Click HERE to view the double-page spread in all its glory!
Dracula is dead, long live…Docula!
As (arguably) the greatest villain in western literature burns and disintegrates before our eyes, is it possible that something EVEN WORSE could rise from the ashes? It sure seems that way, as Doc goes into full-on villain mode this week and unleashes a malicious monologue that would even make ol’ Drac blush.
I mean, what’s scarier? An undead Romanian Count with an overblown ego and a weak spot for the ladies, or the World’s Greatest Man of Science turned evil and dead set on using his talents to inflict “unprecedented horrors on mankind?” I’ll let you guys make the call on that, but lets just say if this were a movie I would be yelling at the screen, telling Joe to wipe that smug smile off his face…because, yeah, he may have just tricked Doc into helping to kill Dracula, but he also may have made things – for himself, the Daredevils and the world – much, MUCH worse.
Be here NEXT WEEK to witness Docula’s first act as a newly minted ARCH-VILLAIN! Prepare to recoil in TERROR as Joe learns the hard way that actions have unexpected consequences, and one should always be careful what they wish for. In just 7 days, horror…TRUE horror comes to the pages of Deep Dive Daredevils. You have been warned!
This would normally be the spot in the blog where I ask you to RSS and all that good stuff, but this week I am going to try something different. We are 3…count ‘em 3 LIKES away from 200 hundred likes on Facebook. So, if you haven’t already, please stop by our Facebook fan page, or click
here and put us over the top. Much obliged!
Welp, just 5 pages left to go in Pitch Black Day and every single one counts, so mark your calendars and plan accordingly! In the meantime though, stop by the Sunday Bonus Lunch and congratulate Evin for finding the time last week to actually write the thing. We’re all so very proud.
Anyways, till next week!
-Matt-
Joe, since Docula has been so kind as to hold you in the ideal position, plant one of those heavy boots into his yarbles, then toss Docula onto Dracula’s funeral pyre.
Yarbles? Is that an A CLOCKWORK ORANGE reference I detect? If so, mega high fives!
However, I have to admit that the first thing I thought of when I read your comment was “Wolfman’s got nards!”
Ha!
Since there is no comment facility on your Sunday Bonus Lunch, I’ll comment here on what you wrote there, regarding the page before: Dracula throws a fit about it. Originally we had him doing a big soliloquy here and lament his failure. Now, even if lamenting one’s Downfall and blaming it on others can be, ehem, fun, it’s quite obvious how much better the story works without that. You killed your darling, as they say, and rightly so. Cudos.
Doc mouthing the malicious monologue is kind of dramatic irony, and allows Joe to suddenly become genre-savvy – priceless!
Thank you so much for taking the clicheed twist of Doc turning against Drac – I’m reminded of, of all things, Despicable Me II, and yes, you may say that there’s something wrong with my brain – and double-twist it into Doc doing so just to be even more evil. That’s suprising, yet inevitable but for alltogether different levels of both surprising and inevitable.
“Double-twists” and delivering the “surprising yet inevitable” are our specialities.
But seriously, it took us a long time to sift through all the cliches that could be applied to the circumstances of Doc and Joe in this story, and having Doc overcome the Vampirism and turn good again was definitely one that we wanted to avoid.
THE MULLETT! Noooooooooooooooo!
OK Back to Docula;
I’m guessing that this isn’t going to be one of those: Kill the Head Vampire, and the Infected Hero turns back to normal endings…
Docula has all the makings of great Arch Nemesis, but who on Earth, or beyond, will fill his shoes on the Custer? The job posting should read:
WANTED Man of Science and Medicine.
- Experience with Naval Equipment and the Supernatural preferred.
- Ability to function well in enclosed spaces necessary.
- Must be adventurous and love dogs.
- Genius I.Q., and personal hygiene are a must.
- Position includes extensive travel.
- Expect long hours and hazardous working conditions.
- Salary Negotiable.
- References required.
- Those with references from Undead European Nobility, as well as Evil Blood Sucking Villains and Traveling Salesman need not apply!
Yes, I too mourn THE MULLET.
However, it’s fiery demise could also be considered something of a mercy from a certain point of view. You have to admit, it has been looking pretty rough ever since Abigail unleashed the aerosolized garlic.
It twas the greatest hair style in all the seven seas, and though it’s greatness had peaked well before it’s final farewell, it will be missed dearly!
now the question is…how do you un-vamp a vampire? I’d imagine a lot of draculas too-far-gone minions might not make it but as for doc… I hope this isn’t the start of the Blacula series*.
[*Yes...unfortunately blacula was a thing...proof http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068284/ ]
Well it’s called Pitch Black Day …
“now the question is…how do you un-vamp a vampire?”
All I’ll say is, go back and read the backmatter VERY closely…
Dracula? Docula? Duckula?
Shoot! That was to be the final twist, the one that I really didn’t see coming, and now you spoiled it for me …
Kinda makes sense, of course, that Captain Custer is actually Scrooge McDuck looking for easy money …
YOU GOT ME.
And that picture finally explains why the letter X is so prominent with branches dealing with the supernatural:
FBI X-Files
SIS Section X
The X-Orcist
The X-Pendables
…
Just noticed the staples in the double-spread page … beautiful …
All the credit for the wonderful idea to put staples in the double-page spread goes to our fantastic designer/letterer Fonografiks/A.K.A. Steven Finch.
I feel a chorus of “Die Motherf***er Die” coming on.