Monster War TPB

January 15, 2007

Quick Rating: Good

The Top Cow heroes go to war with the most famous monsters of all time.

Writers: Christopher Golden & Tom Sniegowski
Art: Joyce Chin & Victor Ishimura
Colors: Scott Kester
Letters: Troy Peteri
Series Covers: Marc Silvestri, Joseph Michael Linsner, Joyce Chin, Eric and Rick Basaldua
Cover Art: Marc Silvestri (Cover A); Joseph Michael Linsner (Cover B)
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment/Top Cow

Last year, in one of the more innovative crossover concepts I’ve seen in a while, Dynamite Entertainment pieced together a four-issue adventure utilizing properties it calls the “Classic Monsters” (Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Wolf-Men and Mr. Hyde) in a battle with four of Top Cow’s top properties, Magdelena, Tomb Raider, Witchblade and The Darkness. I’m not really a big fan of the Top Cow characters, but the concept intrigued me, so when they put out the collected edition, I decided to take a look.

Written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegowski with art by Joyce Chin and Victor Ishimura, the story actually comes up with a pretty organic way to draw all these disparate characters together. Magedlena has a vision that leads her to a crypt where she finds Mr. Hyde – somehow separated from Dr. Jekyll – about to resurrect the inert form of Vlad Tepes, alias Count Dracula. Her pure, sanctified blood turns out to be just the thing to give Drac a quick pick-me-up, and it begins to turn her as well.

She’s rescued by Lara Croft (the Tomb Raider) and her companion, Dr. Henry Jekyll. Jekyll and Croft had encountered each other earlier while both trailing the freed Hyde, who ventured into the Arctic circle to free Frankenstein’s monster. Now, with Magdelena turning, Lara sets out to find the Necrotic Orchid – the one herb that can reverse a vampire’s curse. The Orchid, unfortunately, is guarded by a legion of Wolf-Men.

Meanwhile, Hyde, Dracula and the Monster have made their way to New York for the last element Hyde needs for his plan – a chunk of the Witchblade. Sara Pezzini, bearer of the Witchblade, and her uneasy ally Jackie Estacado (the Darkness) are drawn into battle. The final plot is driven by a fairly logical motivation for the monsters, and showing the four heroes (or anti-hero in the case of the Darkness) in battle is actually quite exciting. The monsters even take it a step further, bringing in a dash of Cthulu at the end.

The artwork actually varies considerably. Not being particularly familiar with either artist’s style, I can’t quite tell who drew which chapters, but I can definitely tell when the changes take place. Some of the chapters are drawn with a lighter touch – more of a penciled, unfinished look, which actually works very well for the story. Other chapters are more finished, heavily inked, which is fine in and of itself, but it makes for a drastic contrast that may be distracting for some readers.

This is a pretty good horror story overall, one that works well especially if you’re a fan of the Top Cow characters. The “Classic Monsters” are fun to read about in their own right. I can’t imagine Dynamite would have worked on this crossover if there wasn’t an intention of using the Monsters elsewhere, but to the best of my knowledge, that hasn’t been done yet. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to set them up in some new horror tales, though, if a proper hero could be found to stand against their evil.

Rating: 7/10