Product Description

Presenting an incredible Spike saga spanning centuries! A hundred and twenty years ago, a tribe of gypsies inflicted a terrible curse upon the vampire known as Angelus... a curse that brought a terrible vengeance upon the tribe in the form of Angelus' family: Darla, Drusilla and most notably, William the Bloody, a.k.a. "Spike." But the gypsy clan has a dark and powerful supporter: Count Dracula. Outraged over the slaughter of the gypsies, Dracula seeks revenge upon the three vampires... and thus begins a rivalry between Spike and Dracula that will cover decades. A rivalry steeped in blood... honor... and eleven quid.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #324490 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Customer Reviews

Story reccommended, Art, not so much.
The story line is great, 5 individual stories about the run-ins Spike had with Dracula both before and after the buffy episode. The first story had decent artwork, you could tell who each character was, but there after, only occasionally did the drawings look like the charcters; in fact sometimes the art work was archie quality at best and some was even worse. The cover gallery was wonderful. Really captured the feel and the look of the characters. Overall, the art may be frustrating at times, but if you like Spike, you will enjoy the stories.

Story: Innovative / Art: Uneven at best

If this was a one word review, I'd settle for "innovative." Having an entire miniseries dedicated to Spike facing off against the Dracula from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula" was surprisingly daring from IDW, whose Spike/Angel comics have usually been, as a rule, set in Season Five or (very vaguely) Post-Season Five. Reading this series was refreshing, but I do have a few qualms to address. But first, let's applaud the positives.

Positives...
+ The cover art images are fantastic
+ Peter David is good at writing Spike, for the most part, and comes up with some truly great Spike moments
+ Peter David is good at making Dracula seem both epic and, in Spike's words, "poncey" at the same time.
+ Some of the story lines were truly great choices (i.e. the Bela Lugosi show, Dracula's reason for visiting Wolfram and Hart)
+ Each story brings something entirely different to the table
+ Peter David pays a lot of attention to continuity. Each issue in the miniseries makes certain episodes of Angel mean more, particularly Issue #3, which leads right into the flashbacks of the Angel episode "Why We Fight." These seamless ties to the shows continuity make this trade paperback an essential companion to Season Five of Angel.
+ The art in issues one, two, and five (and some of three) is good.

Negatives...
- Some of the better cover images weren't in this graphic novel. It angers me that IDW puts out so many variant covers, yet only includes copies of the original covers in the trade paperbacks.
- Peter David has a heavy hand with using what I refer to as "Easy-Spike-Words." Bugger, bloody, bloody hell, pet. Especially pet, which he says in almost every line he has with Drusilla. Spike wouldn't be Spike without the occasional bloody hell, pet, and bugger, but how much is too much?
- The art in many of these issues was unacceptable. First of all, I don't know if it was experimental or just a problem that they had with the artists, but Issues three through five have two different artists handling the art for each issue. If each issue was done by someone else, I wouldn't LIKE it, but it wouldn't be a big problem. However, when reading one issue, it is very disorienting to have the art change drastically mid-story. And in some of these cases, Issue Four in particular, the art goes from good to horrible. The "Spike" in pages six through twenty-two of Issue #4 looks nothing like Spike at all. If the story wasn't so good for Issue #4, I'd have skipped it all together.

"Spike vs. Dracula" is a good addition to IDW's 'SPIKE' series, but it would have been a lot better--perhaps worthy of induction into canon--if it weren't for the bizarre changes in art mid issue for #3-5. Despite the problems with this trade paperback, I recommend it.

7/10

SPIKE AND DRACULA THROUGH THE AGES
In "Spike Vs. Dracula" we get a battle of the titans between our favorite punk-rocker vamp Spike, and the self-proclaimed, Lord of the Vampires, Count Dracula himself. The story is written by Peter David and takes place within the continuity of the Buffy the Vampire television show. The story actually begins in the late 1800's as Spike, Darla, and Dru have set their fangs upon a troupe of Gypsies, killing them all. Little does the trio know that this group was under the protection of Dracula, bringing them into conflict with the legendary vampire. They soon learn that the tales of Dracula's powers to change into a bat, wolf, or mist are not mere folklore. As in the TV show, it's never really stated why Dracula has these powers and other vampires don't but it's hinted that a gypsy girl taught Dracula these arcane arts.

Dracula sets his sights on revenge against these three young upstarts and the story unfolds over several continents and decades, never being resolved. One amusing chapter takes place in America in the early 30's as all the parties happen to attend the stage version of Dracula played by Bela Lugosi before he would go on to do the film version. Needless to say, the real Dracula is not amused by this Charlatan pretending to be him. The story continues right up through modern day and Angel's takeover of the Wolfram & Hart law firm of which Dracula is a client.

David's story has all the usual doses of humor you expect from one of the great comic writers. Dracula is played to his melodramatic best while Spike merely wants the count to refund him for the eleven pounds he shelled out for Bram Stoker's book over a hundred years earlier! There's quite a few cameos in the book by well known people... the famous and the infamous. You can tell David was enjoying himself the whole way. The art by Joe Corroney, Zach Howard, and a team of inkers is consistent and first rate throughout the entire book. Seeing Spike's look develop over the course of the entire story is a visual treat.

An enjoyable book for fans of Buffy, Angel, or just solid story-telling by IDW.

Reviewed by Tim Janson