Thoughts

The genre whiplash rollercoaster continues – with this issue shifting from US military espionage to a horror tale of X-men versus Dracula. And given the BDSM elements of the Dark Phoenix/Hellfire Club story, it’s no surprise that the element that interests Claremont here is Dracula as a seducing Dominator.

Dracula ensnares Storm, and the text unambiguously defines the Count as Ororo’s “lover”. Having been bitten once in an apparant mugging, Storm becomes Dracula’s seemingly willing partner. She flies off with him into the night, bespite Kitty’s best efforts to rescue her.

The story, and the pacing, seem appriopriately stately and gothic – like a Hammer Horror film. It begins with the team in a happy, down-to-Earth place, visiting contemporary New York. Then something bad happens that doesn’t seem that odd. And then things get worse and worse…

It’s got some great moments – including the reveal of Dracula and Kitty get’s to be suitably smart and heroic. But it never quite goes into Storm’s seduction in any depth, meaning that she spends most of the issue as a rather uninteresting victim. Indeed as the narrative makes it clear they are now “lovers”, there’s an uncomfortable subtext here given we’re never seen the reasons why Storm might embrace the sexy, corrupted vampyric world.

Meanwhile Dracula doesn’t get to indulge in some nice (albeit Comics Code approved) Horror antics. It’s a surprisingly blood-less and death free adventure given that the villain is Dracula.

This issue see Bill Sienkiewicz join the X-universe as a guest artist. As an X-fan I know him best for his iconic run on the New Mutants that we’re going to get to later in this blog. But this issue is a good reminder that he’s a great artist at drawing in a more conventional Superhero style. There are moments where the experimental side of his art shows itself, but at other times its great Pop Art imagery.

Again, though, the ending feels rushed and turns into another moment where the Dracula they are fighting doesn’t seem as cool and as dangerous as Dracula could be. He just sort of gives up, humbled by Storm’s rejection of him. It’s a peculiar twist to the tale – and feels anticlimactic after Kitty effectively engineers Storm’s rescue in a nicely written fashion.

Fun Panel

The reveal of Dracula is a great moment – both with a creative flourish to show off the vampire’s teeth and Storm’s willingly displayed neck. I wanted more of this coy Sexy Vampire hijinks!

None More Claremont

We’re in the world of binding souls and lifes to Dracula, embracing darkness and a fancy gothic costume. Slightly amazed this didn’t end up being a six issue story in Claremont’s hands.