NOSFERATU
Christopher Howard Wolf and Justin Wayne
WEIRD WAR TALES #1 Darwyn Cooke, Dave
Stewart, Ivan Brandon, Nic Klein, et al.
THE SCOURGE #1 Scott Lobdell and Eric Battle
EEEK! Jason Paulos
IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE #3 Dara Naraghi
and Mark Dos Santos
PINOCCHIO: VAMPIRE SLAYER AND THE GREAT PUPPET THEATER Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen
S
tylistically, vampires can be herded into two camps. The most popular portrayal has ar- guably been the seductive romantic, as brought to life by Bela Lugosi’s iconic por-
trayal of Dracula in the 1931 Universal film. Alter- natively, there’s the vampire as a physically repulsive and unrelenting force of evil. Without a doubt, the epitome of this representation is Count Orlok, the terrifying bloodsucker in 1922’s Nosfer- atu, a film that still manages to send shivers up the spine. “Nosferatu is the story of a vampire who slithers
uninvited into the lives of others, as opposed to ro- mancing his way in,” according to comic writer Christopher Howard Wolf. “Max Schreck portrayed Nosferatu as The Other. He is subhuman, as op- posed to superhuman. He’s not charming, and he’s not attractive. This is something you don’t often see in vampire lore these days, which usually presents them as misunderstood souls, high-flying killing machines, or members of hierarchical secret soci- eties.” Wolf is no stranger to the Orlok story, having re-
cently penned Viper Comics’ new Nosferatu graphic novel, a “re-imagining” of the classic film. “The graphic novel was basically conceived during a con- versation between myself and Jessie Garza, presi- dent of Viper Comics,” explains Wolf. “We were discussing horror comics, and I immediately consid- ered pitching a retelling of the Nosferatu story. As much as I love the film, I didn’t have any interest in trying to create an exact copy of it. Trying to do that seems more outrageous than putting my own spin on it.” The basic narrative re-
mains the same. The pro- tagonist, Tommy Hutter, is sent to visit the mysterious Graf Orlok at his dilapidated castle somewhere in Eastern Europe. Once there, Orlok learns of Hutter’s true love, the beautiful Elle, and travels to their homeland in order to possess her, body and soul, taking plague and pestilence with him. Hutter, who barely escaped from Orlok’s castle
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alive after discovering his terrible secret, teams up with vampire expert Agent Bull- ner in the hopes of reaching Elle before it’s too late. Aside from setting the tale in contem-
porary times, Wolf’s most drastic update is making the story’s protagonist female. Yes, Tommy Hutter is a spunky photogra- pher who happens to be in a loving same- sex relationship with Elle. “This sort of story usually centres on an
unhealthy male force that wants to cor- rupt, or destroy, the female,” explains Wolf. “In this version, Elle is not simply threat- ened by the intent, but the gender as well. I feel like this partly addresses certain is- sues with obsessive and destructive be- haviour toward those with alternate lifestyles.” (To Wolf’s credit, the story’s les- bian relationship is presented as genuine and caring, never exploitative – despite what the cover suggests.) Another key change is that the plague
that Orlok unleashes on the city’s popula- tion is believed to be a terrorist attack, hence the Van Helsing character has been recast as an agent from Home- land Security. Wolf strongly be- lieves that horror in general, and this story in particular, lends itself to social criticism. “The original Nosferatu film played
Nosferatu: The classic vampire re-imagined for a modern audience.
upon fear of the plague. If you think about it, we’re still in that place today, we just have more plagues to choose from. If people start dropping like flies in mod- ern-day streets, we’ll point the finger at new ‘monsters.’ The 1922 film itself con- tained social commentary. Some even theorize that Orlok represented a variety of phobias, like the fear of Jews and ho- mosexuals. I don’t subscribe to these be- liefs, but it’s interesting to see
Nosferatu’s commentary, real or imagined, inspiring debate after all this time.” Despite the many updates that Wolf made to the
original story, one highly crucial component re- mained constant: Orlok himself. Artist Justin Wayne’s uncanny depiction of the Count is faithful to Schreck’s incarnation: bulbous bald head, beak-
like nose, a hunchbacked yet elongated body, spindly, crooked fingers that taper into claws and, of course, the omnipresent razor-sharp fangs. Wayne has also managed to faithfully reproduce the actor’s portrayal of the vampire, using many of the film’s shots as cues for the book’s panels. Ulti- mately, the reader is left with a retelling of a classic story that retains the original’s essence, especially when it comes to the horrific and the grotesque. Wolf is a bit coy when it comes to future “re-imag-
ining” (“Justin mentioned possibly doing something with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.”) but admits that his dealings with Nosferatu may not be over, especially if the response to the project is positive. “We do have a nice little Count Orlok origin story ready to go…”
Nosferatu is slated for release this month. Visit
the official website at
bookofvampires.com for more info.
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