Fear Itself Dracula Prem HC

Fear Itself #13

by Victor Gischler

As the possessed, power-enhanced Hulk wreaks havoc through the countryside, only one group stands between him and untold The Vampire Nation! Dracula gathers the newly-united vampire legions to stop the unstoppable, but as volley after volley fails, it appears their only hope may be a mysterious stranger from Dracula's past. Marvel craftsman Victor Gischler and artist-to-watch Ryan Stegman deliver a story with plenty of bite, and they aren't afraid to draw blood! Dracula's plotting son Xarus makes his move to overthrow his father. The ultimate battle for control of Earth's creatures of the night unfolds, with the future of the vampire race - and possibly the Marvel Universe - at stake.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

Comic

First published April 4, 2012

About the author

Victor Gischler is an American author of humorous crime fiction.
Gischler's debut novel Gun Monkeys was nominated for the Edgar Award, and his novel Shotgun Opera was an Anthony Award finalist. His work has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. He earned a Ph.D. in English at the University of Southern Mississippi. His fifth novel Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse was published in 2008 by the Touchstone/Fireside imprint of Simon & Schuster.

He has also writes American comic books like The Punisher: Frank Castle, Wolverine and Deadpool for Marvel Comics. Gischler worked on X-Men "Curse of the Mutants" starting in the Death of Dracula one-shot and continued in X-Men #1.

Gun Monkeys has been optioned for a film adaptation, with Lee Goldberg writing the script and Ryuhei Kitamura penciled in to direct.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hulk Vs. Vampires

That’s it in a nutshell.

Really.

Now you don’t have to read it.

You’re welcome.

More?

*sigh*

Here’s a synopsis, Anne, so it can be considered a "real" review.

Hulk has been deemed one of the “Worthy” by Odin’s evil brother and consequently been given a hammer that makes him indestructible as he spreads fear everywhere he goes. It seems that Thor rope-a-doped him in New York City and sent him flying to the Carpathian Mountains where Dracula and his non-fey-non-emo-non-sparkly vampires live. Hulk smacks around vampires and monsters as he takes the scenic route through Romania. The End.

The other half of this volume deals with the machinations and political intrigue of the vampire world. Aside from an all-female group of vampires that dress like Vegas show girls, you can put a stake through this part of the book and cut off its head. And set it on fire. Just in case.

Despite the Hulk smash-n-bash, this is easily the worst Fear Itself cross over volume I’ve read. So far.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Hulk, and I was reading Fear Itself anyway, so I read this as well.

So, basically, Hulk beats the crap out of some vampires. Then they show Dracula talking about it at a meeting with other vampires. Then we go back to Hulk beating the crap out of more vampires. Then back to the meeting. Then back to Hulk. Etc., etc., the end.

I would have liked this a lot better if it was just one giant, textless (or text-light) issue with nothing but the Hulk smashing everything in sight.

Also, I didn't care for the art at all; it was way too cartoony. In place of previous credits, the artist was billed as "one to watch", which basically means he has no other major credits and is a newbie (and it really showed).

[Anchorpete · Rating 2 out of 5]

At one point, most likely due to the success of Twilight, Marvel wanted to start pushing their vampire characters. the main focus was on Dracula, who had his own one shot (where he died?!?) and then played a major part of a Vampires Vs X-men event (where he was brought back to life).
They put a lot of work into this push. they made a vampire mythology that had different vampire Clans, each with their own design and they brought in a novelist named Victor Gischler.
This book, to me, is just like the Vampires Vs X-men book- trying to be fun and off the wall (Hey Look, Mutants Fighting Vampires! Wow) but falling short, with nothing really uselful to add to the regular Marvel characters that are involved.
Does Hulk have any kind of purpose in this book? None at all? I realize the title is Fear Itself: Dracula, so maybe Hulk is just supposed to be seen as a Disaster, as opposed to a character, but still, there is a lot of time spent on worrying about Hulk, and really nothing else. 80% of this book is characters, standing around a War Room, talking about how hard it is to fight the Hulk.
It is too bad, I like Vampires, and I like Dracula, but the potential was wasted here.

[Pat Sul · Rating 3 out of 5]

my comic reading habit has become chaotic over the last few years - mostly confined to what i can find in the library. often this means that big crossovers are only ever partially read.
this is the case with 'fear itself'.

i have no idea what is going on.
not that it matters to this story, as take away the hammer fueled hulk and you still have a rampaging hulk story.
i liked the conceit of the vampire nation - even if it meant a large nod to 'underworld' and a move away from the opera cloak wearing dapper dracula of gene colan. it is a story that could have been told in, what used to be, an annual issue rather than the 4 issue mini-series it was.
it is complemented with two back up stories - one of them being the best story in the book: the origin of the renegade vampire.

i have no idea if the 'mew' dracula and vampire nation idea is something that marvel has continued or plan to continue with, but it does open up interesting possibilities.

i may even check out some of victor gischler's prose work.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The vampires try to stop the Hammer wielding Hulk. They realise that they're not all powerful. There's a nice introduction to vampires who don't kill humans. An ok read.