and of Bram Stoker's Dracula, this is an invaluable addition. It enriches the story being told with information about how many of the pieces fit and gives sources for more investigation, if you so choose. It also gives us hope for more volumes.

Overall, Dracula: Son of the Dragon is a welcome addition to the Dracula canon, blending fact and fiction in intriguing ways, working as a somewhat historical document in addition to the vampire myth. Mark Sable, Salgood Sam, and Becka Kinzie weave a compelling story, bringing new depth to familiar tales.

Dracula: Son of the Dragon
Writer: Mark Sable
Artist: Salgood Sam
Color Flats: Becka Kinzie
Publisher: Sablevision
Price: $6.99

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.