liisp_cvr2cvr's review against another edition
5.0
Dracula is my most favourite vampire, ever. End of. He’s a legend for a reason and immortal in the literary world. He does not take centre stage in Anno Dracula, though. Not in a sense that you’ll see him baring his fangs on every page and panel… No… He already has Britain, the Royal Navy and the Special Branch of law enforcement. The struggle in this GN is in between the side who fights to keep this power and the side rebelling against it. Dracula is too big of a bigwig to grace us with his presence… it would be unheard of to see a country’s president fighting on the front lines. But add a threesome of women into the picture and he may just have an offer to make… 😉
The spotlight in this GN is on Kate Reed, aka Wednesday, member of the Council of The Seven Days. Also, Irish. And a hippy vampire. So… yeah, even though she is ultimately the one that comes with sass and probably saves the day, I didn’t really like her that much. Just shows.. if she would have been, say, Friday in the Council of The Seven Days, I bet you, I would have liked her a whole lot more. Kate is the ultimate goody-two-shoes. She’s a vampire but not once do you see her sinking her fangs into someone, not even the bad guys…
Same cannot be said for Penelope Churchward. Now, she is a female I can root for… as a socialite, she is used to taking what she likes and even if it gets messy she still comes out from the other side looking like a lady. Yeah, she’s totally a bit of a ‘mean girl‘ but hey, don’t hate the achiever!
Anyway… Kate and Penny don’t really mix well… they’re just too different and the ‘opposites attract’ doesn’t work in their favour here. That is until political conspiracies and traitorous acts push the women to put their differences aside. Somewhat…
Of course, Kate and Penny aren’t the only characters in this GN… there are so many others and they’re all cool… even the evil ones. And here, massive respect and admiration to Paul McCaffrey for those sublime illustrations that brought each and every character, each and every scene to its maximum potential. Artwork is one of the first things I look at when considering a graphic novel and I don’t often come across something that manages to capture me straight away (hence why I don’t read them that often) and yet, McCaffrey’s talent made me stop on some pages for a good while just to take it all in. The colours, the perfection, the effect that made everything come to life as if in 3D… In this graphic novel the artwork truly works seamlessly with the story for 100% enjoyment. There is a whole ton of action in this GN and the storyline coupled with the art, plus that little bit of ‘whodunnit‘ AND the occasional nicely served chuckle- well, I was fully engrossed!
But back to the characters for a sec, the Council of The Seven Days has, yep, you guessed it, seven members…. I won’t go into detail about them all, because I do believe you should be left with a certain degree of discovery. I do so like how they were all, rather stereotypically, imagined and they even matched their respective days of the week. Stereotypes are normally something to wave one’s fist at, but guys, it really worked here. My favourite of the lot was Peter the Painter aka Friday. I mean, come on, who doesn’t like Fridays? Rough around the edges, happy to jump into a brawl… and Russian. “Die pigs!”- have to love that temperament!
There was one little thing that made me roll my eyes, and that is the use of the ‘ancient’ joke around sparkling vampires. “We do not approve of vampires who sparkle.” – is it just me, or is that joke/quip getting seriously old? I mean, at this stage die-hard Twilight fans have gotten over it, why can’t everyone else just bury the 8236565 variations of the sparkly vampire phrase and move on? That aside, won’t be spillint a hair and down rating this little gem of a GN. A couple of hours well spent, if I do say so myself.
The spotlight in this GN is on Kate Reed, aka Wednesday, member of the Council of The Seven Days. Also, Irish. And a hippy vampire. So… yeah, even though she is ultimately the one that comes with sass and probably saves the day, I didn’t really like her that much. Just shows.. if she would have been, say, Friday in the Council of The Seven Days, I bet you, I would have liked her a whole lot more. Kate is the ultimate goody-two-shoes. She’s a vampire but not once do you see her sinking her fangs into someone, not even the bad guys…
Same cannot be said for Penelope Churchward. Now, she is a female I can root for… as a socialite, she is used to taking what she likes and even if it gets messy she still comes out from the other side looking like a lady. Yeah, she’s totally a bit of a ‘mean girl‘ but hey, don’t hate the achiever!
Anyway… Kate and Penny don’t really mix well… they’re just too different and the ‘opposites attract’ doesn’t work in their favour here. That is until political conspiracies and traitorous acts push the women to put their differences aside. Somewhat…
Of course, Kate and Penny aren’t the only characters in this GN… there are so many others and they’re all cool… even the evil ones. And here, massive respect and admiration to Paul McCaffrey for those sublime illustrations that brought each and every character, each and every scene to its maximum potential. Artwork is one of the first things I look at when considering a graphic novel and I don’t often come across something that manages to capture me straight away (hence why I don’t read them that often) and yet, McCaffrey’s talent made me stop on some pages for a good while just to take it all in. The colours, the perfection, the effect that made everything come to life as if in 3D… In this graphic novel the artwork truly works seamlessly with the story for 100% enjoyment. There is a whole ton of action in this GN and the storyline coupled with the art, plus that little bit of ‘whodunnit‘ AND the occasional nicely served chuckle- well, I was fully engrossed!
But back to the characters for a sec, the Council of The Seven Days has, yep, you guessed it, seven members…. I won’t go into detail about them all, because I do believe you should be left with a certain degree of discovery. I do so like how they were all, rather stereotypically, imagined and they even matched their respective days of the week. Stereotypes are normally something to wave one’s fist at, but guys, it really worked here. My favourite of the lot was Peter the Painter aka Friday. I mean, come on, who doesn’t like Fridays? Rough around the edges, happy to jump into a brawl… and Russian. “Die pigs!”- have to love that temperament!
There was one little thing that made me roll my eyes, and that is the use of the ‘ancient’ joke around sparkling vampires. “We do not approve of vampires who sparkle.” – is it just me, or is that joke/quip getting seriously old? I mean, at this stage die-hard Twilight fans have gotten over it, why can’t everyone else just bury the 8236565 variations of the sparkly vampire phrase and move on? That aside, won’t be spillint a hair and down rating this little gem of a GN. A couple of hours well spent, if I do say so myself.
spestock's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not really a big graphic novel fan, but I have really been enjoying the Anno Dracula series so far, and am a bit of a completist. Good art, good story, though I was kind of confused by the timeline.
its_a_ryan_thing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
collegecate's review against another edition
3.0
I love anno Dracula, and this is well drawn and fun. Also most of the important people, good and bad, are women.
jobridge's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
matteldritch92's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
regardingreading's review against another edition
3.0
A fun addition to the series, but I wouldn't call it a 'must read'.
nigellicus's review against another edition
5.0
A prequel to the original Anno Dracula novel Seven Days In Mayhem sees freethinking newborn vampire embroiled in a conspiracy of anarchists to foment revolution and overthrow Dracula, now Royal Consort and effectively ruling the British Empire, having grandiosely defeated a fleet sent by outraged European powers with US support. To celebrate this momentous occasion, there is to be a silver jubilee, and the task of overseeing the celebrations fall to Kate's best frenemy, Penelope Churchward, also a newborn vampire, albeit a more of a social climber than a socialist. With Limehouse villains taking an interest and a traitor in the ranks, Kate would rather not see scores of innocents blown to smithereens, so she is pinned in on all sides, doughtily committed to doing the right thing, if only she can work out what that is, precisely, before her head ends up adorning a spike in the Tower Of London.
The visual nature of the comic somehow brings the breezy pulp wit and satire of the Anno Dracula series to the fore. Paul McCaffey's art is less adept at being horrific than at bringing Newman's world to life in a way that's reminiscent of Bryan Talbot's Grandville series, with its anthropomorphic steampunk alt-universe, and it does look fantastic.
The visual nature of the comic somehow brings the breezy pulp wit and satire of the Anno Dracula series to the fore. Paul McCaffey's art is less adept at being horrific than at bringing Newman's world to life in a way that's reminiscent of Bryan Talbot's Grandville series, with its anthropomorphic steampunk alt-universe, and it does look fantastic.
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