Join The Conspiracy To Bring Down Dracula In ‘Anno Dracula’ #1 [Preview]

When Titan announced that it was doing a comic book version of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula novels, I sort of assumed that they'd be doing an adaptation of the first novel and going from there. It does, after all, introduce the concept behind the universe, that it's not just a world where Dracula wins at the end of Bram Stoker's original story and goes on to rule over a late 19th-Century England, but that it's a shared universe where virtually all literature and pop culture from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to The Rockford Files coexist with vampires.

Now, though, it seems like that's not the case. When Kim Newman and Paul McCaffrey launch Anno Dracula in March, it looks like it'll be going beyond that original novel into something new. Check out a preview below!

Here's what you need to know, courtesy of Titan:

ANNO DRACULA #1

Writer: Kim Newman
Artist: Paul McCaffrey
FC • 32pp • $3.99 On sale: March 22, 2017

1895. Prince Dracula has ruled Great Britain for ten years, spreading vampirism through every level of society. On the eve of Dracula’s Jubilee, radical forces gather to oppose the tyrant. Kate Reed, vampire journalist and free-thinker, takes a seat on the revolutionary Council of Seven Days, though she learns that the anarchist group harbors a traitor in its midst. The Grey Men, Dracula’s dreaded secret police, have been ordered to quash all resistance to the rule of the arch-vampire. With intrigue on all sides, the scene is set for an explosive addition to the Anno Dracula series.

COVER A: PAUL MCCAFFREY
COVER B: TOM MANDRAKE
COVER C: BRIAN WILLIAMSON
COVER D: JEFF ZORNOW
COVER E: MIKE COLLINS

While Kate Reed is certainly a prominent character in the original novel, the Council of Seven Days and the Grey Men seem to be new for the comic --- and unless I'm misremembering, setting it in 1895 means that it takes place before the events of the first novel, too.

Regardless, it's a great excuse to re-read the novels (or go through them the first time if you haven't read them already) to get ready for the new comic.