AAM/Markosia brings us a horror comic that continues the story of the most popular vampire of all time, Dracula. If you thought that you’d seen the last of this blood-sucking icon, you were wrong. In The Fang, we’re told a tale that brings this vampiric superstar a little too close to home for my tastes. I’ve always been comfortable with the fact that the majority of popular vampire stories have taken place overseas, but not this one. He’s made his way to New York, and he appears to be pretty happy with his new digs. According to this story, Dracula never died in Europe at all. His remains have been kept in the belly of a ship, The Erebus, until it was time to eventually leave an English port. The ship arrives in New York, but the crew has mysteriously disappeared. No one can figure out the circumstances behind this bizarre scenario. Not too long after the ship’s arrival, news of violent killings throughout the city, lands in local newspapers. And before long, this news makes its way back to England and is intercepted by a group of vampire hunters. The story that they hear is too familiar to them, and they must once again take up their responsibility to rid the world of this evil.

I was pleasantly surprised by the script. The dialogue seemed very realistic at times. For an independent publication, there was a considerable amount of research done. Of course, this story is a work of fiction, but I think that it’s safe to say that there was enough realism to make me believe that if this was possible, it would have gone down just like this. K.I. Zachopoulos did a pretty good job of keeping me interested too. I love vamps as much as the next guy, but Zachopoulos took some familiar feeling content and put an interesting twist on it. I’ll admit, when I read that it would be about Dracula, I actually lost interest somewhat, but I was glad to see him in a story that didn’t feel like a re-run. Some of Dracula’s dialogue was pretty impressive too. I got the chills a couple of times.

Now let’s talk about this artwork. I had a blast looking at the interior of this book. Normally I would get turned off by any kind of excess gore/blood or nudity. That stuff is so rarely necessary, like I said, in excess, but Christos Martinis did a terrific job with the whole thing. The overall style was awesome. I felt like I was at some kind of gothic renaissance art exhibit. I’ve personally never been to anything like that, but I’m pretty sure that some of this stuff would be in there.

For anyone who is a fan of the horror genre at all, or more specifically vampires, this would definitely be worth your money. For what Comixology is asking for it, you don’t really have an excuse not to give it a shot. I’m just glad that I got a chance to review it. I probably wouldn’t have even heard about it otherwise. If you’re trying to broaden your reading habits this year, start here. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Fang turned out to be a sleeper hit.

Score: 4/5

Writer: K.I. Zachopoulos Artist: Christos Martinis Publisher: AAM/Markosia Price: $3.99 (Comixology) $14.99 (Markosia.com) Release Date: 11/20/13 Website