Press Release
Dynamite Entertainment proudly announces the first-ever confrontation between two of its premiere horror characters in Blood Queen Vs. Dracula, a four-part storyline scheduled for March 2015 release. Written by Troy Brownfield and illustrated by Kewber Baal, the series will debut with captivating cover images courtesy of artists Jay Anacleto, Fabiano Neves, Ardian Syaf, and Lucio Parrillo.
“Having the Blood Queen face off with Dracula seems like the most natural thing in the world,” says Troy Brownfield, who introduced the villainous Elizabeth Bathory in Dynamite’s 2014 series, The Blood Queen. “Considering that the historical personages that they’re based upon come from the same area of the world, and that they’ve had a strong and occasionally linked profile in pop culture forever, it struck me as a pretty solid place to go. It certainly doesn’t hurt that I wrote a Dracula novel, Prince Dracula, for Dynamite last year, either.”
In Blood Queen Vs. Dracula, the Prince of Darkness returns from war to face a potential threat in the form of the Blood Queen. Will they become allies, or adversaries? Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: blood will be spilled. “You always want to challenge your characters,” says Brownfield. “Is there a bigger challenge for Elizabeth than the Prince of Darkness? I’m really excited at the chance to expand the Blood Queen world, and to do new and different things with Dracula while I’m at it.”
Dracula has been a staple of Dynamite Entertainment projects throughout the years: plaguing Army of Darkness hero Ash Williams, leading a supernatural assault on the Top Cow Universe in the Monster War crossover, and fighting alongside his daughter Eva in the Prophecy miniseries event by Ron Marz. The literary character’s classic story was retold in The Complete Dracula in 2009, while Dynamite has also revived Dracula’s long-standing feud with Vampirella, stemming back over forty years to his first appearance in Vampirella Magazine. In April 2014, Dynamite published the digital prose novel Prince Dracula, written by Troy Brownfield and told from the perspective of Mina Murray.
The Blood Queen is a much more recent addition to Dynamite canon, debuting in June 2014. The Blood Queen portrayed the historical “blood countess” Elizabeth Bathory as a tragic figure whose descent into villainy is not without good reason.
Nick Barrucci, Dynamite CEO and Publisher, says, “I’m very happy to announce Troy Brownfield’s participation in this project. His work on our Prince Dracula novel was such an intimate look at the vampire lord’s dark passion and tragic history, and it’s that kind of character examination that’s going to play so well once our Blood Queen enters the fray. They’re similar creatures… which will undoubtedly lead to some bloody conflict. And speaking of the blood that will flow, Kewber Baal is a welcome addition to the creative team, since he spilled so much during his work on our Jennifer Blood title.”
Blood Queen Vs. Dracula #1 will be solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors’ January 2015 Previews catalog, the premiere source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, and slated for release in March. Comic book fans are encouraged to reserve copies of Blood Queen Vs. Dracula #1 with their local comic book retailers. Blood Queen Vs. Dracula will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of Comixology, Dynamite Digital, iVerse, and Dark Horse Digital.
About Dynamite Entertainment:
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Red Sonja,Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, Neil Gaiman, Andy Diggle, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, Gail Simone, Steve Niles, James Robinson, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
All characters, names, logos, etc. are ™ and © their respective owners. Press release written by Keith Davidsen.