The following is an interview with legendary comic book creators Matt Wagner (Grendel, Mage) and Kelley Jones (Batman: Red Rain, The Sandman) regarding their recent return to Kickstarter for the graphic novel, Dracula – Book III: The Count, through their publishing company, Orlok Press. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Wagner and Jones about why they have enjoyed exploring Dracula’s point of view throughout the graphic novel series, the genesis behind their decision to release the stories in a European-album sized hardcover, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Matt, given that Bram Stoker’s original novel offered little of Dracula’s point of view while in England, what can you share with us about your creative process in weaving this segment of the vampire lord’s journey?
Matt Wagner: We’re not focusing on Dracula’s perspective just beginning in this volume. Both of our previous tales…BOOK I—THE IMPALER and BOOK II—THE BRIDES…were also told via Dracula’s own POV. Fans of Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel know that it’s epistolary, meaning it has no omniscient narrator and is staged in the form of letters, private journal entries and newspaper articles. One of the other aspects of Stoker’s original story that many readers find frustrating is the fact that once the action shifts from the Carpathian highlands to the foggy streets of Victorian London, Dracula himself is basically off-stage for much of the remainder of the book. He’s portrayed as more of a shadowy presence rather than a corporeal threat. We wanted to come at our version of Dracula via the opposite side of both of these motifs by having Dracula be center-stage for the entire narrative and to present things from his perspective.
That’s not to say this approach is a whitewash…we’re not trying to make him more heroic or sympathetic. Our Dracula, like the one in Stoker’s novel, is a fucking monster through and through. But he’s also a human monster…or at least he was before his undeath…and so the trick was to strike the chords that would make him both engaging and understandable without sacrificing or sugar-coating his vicious sins. And, let’s face it…I created and have written GRENDEL for over forty years so I do have some experience with this sort of story. All that said, in some ways this volume is the one we’ve been aimed towards since our epic project began; BOOK III—THE COUNT coincides with the actions from the original novel…but isn’t an adaptation of the novel per se. Again, Dracula is off-stage for most of this part of the book and, after all, he’s gotta be doing something! We’re bringing his shadowy actions to light for the very first time as we show how the vampire lord explores and adapts to live in what was, at the time, one of the world’s most metropolitan cities, an environment vastly different from the isolated castle and rustic mountains where he’d spent the past four hundred years. He definitely has dark schemes that he seeks to enact, beyond the mere feeding on so many fresh sources of blood. What’s he doing in London? What are his goals and how is going about planting the seeds of his dark and insidious plans? That’s what BOOK III—THE COUNT is bringing to our readers.
BD: Kelley, your artistic style naturally exudes deep ambience, tone, and mood. When breathing new life (or undeath) to Dracula’s story while set in Victorian London, is there anything that guides or propels your approach to the artwork?
Kelley Jones: Already a semi-lit world at best and London itself becoming a modern city while still anchored to its old heritage, Dracula is much like the city he openly walks now. He slips in and out of the light. All this makes the city a character to me. A living thing and one that shapes the story rather than just becomes place names. The life of the book depends on this world being alive and dangerous whether Dracula’s on the page or not.
BD: This third volume of the graphic novel series will again be produced in a beautiful, high-quality European-sized hardcover. What can you share with readers about your production process for bringing these incredible books to life?
MW: We knew from the beginning that we wanted these books to be European album-sized. Part of that impulse was to honor the source material’s origins but also to give Kelley’s magnificent art the proper space to breathe and display its expansive splendor. And, holy shit…that part really shows! I’m constantly writing scenes and panels that I think are geared towards Kelley’s strengths and I’m always thinking, “Oh, man…Kel is gonna kill it here!” And then, when he sends me the pencil stage of these pages and it’s so, so often even better than I had been imagining! And I’m an artist, too, so it’s even more remarkable when he surprises me like that…it’s absolutely magical. I generally start writing the script for each new volume shortly after the Kickstarter campaign for the previous book wraps up and I hand it over to Kel around the first of the New Year. And then he gets rolling on the art, leading us up to the new campaign in October—spooky season, it is Dracula after all. Kel tells me he always prints out the script and likes to read them through in hard copy format a couple of times before he starts to draw.
When this whole project began, I bought us both a pair for really cool Dracula whiskey tumblers that feature the logo on the front along with a blood spatter and Bran Stoker’s signature and then the first three lines of the actual novel on the back. For anyone who hasn’t noticed yet, we use the same DRACULA logo that was featured as the title on the first hardcover edition of the original book. Anyway, when each campaign ends, Kel and I both pour ourselves a healthy shot of bourbon and raise a toast to the most famous literary character of all time. It’s a way to honor how much fun we having in continuing the vampire lord’s timeless legend.
KJ: For me the originality and power of this epic becomes its own source of inspiration. When you feel something new is being said, it allows for so much more freedom to try new things to try and capture that spirit. I think my work in DRACULA has taken a life of its own due to that.
BD: Why do you feel that crowdfunding has been such a valuable resource to ensuring the success of today’s comic book creators?
MW: The comic book market has been an evolving business model for pretty much its entire existence. Long gone are the days where newsstand access supplied by questionable distribution sources, complete with returnable product was the norm. Then, we saw the rise of the direct sales market, which seemed to focus the retail machine towards a more specified audience and made it easier for small publishers to exist thanks to the no-returns aspect of this new model. But as time has gone on, a lot of comic retailers find themselves having to turn to carrying more and more merchandising product with tie-ins to the booming superhero trends in film and animation. As a result, these stores often sacrifice a diminishing acreage of shelf space to the actual comics themselves. Granted, there are still many stores that take a great pride in focusing only on the art and literary aspects of comics, rather than the t-shirts and toys and backpacks. But those tend to be centered in urban areas as opposed to the malls of middle America. Kickstarter and the various other crowdfunding sources are just the next stage in creators trying to directly reach their readership and to control not only their intellectual property but also the business decisions associated with their product.
KJ: Crowdfunding means freedom to me. Freedom always makes good art. The real joy is that you make something that is clearly from the heart.
BD: In light of the Kickstarter campaign, are there any particular backer rewards that you would like to highlight for our readers?
MW: We’ve done a variety of rewards with each campaign and find that it’s great fun to mix up what we offer with each new campaign. For BOOK III—THE COUNT, as per usual, we’ll have our standard three editions of the book itself; one with Kelley’s main cover, one with my variant cover and a limited signed & numbered edition. We’ve also offered a premium level of reward with each campaign that involves original art. Most people don’t know that Kelley doesn’t sell his original art all that often so demand for his originals is always high. And for this volume, we’re offering something really special…a true collaboration between Kelley and myself! We are producing 10 original pieces, sized 8.5×11” that are pencilled and inked by Kelley and then color-painted by me! These are really beautiful pieces (if I do say so myself) and they will almost certainly sell out quickly…again, there are only ten color originals and, needless to say, they will be priced at a premium cost. So interested buyers should visit the Kickstarter page for BOOK III—THE COUNT and sign up to be notified as soon as the campaign goes live. But, there’s also an option for those who either can’t afford such a high-tag reward or who just don’t manage to get their pledges in on time. We’re also producing a full-color portfolio featuring plates of all ten pieces. The folios will come with a signed & numbered certificate of authentication, signed by both Kelley and myself. And, of course, backers can still access many of the various rewards we offered with the first two campaigns, including the B&W portfolio from BOOK I, the gicleé-style print from BOOK II and the various merch. If this is your first time hearing about our epic DRACULA project, you can still claim copies of the exclusive hardcover editions of BOOKs I & II from Orlok Press.
KJ: I think the prints we do are a lot of fun and I’m a sucker for the ball caps with the Orlok logo.
