THE DRACULA FILE

released 19 OctOber Publisher rebellion

Writers Gerry Finley-day, simon Furman, Ken Noble Artist eric bradbury

Eighties horror comic Scream! ran for just 15 issues before being shuttered, but still lingers in the memories of the kids who devoured its gruesome strips every week – in large part thanks to this strip by Rogue Trooper veterans Gerry Finley-Day and Eric Bradbury.

Set in 1984, it sees Dracula “defecting” from Cold War-era Romania to Blighty. Initially confined to a KGB safehouse in the countryside, he escapes to roam the streets of the capital.

Boasting a sky-high body count, The Dracula File is episodic and repetitious – partly thanks to the need to keep explaining the premise – but the way it mashes together Bram Stoker’s lore with contemporary urban situations is engaging. Anyone left disappointed when Hammer’s Dracula AD 1972 confined the Count to an abandoned church will be delighted to find him menacing a double-decker bus, tangling with chain-wielding bikers, and emerging as mist from a postbox. And looking at Bradbury’s bloodthirsty visuals you can understand why some of the high-ups at publishers IPC got the jitters.

Satisfyingly completist, this collection includes one-off strips from “summer special” issues of Scream! (the work of other hands), Dracula covers and “pin-ups” from the original comic, two pages of Bradbury art for an unpublished story, and a contextualising essay. Ian Berriman