News Article

It looks like Universal Studios Hollywood is getting into the comic book business. The theme park just announced it will debut a new comic, with the longish title Vampyre: Castle of the Undead (Blood Secrets of the Iron Guard) by artist Patrick Ian Moore to tie in with its 2010 Halloween Horror Nights. More after the jump.

Vampyre, which the theme park is calling "the first graphic novella to be inspired by a Halloween theme park maze" (trust me on this one, guys -- no one will think any less of you if you call it a comic; comic books win literary awards these days), will be serialized on the Halloween Horror Nights website.  "A limited number of collectors edition books will be published and available to guests attending the event on selected nights."

The press release describes the comic thusly:

"Vampyre: Castle of the Undead (Blood Secrets of the Iron Guard)," tells a modern tale of the vampires of Wallachia, Romania, the medieval realm of Vlad the Impaler, who inspired the 19th century Dracula legend. With drawings and design by Moore, the book was based on a maze developed by "Halloween Horror Nights" Creative Director John Murdy with a story by Max Nichts."

Interesting concept. Though since I'm something of a Dracula scholar I should point out, as I always do, that Vlad the Impaler did NOT inspire "the 19th century Dracula legend." Dracula is not a legend. It's a novel, written by an Irish writer named Bram Stoker who heard about the real-life Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler (a.k.a. Vlad III Dracula) when he was already well into writing his book. He liked the name. That's all. While it's very romantic to believe Dracula could have, in one form or another, actually existed, such notions are, unfortunately, complete and utter bullshit. (Of course that shouldn't stop you from enjoying what could be a fun little online comic.)          

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood begins Friday, September 24 and will continue on consecutive weekends and selected weekday nights beginning Friday, September 24 through Halloween, Sunday, October 31.