Customer Reviews

Dr. Strange Vs. Dracula: The Montesi Formula

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike the previous reviewer, I don't think old-school is bad, especially as the bulk of this collection consists of stories from the 80s, Marvel's second Golden Age.

Wolfman, Englehart, and especially Stern do an exceptional job at providing just the right amount of exposition without either leaving the reader confused or reeling from an infodump. Characters are nicely distinct from another.

The art is spectacular as well, especially Leiahola's in the final story. The cover art is also superb.

I am a big Dracula fan. If you've read many of my reviews you know I own tons of Dracula books. Of all the incarnations of Bram Stoker's great creation, the Marvel Comics adaptation is my favorite. This trade paper back collects multiple issues of Tomb of Dracula and Dr. Strange featuring the interplay between the two.

Dr. Strange finds the mystical Darkhold book and discovers the origins of vampirism in the Marvel Universe. He also discovers how to destroy all Vampires. Meanwhile, the cult of the Darkholders have revived Dracula and have given him immunity to many of his weaknesses including sunlight and religious objects.

Dr. Strange wants the Darkhold to destroy vampires and Dracula wants it for it's dark powers leading to a battle between the two. Also features such Dracula supporting cast members as Blade and Hannibal King.

This Doctor Strange book takes a few issues from the Tomb of Dracula and Doctor Strange series of comics from the mid-1980s and weaves together a story arc that is fun to read as well as, at least for me, some interesting art skills.

You can't beat the master Gene Colan and his stuff shines as we first encounter Count Dracula and Dr. Strange does not fare well. In fact he gets himself bit! Even his astral self has a hard time. Drac is no push-over for sure.

We do see some other guys such as Hannibal King, Blade and others, but they're not well-developed characters here and I felt they were thrown in just to give some interest to the story and are not major players (except for King).

The title of the story, "Montesi Formula" refers to an ancient dark secret discovered by a monk centuries ago that took fragments of a powerful dark book and its formula for destroying vampires. We read how the vampires were created in the first place by The Darkhold which was a cool plot point.

Strange is not so aloof, but quite emotional during most of the story. Dracula is his usual arrogant self which is great to see.

Of the artists, Dan Green (penciller) and Terry Austin (inker) gave the most Ditko-esque view of Strange. And Steve Elialoha's art is perfect for the last chapter, "Deliver Us From Evil!"

Highly recommended for the Strange and Dracula fans, lots of action and the occasional slow-down but overall quite entertaining.

The drawing is a bit old school. The story is solid a must for Doc Strange fans. How could be a better villian that dracula??