Customer Reviews

Spike vs. Dracula

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

 

 

The story line is great, 5 individual stories about the run-ins Spike had with Dracula both before and after the buffy episode. The first story had decent artwork, you could tell who each character was, but there after, only occasionally did the drawings look like the charcters; in fact sometimes the art work was archie quality at best and some was even worse. The cover gallery was wonderful. Really captured the feel and the look of the characters. Overall, the art may be frustrating at times, but if you like Spike, you will enjoy the stories.

If this was a one word review, I'd settle for "innovative." Having an entire miniseries dedicated to Spike facing off against the Dracula from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula" was surprisingly daring from IDW, whose Spike/Angel comics have usually been, as a rule, set in Season Five or (very vaguely) Post-Season Five. Reading this series was refreshing, but I do have a few qualms to address. But first, let's applaud the positives.

Positives...
+ The cover art images are fantastic
+ Peter David is good at writing Spike, for the most part, and comes up with some truly great Spike moments
+ Peter David is good at making Dracula seem both epic and, in Spike's words, "poncey" at the same time.
+ Some of the story lines were truly great choices (i.e. the Bela Lugosi show, Dracula's reason for visiting Wolfram and Hart)
+ Each story brings something entirely different to the table
+ Peter David pays a lot of attention to continuity. Each issue in the miniseries makes certain episodes of Angel mean more, particularly Issue #3, which leads right into the flashbacks of the Angel episode "Why We Fight." These seamless ties to the shows continuity make this trade paperback an essential companion to Season Five of Angel.
+ The art in issues one, two, and five (and some of three) is good.

Negatives...
- Some of the better cover images weren't in this graphic novel. It angers me that IDW puts out so many variant covers, yet only includes copies of the original covers in the trade paperbacks.
- Peter David has a heavy hand with using what I refer to as "Easy-Spike-Words." Bugger, bloody, bloody hell, pet. Especially pet, which he says in almost every line he has with Drusilla. Spike wouldn't be Spike without the occasional bloody hell, pet, and bugger, but how much is too much?
- The art in many of these issues was unacceptable. First of all, I don't know if it was experimental or just a problem that they had with the artists, but Issues three through five have two different artists handling the art for each issue. If each issue was done by someone else, I wouldn't LIKE it, but it wouldn't be a big problem. However, when reading one issue, it is very disorienting to have the art change drastically mid-story. And in some of these cases, Issue Four in particular, the art goes from good to horrible. The "Spike" in pages six through twenty-two of Issue #4 looks nothing like Spike at all. If the story wasn't so good for Issue #4, I'd have skipped it all together.

"Spike vs. Dracula" is a good addition to IDW's 'SPIKE' series, but it would have been a lot better--perhaps worthy of induction into canon--if it weren't for the bizarre changes in art mid issue for #3-5. Despite the problems with this trade paperback, I recommend it.

7/10

In "Spike Vs. Dracula" we get a battle of the titans between our favorite punk-rocker vamp Spike, and the self-proclaimed, Lord of the Vampires, Count Dracula himself. The story is written by Peter David and takes place within the continuity of the Buffy the Vampire television show. The story actually begins in the late 1800's as Spike, Darla, and Dru have set their fangs upon a troupe of Gypsies, killing them all. Little does the trio know that this group was under the protection of Dracula, bringing them into conflict with the legendary vampire. They soon learn that the tales of Dracula's powers to change into a bat, wolf, or mist are not mere folklore. As in the TV show, it's never really stated why Dracula has these powers and other vampires don't but it's hinted that a gypsy girl taught Dracula these arcane arts.

Dracula sets his sights on revenge against these three young upstarts and the story unfolds over several continents and decades, never being resolved. One amusing chapter takes place in America in the early 30's as all the parties happen to attend the stage version of Dracula played by Bela Lugosi before he would go on to do the film version. Needless to say, the real Dracula is not amused by this Charlatan pretending to be him. The story continues right up through modern day and Angel's takeover of the Wolfram & Hart law firm of which Dracula is a client.

David's story has all the usual doses of humor you expect from one of the great comic writers. Dracula is played to his melodramatic best while Spike merely wants the count to refund him for the eleven pounds he shelled out for Bram Stoker's book over a hundred years earlier! There's quite a few cameos in the book by well known people... the famous and the infamous. You can tell David was enjoying himself the whole way. The art by Joe Corroney, Zach Howard, and a team of inkers is consistent and first rate throughout the entire book. Seeing Spike's look develop over the course of the entire story is a visual treat.

An enjoyable book for fans of Buffy, Angel, or just solid story-telling by IDW.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

I purchased this item not completely aware of what it was. When it arrived I was concerned, but I soon found a new way to enjoy the Buffy the Vampire Slayer saga. I would definitely continue to purchase more items just like this. If you like Spike, this is definitely a way to continue his story!

"Spike vs. Dracula" is a graphic novel written by Peter David with art by various artists.

If you're like me, you probably found the BTVS episode "Buffy vs. Dracula" a bit underwhelming, both in its plot and its depiction of Dracula.

However, I can wholeheartedly say that "Spike vs. Dracula" surpasses the Buffy episode on which it is based.

In "Buffy vs. Dracula," Spike mentions that he and Drac are old rivals, and that Dracula owes him 11 pounds.

"Spike vs. Dracula" has an intricate, ever-changing plot as it details Spike and Dracula's encounters over decades and decades, starting from Spike's earliest days as a vampire all the way to Spike's time as an incorporeal ghost vampire with a soul at Wolfram & Hart.

Dracula's portrayal and backstory itself is much more interesting than what we got on BTVS.

The story starts out very strong, with Spike and Dracula's first encounter very humorous. We get to see exactly how Dracula owes Spike the 11 quid, or so he feels.

The book's tone and subplots keep shifting through all the various time changes. It reads more like a mini-series than one focused story, but it ties in very well to the canon of the TV shows. One downside is the artists keep changing as well, and the quality varies, but overall the artwork is good.

The one aspect that seems to tie it all together is Spike's never-ending quest to get his 11 pounds back. Does he get it back? Ah-ah, that would be telling!

One downside for Spike fans, though, that I think I should mention is that Dracula ends up becoming more Angel's rival than Spike's by the end of the story. And ultimately the always-shifting plot just leads to a punchline.

But this story adds a lot more to the Dracula mythos than the original Buffy episode did. And if Backstory's your thing, then this is definitely for you. It's also nice that we get to see Spike's change through the ages. If you like all forms of Spike, you get both Good and Bad Spike in this one.

Recommended.

Having come across Peter David first through his Trek tie-in novels, he strikes me as being a writer who likes to incorporate canon into his stories and he does fairly well in getting the characters right. He's also good with humor and I think he shines most when he nails this aspect of Spike's character.

The story follows Spike across five chapters and different time periods in which the two characters run across one another. Some of these are better than others. I particularly liked stories 4 and 5. The artwork was also pretty good for most of the book but had some very strange and jarring transitions. While I thought it was ok to change to a different (and ok) artist in Chapter 5, both chapters 3 and 4 were done half and half, with two artists doing two different sections of the stories. One artist had done stories 1 and 2 (quite well, I thought) and then the other, whose style was pretty reminiscent of the awful drawings of the Spike and Dru standalone written by Christopher Golden and James Marsters, did parts of 3 and 4.

At least one thing that was nice about waiting for the individual issues to be compiled was the look of the book as a whole, and the inclusion of the various covers as well as bonus photos of James Marsters (for whatever reason). Especially for people who enjoy the Spike character this will definitely be worth reading. More general comics fans or Whedon fans will likely enjoy parts of it.

I guess you really shouldn't rate something on whether you liked the story line or not...Dracula didn't deserve his own comic with equal billing with Spike. Novel idea, but...left a boring taste in my mouth. But still, it takes me back a bit, so I was ok giving it 4 stars.

The rivalry between Spike & Dracula in the Buffy series was alluded to, but never developed. How could Dracula owe Spike 11 pounds? Not only does this comic (which is a collection of all 5 of the releases issues, complete with cover art for all the issues sans lettering) develop the rivalry between the two of them, but it also tells a little bit more of the story of the gypsies that cursed Angelus with a soul. If you like Spike (and how could you not?), this is a definite read.