Ultrasylvania, Vol. 1: King Dracula

Ultrasylvania #1

by Brian Schirmer

About the Comic:
In this alternate history of 19th century Europe, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and a certain Egyptian resident don’t lurk in the darkness – they’re world leaders, struggling to hold their nations together amid assassination plots, romantic betrayals, and political intrigues.

That’s the world of our story. The setting. And a couple of the major players. But, it’s about a great many things – love, loss, mistrust, espionage, the murkiness of “truth” – and hope in the face of all of that.

Produced in cooperation with the Academy of Art University’s first-of-its-kind Comic Collaborative class, ULTRASYLVANIA was brought to life over the course of fifteen weeks by eleven students, with art direction by Jeremy Saliba (Dynamite’s Wheel of Time) and an original script by Brian Schirmer. Meeting and working in the Academy’s state-of-the-art Cintiq studio, the artists employed a variety of media – pencils, pen and ink, watercolor, all digital – to achieve the finished product.

And, it was written to just be fun! It’s a different take on some classic characters with a few surprises thrown in. Should be a little something in there for everyone. Even you.

io9 calls ULTRASYLVANIA “intriguing” – singling out “Richard Healy’s dark and bleeding watercolors”, “Jonathan Aguillon’s clear black lines and unnatural color palette”, and “Valerio Fabbretti’s detailed realism [which] adds an exciting touch of terror to the opening page, and makes me eager to see the story return to Egypt.” And, Stellar Four says, “The strong storytelling is backed by some outstanding artwork…. I was really blown away.”

Genres: Graphic Novels

94 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Edward Petersen]

Tough to get through, boring, and utterly fragmented both in story and (specifically) art, to a degree I've never seen before.

[Matthew George]

An interesting concept with two classic horror monsters, but the constant shift in art style and the time jumps proved distracting. The art was sometimes beautiful and haunting, at other times cartoonish and unattractive.

[Martina]

Interessante intreccio e particolare storia con due dei miei mostri preferiti della letteratura gotica. un pò caotici i continui sbalzi avanti e indietro nel tempo. bella l'idea di usare diverse tecniche di disegno per ogni tavola, le mie preferite in assoluto restano quelle di Frankenstein anche se non mi dispiacciono alcune fatte in acquarello. Curiosa di andare avanti per poter dare un giudizio migliore.

[Artur Coelho]

Levemente divertido, inconsequente e incoerente. Ultrasylvania regressa ao já batido tema das histórias alternativas em que Drácula reina na europa do século XIX. Neste título, temos Drácula a reinar sobre os penhascos do costume. O monstro de Frankenstein é o benévolo monarca da Bavária, que tenta em vão persuadir o papa católico a ressuscitar o sacro-império romano-germânico. A oriente, a expedição napoleónica ao Egipto ressuscitou mais do que a língua hieroglífica e as forças da Múmia estende-se do Maghreb aos restos do Império Otomano. Neste palco explosivo o escritor Bram Stoker é enviado ao castelo de Drácula, incumbido pelo governo inglês de assassinar o vampiro. O tabuleiro de jogo é ambicioso, as personagens promissoras mas o desenvolvimento do argumento é atabalhoado. Não ajuda a incerteza gráfica, com o pular constante entre diferentes registos estilísticos.

[Silas]

This was a weird mix of Universal Studios monsters and historical political fiction. While I guess it was an imaginative melding of the two, I honestly can't say I am particularly interested in what happened, or where it will go next. It's not poorly written or illustrated, but I also am not engaged by it, either. Unless you have a good deal of love for both of those topics, I would give it a miss.

[J.]

There is some promising stuff here, but the change of artist's every few pages is severely distracting. And there's a bit too much implication instead of explication. But, like I said, there is some interesting stuff in here, too.

[Patrick]

Interesting.

[Philip]

This could have been pretty good, but it was hampered by the constantly shifting art. There are 14 artists (and an "art director") for something like 70 pages of story.