Dracula, Master of War

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

The lord of vampires is on a roll in Captain Britain and MI13 #12.

So, with Dracula out to establish the Vampire Free State, MI13 sets out to purge all vampire spies from its ranks; one of whom tells them about the plan to deal with "the head"; Blade knows what that means...



Guess what happens then; go ahead, guess.



Squads of vampire mooks attack them, and then Drac himself appears in a sort of astral form:




All this, and Spitfire's life continues to suck!

I love this book.

Comments

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

What did Dracula do, exactly?

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

He tried to do the one-hand clapping thing, but cheated and used two hands?

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't get how he managed to do that. What with the barrier and all.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Lilith used her magic to beam him in in that state.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Strong enough to smash a skull, but not considered actually there. That's just silly.

What got the mooks in?

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

Magically bending the rules so that Dracula's PRESENCE is felt, but not his actual body, so that the defensive spells on the skull do not affect him. Actually a shrewd tactic.

[newnumber6.insanejournal.com]

Just to be clear, the barrier doesn't prevent Dracula, or any other vampire, from entering Britain. It just means they have to be invited first, individually, so until the skull is destroyed, Dracula can't just launch an invasion army. He actually has to find somebody on the inside to say "hey, Vampire Henchmen #3451, I invite you into England!" for each and every one of his soldiers.

But so long as he had that person on the inside, he can send troops in or even go himself. One of the previous issues showed that he had somebody on the inside doing just that for several vampires (and I believe he himself showed up on the mainland). And nothing (at least, nothing I recall reading) prevents Dracula, if he were there, or any other vampire already in Britain, from smashing it. Whatever Lilith's magic trick was doing, I don't believe it was strictly necessary in order to break the skull. Perhaps it just allowed Dracula to do it personally at little risk to himself.

[proteus_lives.insanejournal.com]

I'm liking Drac's look here. Mixture of WWII officier and Feudal Lord.

[ghosty732.insanejournal.com]

I know that the "Sexual rivalry" between Union Jack and Blade that Dracula refers to is that they both have a thing for Spitfire.

But the SD member inside me took my thoughts to a different place.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

So your 'member' took you to a dirty place?

Yeah, that's pretty much how it goes ;)

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

A yes, a potential 'sword fighting' duel. Must remember that.

[tsuki_the_geek.insanejournal.com]

You're never the only one... O___o

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

I was just tickled that Quincy's death had a mention. Love old school Tomb of Dracula.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

And finally answered the question of just why he HAD to die there with Dracula. No, that's clever.

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

Oh wow, this looks so good. Who is the Hetherington woman anyways?

And Dracula astral projecting himself into England to destroy the skull, letting in all of the vampires at once. I love what a great tactician and general he's been in this arc, he's outmanoeuvring MI-13 at every turn, they're so screwed.

I love how Wisdom thought that they'd beaten the vampires to the skull, when it was exactly what Dracula wanted them to do.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

That's what makes Dracula different from most other vampire characters. Even in Stoker he had plans to be the master of the world--in some ways he's more akin to contemporary characters like Robur (rather than Varney or someone), but with a horror rather than SF element. What you have here is a megalomaniacal dictator who's had over 400 years to think through strategy, AND is immortal, AND drinks blood.

Also, if you've read DRACULA LIVES, this is not even the tenth time in Marvel history he's assembled vampire armies like this.

What it seems to be is that the seventies only were a time of depression for Dracula. Like with most people.

[espanolbot.insanejournal.com]

Is that brunette woman with the point head a mutated Spitfire?

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

No, that's Lilith, an Atlantean demon.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Yeah! Vampires! Skulls! Back-plots i will understand one i get my tomb of draculas, apparently!

AND Dracula even has an awesome uniform. With furs! Yay!