So, I guess I hadn’t realized how important Aaron Campbell’s layout contributions are to this series. There’s an example in the back of the comic and it’s clear he’s significant.
The Dracula novel, with the diary entries, the letters, the clippings, is sort of a multimedia (for the late nineteenth century) piece, and this adaptation fully realizes the potential, now incorporating visuals.
Not all the visuals work, however, especially here. There’s a lot of photoshopping going on, a lot of clearly blurred images, a lot of photographic backgrounds with a minimal amount of “painting” over. There moments distract, since Worley’s paintings are usually quite good, even if Mina doesn’t look the same panel to panel (one can’t tell if she’s supposed to be attractive, for example).
The comic’s so successful adapting the novel’s diary entries and letters, actual dialogue comes as a shock, like it doesn’t belong here at all.
