Book 2
Dracula Everlasting 1 by Nunzio DeFilippis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
There is something about the idea of “American Manga” that annoys me in some ways (which really has nothing to do with my review, just venting a little). Especially when presented in the Japanese style without actually being done by a Japanese artist. I know we’re cashing in on the manga craze which apparently means American graphic novels don’t count. Okay, enough about that, let’s get into the thing I’m here to review.
This is of course a revisiting of Dracula in the modern day. Nicholas Harker is your typical pretty boy (in fact a little too pretty to be the shy retiring type that the girls don’t pay attention to which is how he’s presented. Nope, no one this cute gets ignored). He has just lost his parents in a car accident and Miranda Hawthorne meets him, telling him she’s the family lawyer and he has now just inherited the Harker estate which his parents hadn’t wanted. Somehow Jonathan and Mina Harker became richer than Croesus and it’s all Nicholas’s and he’ll be her ward.
Miranda’s young daughter, Jill, is in the same class and she tries to befriend Nicholas which goes rocky especially after they find a pocket watch with the engraving ‘Everlasting’ on it. It opens and Dracula possesses Nicholas. Naturally he is more powerful at night and when a ‘blacked out’ Nicholas tries to attack her, Jill stops him. Apparently her presence brings Nicholas back to himself. They go to a psychic to find out more.
Unfortunately Nicholas can’t control Dracula (especially around mirrors or at night) and his personality begins to change. He gets confident enough to approach the Popular Girls! He waivers between them and Jill who is starting to suspect something when people begin to die. Enter Hecate (Cate) trying to find her mother’s killer (i.e. Dracula) and Detective McCallister, whom people are mistaking as Van Helsing. People meaning the Renfields. Renfield’s descendants (he had them?!?) are waiting for Dracula’s rebirth. Karl Renfield is a prison warden and is moderately spooky. His three beloved sons are even creepier, almost inhuman, looking and then there’s the ‘runt’ Mason who has the bad boy good looks but the family doesn’t really like him since he’s so ‘ugly.’ Naturally it’s Mason’s job to steer Nicholas into fully becoming Dracula.
It’s not a bad story. It’s not great either. It’s moderately entertaining and if it is what the back says a three book epic, I’d be interested in getting the next one. The art is very nice.
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Books -1 Manga/Graphic Novels - 1