Matt Wagner And Kelley Jones Talk Dracula Vol.1 The Impaler

A Lot At Stake

Legendary veteran comic creators Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones have just launched a kickstarter for their Dracula Vol 1 The Impaler and it’s already a huge success. They just spoke to Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows about the project…

Matt Wagner

TRIPWIRE: How long has this been percolating in your head for?

MATT  WAGNER: I can honestly say decades.  I’ve been a horror fan since I was a kid and, of all the classic monster archetypes, I’ve always felt the most drawn to vampires and, of course, the most famous vampire—hell, the most famous literary character—of all time, Dracula.  I’ve always loved his many movie incarnations but I’ve also been fascinated with Stoker’s original novel.  But anyone who’s a fan of the novel knows that Dracula is, in fact, off-stage for a lot of the narrative.  He’s more or a shadowy presence who’s actions invade and infect those around him.  As a result, I’ve always wanted to know more about the character and Stoker drops enough hints as to Dracula’s history and persona that I would often find myself filling in those tantalizing gaps in the narrative. These are the stories that have literally haunted my imagination for, yes, decades.

TW: You have been friends with Kelley Jones for years but why has it taken so long to collaborate on a long-form story?

MW: Kelley and I first met on the con circuit when we both contributed art for Neil Gaiman’s seminal SEASON OF MISTS story arc in his classic SANDMAN series (the lion’s share of which was Kelley’s).  We immediately hit it off over our mutual love of horror fiction in all its various forms and a common sense of humor.  And we said that someday we should team up on creating something together…something that we both knew would be grand.  But, the realities of life and our professional careers always seemed to shove us in different directions because, just from a sheer logistical standpoint, we both knew that “something grand” would involve a huge commitment of time.  But then, just a couple of years ago, I’d posted something on Facebook to which Kelley responded with our tried-and-true echo of, “We’ve really gotta team up on something someday!”  The difference this time around was that my many years of stewing over a Dracula narrative was finally fully gestated in my head and ready to come to fruition.  I contacted Kell privately and said, “Are you serious about us doing something?  Because, now…I’ve actually got an idea that I think is perfect for us!”  So I guess it was just fate that made us wait that long for this to finally happen…because the results are fucking incredible—the magnum opus of anything we might have ever hoped to create together!

TW: With such a well-mined story, how important was it for you to create a brand new tale that felt fresh?

MW: Dracula is such a compelling character but, like I said, he’s off-stage for a lot of the active narrative.  That in itself lends proof to how powerful and magnetic his character is portrayed…even from the shadows, he’s captivated audiences for over a hundred years.  The original novel is one of only a short list of books that has never been out of print since its initial publication. We’re taking all the cryptic details Stoker unveils, filtering those through thousands of years of vampiric folklore and, of course, leavening it all with the many different incarnations of Dracula that have appeared on screen over the years to create our version of this iconic character’s history.  And I want to make it clear… this isn’t yet another retelling of the novel in comics form.  We’re bringing you the never-before told stories behind the story…the sinister tales hidden in and around the shadows of the original narrative.  This is Dracula as you’ve never seen him before…and yet our portrayal is also frightening familiar.

Kelley Jones

TRIPWIRE: You are no stranger to drawing Dracula. How different was your approach this time around?

KELLEY JONES: For our epic saga, I wanted to portray Vlad, the prince of Wallachia, and create the man whose soul defined his vampirism. His journey towards the curse that he lays before himself is one that he brings about by his own actions. That’s the thing that makes this telling of Dracula unique and totally within the canon of the story Stoker created. I found that not drawing a simply two dimensional evil villain made the all-too-human Vlad much much more frightening . Matt’s vision of the character was a powerfully intelligent warlord who was complicated, unsettling and calculatingly ruthless before anything supernatural happens.  No romantic tortured soul but one who inflicts torture calmly and efficiently with an aristocratic assurance that God is on his side.

TW: You could have taken this to a traditional publisher but you chose to do it through crowdfunding. It has done extremely well so far so what are the pros and cons of pursuing it through this route?

KJ: The pros far outweigh the cons.  Matt and I had no one to answer to so far as what gruesome and lurid thing we were depicting. The story was free to be told as uncompromising as Matt wanted with great sincerity. Horror stories have a different set of rules and sometimes (most of the time!) that runs afoul of a regular publisher’s designs. Man…as a creator nothing is better than knowing anything’s possible on the blank page!

TW: What is it about Bram Stoker’s creation that continues to engage with readers many decades after Dracula’s debut?

KJ: Dracula is a great villain. His very name is synonymous with evil. The fact that he feeds on us, that he is superior to us is fantastically chilling! We are his food and a place to satisfy his lust…no more than his playthings. And to resist is to suffer worse than death. What’s not to love about him?!!

support the project here on Kickstarter