InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We're in Somerset, Nick!"

colonel_green (colonel_green) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-08 21:20:00

Entry tags:

char: blade/eric brooks, char: captain britain/brian braddock, char: dracula, char: excalibur/faiza hussain, char: pete wisdom, creator: leonard kirk, creator: paul cornell, title: captain britain and mi13

Dracula, Master of War

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.

(Post a new comment)

	daningram 2009-04-08 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	What did Dracula do, exactly? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-04-08 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	He tried to do the one-hand clapping thing, but cheated and used two hands? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mullon 2009-04-08 08:08 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I don't get how he managed to do that. What with the barrier and all. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	colonel_green 2009-04-08 08:15 pm UTC (link)
	Lilith used her magic to beam him in in that state. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mullon 2009-04-08 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	Strong enough to smash a skull, but not considered actually there. That's just silly. What got the mooks in? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sherkahn 2009-04-08 09:40 pm UTC (link)
	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. (Reply to this) (Parent)

newnumber6
2009-04-08 10:21 pm UTC (link)

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.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	proteus_lives 2009-04-08 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	I'm liking Drac's look here. Mixture of WWII officier and Feudal Lord. (Reply to this)

	ghosty732 2009-04-08 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	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. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	daningram 2009-04-08 09:23 pm UTC (link)
	So your 'member' took you to a dirty place? Yeah, that's pretty much how it goes ;) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sherkahn 2009-04-08 09:36 pm UTC (link)
	A yes, a potential 'sword fighting' duel. Must remember that. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	tsuki_the_geek 2009-04-09 01:28 am UTC (link)
	You're never the only one... O___o (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashtoreth 2009-04-08 10:34 pm UTC (link)
	I was just tickled that Quincy's death had a mention. Love old school Tomb of Dracula. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-04-09 02:13 am UTC (link)
	And finally answered the question of just why he HAD to die there with Dracula. No, that's clever. (Reply to this) (Parent)

long_silence
2009-04-09 12:56 am UTC (link)

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.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

jlroberson
2009-04-09 02:48 am UTC (link)

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.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	espanolbot 2009-04-09 04:29 am UTC (link)
	Is that brunette woman with the point head a mutated Spitfire? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	colonel_green 2009-04-09 07:33 am UTC (link)
	No, that's Lilith, an Atlantean demon. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	greenmask 2009-04-09 04:57 pm UTC (link)
	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! (Reply to this)