Blade II

Rating:
Summary: Get It For The 9 Classic "Tomb of Dracula" Stories.....
Review: First off: If you're just interested in Blade II the movie, you'd be better off buying the DVD. It'd probably be cheaper, and it's much more satisfying than the lame adaptation this volume contains. Steve Gerber's script is OK, but the art by Alberto Ponticelli is just awful. Blade is black, and Whistler is old and has long grey hair, so it's easy to tell who they are, but every other character looks totally nondescript: Every female looks like every OTHER female, every Vampire looks like every OTHER Vampire, and so on.....The story should be completey nonsensical and unfathomable to anyone who hasn't seen the movie. Wherever they dug Ponticelli up from, please throw him back. Or at least have him check out the rest of the book.....

Which features the stunning art of the legendary Gene Colan and Tom Palmer art team, reprinting 9 stories from the classic Marvel Comic "The Tomb of Dracula" from the 1970's, written by Marv Wolfman. These stories were Vertigo and "For Mature Audiences" before there WAS Vertigo! And by "Mature" I don't mean blood and guts, because while action-packed, the stories are fairly bloodless. I'm talking about the depth and maturity with which these 25 year-old stories deal with the themes of good and evil, Religion, and the nature of man. To this day I have never seen the concept of Religion dealt with so frankly in a Comic Book. I read some of these books in their original format at the tender age of 7, and was very impressed with the epic scope of the story that was being told. I'm STILL impressed. The art is beautiful, and the writing by Wolfman is very sturdy, even managing to make such a ludicrous match as Dracula vs. The Silver Surfer seem interesting. Here's hoping Marvel will see fit to reprint the Dracula saga in it's entirety someday. Until then, get your fix of this legendary team's finest work right here.

Rating:
Summary: Of Things Old and New
Review: If you are a true Blade fan, this curious collection will likely appeal to you. It contains Gerber's recent comic adaptation of the recent Blade II film, as well as nine issues from Marvel's old "Tomb of Dracula" series featuring early appearances of the Blade charater. True Marvel fans will relish these classic Wolfman-scripted tales of horror from the old Dracula series. Perhaps the purchase is worth it if only for the bizarre issue in which Dracula battles the Silver Surfer, with classic art by Gene Colan. A cameo is made in another issue by Daimion Hellstorm (who actually brings Blade back to life at one point.) All in all, this is probably a compilation best intended for the true Marvel collector or Blade fan.

Rating:
Summary: the old blade was boring...
Review: the movie is good but the old blade was pretty unexciting. Unless you are a fan of the old stories, I would leave this one alone.