Blood Queen was a lesser seen series from last year, and while it had its merits, it never managed to catch an audience, as the genre was perhaps too saturated with fairy tale stories for another with little different on the surface to succeed.  Where it succeeded was by returning fairy tales to their roots.  As opposed to the Disneyfied versions, the story was much darker as most fairy tales generally are, and despite the story having no ties to existing fairy tales, it still managed to captured the same feeling in a fantasy setting.  The series did not last long, only five issues before abruptly ending, and while it did have its failings, it was still interesting to see at least something a little different being tried with the fairy tale genre.

It was a little unexpected that the series would see any kind of a revival.  The characters and conditions of the story were developed well enough over its five issues, but it also looked like so many other comic series that started well but left potentially good stories untold.  With the introduction of the new series, it is attempting yet another oddity for fairy tales, mixing legendary historical figures such as Dracula into the fold in a setting which is half historical and half fantasy.  There is talk of the Ottomans here to give grounding of the series into the real world, but so too does Dracula exhibit the same supernatural powers of any vampire.  The Blood Queen is shown presumably some time after her eventual rise to the power in her own kingdom, after having consolidated her power, and now her expansionary goals put her in the path of the infamous Transylvanian butcher.

The story is not entirely bad, but for those that were expecting more of the Blood Queen will be disappointed.  The character is changed enough to fit her into the story that what made her novel, instead now makes her mundane.  Without the richer fairy tale setting, the story reads as just another fantasy story with supernatural players.  That being said, it is not as though this story is bad, in fact it does read easily enough and it is entertaining, just it is the same as so much as which has come before.

Story: Troy Brownfield  Art: Kewber Baal  
Story: 7.3 Art: 7.3 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Pass

Dynamite Provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.