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Post by severance on Jun 18, 2009 23:09:25 GMT
There was a three page thread on this at the old place, but I can't see anything here so, now that I've finally read it, here's some comments: Demonik wrote on 27 October 2005Steve wrote on 28 October 2005Demonik wrote on 28 October 2005Killercrab wrote on 30 July 2006Demonik wrote on 30 October 2005Killercrab wrote on 31 July 2006 and 02 August 2006Steve wrote on 28 October 2005FranklinMarsh wrote on 15 November 2005Steve wrote on 28 October 2005Demonik wrote on 01 November 2005Bloody hell - after all that lot there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said already. I suppose the one thing that really stood out for me was the hypocrisy of Harmon and Cam in not allowing Dracula to feed - except when the Mob steal their vital equipment, and then its okay to let him rip all their throats out, with Cam machine-gunning them afterwards for good measure Onwards to book 2...
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Post by dem bones on Jun 19, 2009 4:38:08 GMT
The lovely thing about that thread was Robert Lory read it and joined us - and nobody noticed! At first i thought it was a wind up, but it wouldn't hurt to write to the email address provided and see what happened. You know the rest! Glad you enjoyed Dracula Returns, sev, and i hope this will kick-start a Lory revival on here. Be very interested to see what you make of Hand Of Dracula as that's probably my favourite from the series. Oh, and any chance of a cover scan of the NEL Dracula's Gold when you've a moment?
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Post by andydecker on Jun 19, 2009 8:52:28 GMT
Dracula´s Gold is the only NEL edition I have of this series. The german edition used some NELs - No.1 and No.2, I think, then it was generic Dracula cover time. Still they did two Thole´s. Here is Dracula´s Gold: And as a bonus here is Drums of Dracula which was one of my favorites. It´s been years since I read it, but I have some hazy good memories of this one. And yes. Harmon was a class A hypocrit. Which was always fun when Dracula called him on it. Those discussions added a lot of the fun of the series. More than big strong Cam, who got always captured and tortured, poor sod
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Post by dem bones on Jun 19, 2009 15:48:11 GMT
There's service for you. And two very attractive bonus covers too, notably the first (Dracula seems a bit off to me on the Drums ... cover). Thank you, very much appreciated, Andy.
Cam certainly gets a rough deal compared to Harmon. Surely the worst of his tortures is knowing that Ktara can read his every last thought, 'specially as the more pervy ones seem to involve her! Such a shame that Peter Haining didn't get hold of all nine novels. Does anyone know why there were only six of these and four of Glut's New Adventures Of Frankenstein published in the UK?
Well pleased to have a Lory-Dracula thread on the go again. Well done, sev!
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 17, 2012 12:00:04 GMT
I had fun reading Dracula Returns! Sure, it's as goofy as hell, but I tried to approach it on its own terms and found it rewarding.
The book comes across like a pilot episode for a television series, with much of the focus on setting up the premise. The four main characters (Harmon, Cam, Ktara, and Dracula) are all vividly sketched, and Lory lays the groundwork for some intriguing conflicts among them. I particularly like the use of Drac to comment on the hypocrisies and moral failings of the heroes. The one major weak spot for me is the absence of a compelling antagonist for our oddball team--with so much else to do, Lory just doesn't have room in a 124-page novel to develop one. The mobsters here hardly seem worthy of a vampiric takedown. I'm guessing that subsequent installments will do more on this front.
To echo Andy and Killercrab, the book reminds me a lot of Marvel's 1970s-era Tomb of Dracula comic book series. There's the older wheelchair-using man who leads the team, the early focus on how to revive Dracula, and the preoccupation with crime in the city. Lory's series, however, starts with a stronger central cast; it took Marv Wolfman a while to reinforce his bland team with characters such as Blade and Hannibal King.
The book also shares some themes with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both focus on a team of humans who find themselves in an uneasy alliance with a vampire, and both use their villains to voice insights into the heroes' characters. Also, there's a parallel between the mini-stake that Harmon implants in Dracula's heart to control him and the chip that the Initiative implants in Spike's brain.
In the end, Dracula Returns! is clearly meant to serve as the hook for later installments. In that sense, it worked on me; I've already started The Hand of Dracula--which begins with a thrilling episode set in a San Francisco funeral home, a scene that's better than anything in the first volume.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 17, 2012 16:37:58 GMT
To echo Andy and Killercrab, the book reminds me a lot of Marvel's 1970s-era Tomb of Dracula comic book series. There's the older wheelchair-bound man who leads the team, the early focus on how to revive Dracula, and the preoccupation with crime in the city. Lory's series, however, starts with a stronger central cast; it took Marv Wolfman a while to reinforce his bland team with characters such as Blade and Hannibal King. And then Wolfman threw it away with obnoxious characters like Harold H Harold and Aurora which weren´t half as funny as he obviously thought. In some regard the series went off the rails conceptionally after Wolfman became his own editor. But you raise an interesting question. There are stock characters in Pulp, like the old and kindly inventor, the Q so to speak, which was already there in series like The Spider. But one really wonders if Lory let himself be inspired by the comics series. On the other hand, you also had Prof X in a wheelchair and Niles Caulder of DCs Doom Patrol, the disabled leaders, so who knows. The book also shares some themes with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both focus on a team of humans who find themselves in an uneasy alliance with a vampire, and both use their villains to voice insights into the heroes' characters. Also, there's a parallel between the mini-stake that Harmon implants in Dracula's heart to control him and the chip that the Initiative implants in Spike's brain. You are right. It is basically the same idea. The Spike idea is of course a well used trope of SF-fiction, still I never made the connection to Lory. In the end, Dracula Returns! is clearly meant to serve as the hook for later installments. In that sense, it worked on me; I've already started The Hand of Dracula--which begins with a thrilling episode set in a San Francisco funeral home, a scene that's better than anything in the first volume. Hand is the best of the series. No question.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 17, 2012 17:56:31 GMT
Come to think of it, CB, the transformation of the vampire in Buffy is also absolutly reminiscent of Lory´s description. Normally he uses a page for telling us how Dracula´s aristocratic face changes into thickening brows and a flatened nose and so on. Sounds like a scene from Buffy. ;D You opened there a dark door, CB
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 18, 2012 0:13:31 GMT
But you raise an interesting question. There are stock characters in Pulp, like the old and kindly inventor, the Q so to speak, which was already there in series like The Spider. But one really wonders if Lory let himself be inspired by the comics series. On the other hand, you also had Prof X in a wheelchair and Niles Caulder of DCs Doom Patrol, the disabled leaders, so who knows. Good point. Everyone knows about Professor X now thanks to the X-Men movies, but I'd forgotten about Niles Caulder. He played a small but crucial role in Grant Morrison's mind-bending run of Doom Patrol. Thinking about old Niles brings up fond memories of reading my brother's collection of those issues. Come to think of it, CB, the transformation of the vampire in Buffy is also absolutly reminiscent of Lory´s description. Normally he uses a page for telling us how Dracula´s aristocratic face changes into thickening brows and a flatened nose and so on. Sounds like a scene from Buffy. ;D Damn, you're right!
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junkmonkey
Crab On The Rampage
Shhhhh! I'm Hiding....
Posts: 98
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Post by junkmonkey on Jun 18, 2012 11:15:58 GMT
There was a three page thread on this at the old place, but I can't see anything here so, now that I've finally read it, here's some comments: Sorry, it's probably just me being thick but I can't find the thread on 'The Old Place'. Could some kind soul put up a link to it? Thanks.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 18, 2012 11:36:53 GMT
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junkmonkey
Crab On The Rampage
Shhhhh! I'm Hiding....
Posts: 98
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Post by junkmonkey on Jun 18, 2012 15:09:00 GMT
Thank you!
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Post by noose on Jun 18, 2012 21:11:33 GMT
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Post by andydecker on Jun 19, 2012 8:20:33 GMT
Thanks Johnny, nice to read. Good to know that Mr Lory is enjoying his life.
A shame that there is so few information about Lyle Kenyon Engel who wielded such an influence in american paperbacks.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 23, 2012 7:44:44 GMT
Andy, thanks for posting all the Pinnacle Dracula Returns's. wasn't sure if there were enough Lory fans left on here to justify a new section, so i've dragged in another Vault legend of old, Donald F. Glut, and, now you mention him, isn't it about time we started looking at Lyle Kenyon Engel? For years people assumed that he was Robert Lory.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 23, 2012 11:31:08 GMT
Andy, thanks for posting all the Pinnacle Dracula Returns's. I wasn't sure if there were enough Lory fans left on here to justify a new section, so i've dragged in another Vault legend of old, Donald F. Glut, and, now you mention him, isn't it about time we started looking at Lyle Kenyon Engel? For years people assumed that he was Robert Lory. Not thanks needed. Great idea to combine it with Glut. As I have the Glut´s Frankenstein relatively complete, even in the rather obscure Durktenis edition, I will do them too. Part of theses covers were published in the PF article and waay back on Groovy Age of Horror, but it will make things a bit livelier. There were many bibliography's citing Engel as the writer. In this case it is understandable. Who at the time knew what a packager was? There are quite a few rememberances from older writers, but except for bits and pieces I never found a complete bio. Was he an american Howard Baker or did he treat his writers fairly?
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