Review of
Travelers No. 8: Springtime for Vlad Tepes
in Romania, comic written by Tony DiGerolamo
Five out of five stars
One of the most unusual opening segments
Vlad Tepes was
a ruler in the Eastern European province of Wallachia in the fifteenth century and
he is the source of the legend of Count Dracula. He was the second son of Vlad
Dracul, who was the ruler of Wallachia when Vlad was young. Known to history as
a cruel man, few people would have voluntarily traveled to the castle of Vlad
Tepes.
In the opening of
this story, a traveling circus is moving towards the castle occupied by Vlad
fifty years ago. The scenery is unpleasant, yet consistent with the legends of
how Vlad ruled his lands. There is a temporal shift to the present where the
owner of a deli is offering up samples of what he is considering as new menu items.
A woman in a fur bikini wearing a Viking hat, a small man with elf ears, and a
man in a padre outfit are among the patrons.
The plotline
then takes another twist, as the reader learns that everyone in the group are
vampires. They move on via a wagon and when they arrive to give a performance
for a king, one of them states that they are “the jolly jugular jugglers.” A
pun on the jugular vein of the neck, a prime target for the vampire. The group
goes before the king and when he tries to destroy them a twist of fate that is
actually a bobble saves them. In conclusion, there is a happy ever after
unusual love story.
Bizarre is a
light word to describe this oddball comic. Yes, it is an overdose of the
vampire plot device, but that heavy hand is lightened with humor and genuine stupidity.
One does not often encounter stupidity when the characters are vampires.
No comments:
Post a Comment