DriveThruComics.com
Narrow Results
$ to $







Back
pixel_trans.gif
Return of the Monsters: Black Bat vs Dracula $1.99 $1.49
Average Rating:2.0 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 1
0 0
Return of the Monsters: Black Bat vs Dracula
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Return of the Monsters: Black Bat vs Dracula
Publisher: Moonstone
by Chet C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/18/2013 00:45:47

Well - uh -

Boy, do I hate to say it. Maybe I can make this a little kinder.

It could have been better.

The writer starts from the assumption that every reader knows who these characters are. An incorrect assumption, as this is an issue that most people will pick up even if they don't know any character but Dracula. Let's face it: Hardly anything with "Dracula" in the title is going to lose money.

But how many people know who the Black Bat is/was? And who's this Rachel dressed as an even-more badly designed Azrael-Batman? Why is Dracula in this particular city at this time, and why is Rachel hunting him? What's her relation, if any, to Black Bat? (They seem to know each other.) The story seems to be chase, chase, chase, fight, chase some more, fight, stop the story before it ends.

It's really hard to tell what's going on sometimes. The art is very pretty, and filled with lots of extra lines which aren't needed. (Alex Toth would have a fit!) But the artist seems to want to fill up space and show off his/her art - not tell a story.

SPOILER WARNINGS!!!

The plot is: Dracula is killing prostitutes. Rachel hunts Dracula. He almost successfully seduces her but Black Bat saves her. (Surprised?) Dracula is driven away by a Really Badly Drawn Schtick. (The items used to drive him away are not the items which would drive him away, nor do they look like them.)

We don't get to know the Bat. We don't get to know Dracula. (We just assume he's like the most cliched movie version.) And we don't get to know Rachel, other than - like a stereotyped woman hero, she comes from an abusive background. Look, it worked well enough with Red Sonja, but does EVERY abused person put on a costume and go hunting bad guys and monsters? In far too many comics, they do -- and that's all we ever see into their character.

Every person seeing this title, especially if they know who Black Bat was, really wants to read this book and hungrily wants to like it. We were ready to forgive a lot, and we have to if we want to finish the story. (Which doesn't finish, using the stereotyped "The End?" blurb.) We have come to expect so much from Moonstone.

It could've been a contender. The best I can say is "It's not as bad as it could have been."

I really - REALLY - wanted to like this.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 1 (of 1 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates