Legendary comic creators Matt Wagner, Kelley Jones and José Villarrubia present the next installment in their secret history of Dracula
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Hey gang…this is just a reminder of the exclusive Zoom chat with me and Kelley that is scheduled to take place this evening by invitation only to you, our Kickstarter patrons! The chat begins tonight—10/29—at 6:00pm PST and you can join in by following this link;
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84263054584
Kel and I will be fielding any questions you might wanna fire at us in regards to our DRACULA saga in general and our latest volume, BOOK III—THE COUNT in particular. So come dig deep into our sinister brains and discover what makes us rise from our coffins every night to bring you these secret histories of the infamous vampire lord!
We’re very excited about this session and hope to hear from you.
In the meantime…
If you’d care to maybe indulge in an adult beverage over the course of the chat, we’ve got the perfect cocktail to accompany this experience…one that’s directly inspired by our DRACULA epic!
Bret Macris, Co-Chef and Owner of Shift restaurant in New Orleans has crafted and offers this recipe to put you in the mood for all things vampiric. He’s christened it…The Count’s Descent!
The Count's Descent
1.5 oz Rye Whiskey
½ oz Cherry Liqueur
½ oz Sweet Vermouth
A splash Absinthe
4 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 ea Blood Orange Rind
Add wet ingredients to a mixing glass of ice. Stir until nicely chilled and thoroughly mixed. Strain into a highball glass with a big ice cube. Express blood orange peel and add as a garnish.
Many thanks to Chef Bret for this amazing concoction, sure to delight any blood-thirsty craving! If you're ever in New Orleans, make sure to check out Shift! https://www.shiftnola.com/
Hope to hear from you all this evening, OH YOU CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT!
MATT WAGNER~
Hey gang…as the campaign for DRACULA: BOOK III—THE COUNT enters its final 2 days, we’re here to announce a very special event that is exclusive to you, our backers.
Tonight -- Wednesday, October 29, 2025 -- at 6pm PST, Kelley and I will be hosting a special Zoom session that is an INVITATION-ONLY event for our Kickstarter patrons!
Follow this link and tune in to this dedicated Q&A session where Kel and I will be taking your comments and directly trying to answer as many questions as you might have in regards to our DRACULA epic overall and this volume in particular. Here’s your chance to dig deep into our motivations, methods and working relationship…a real behind-the-scenes exclusive access to our creative process.
Frankly, we’ve never done anything like this before so it might be a bit chaotic at first…but we treasure your enthusiastic support for this project and look forward to hearing directly from you. Since this is our first time attempting this format, we have no idea what to expect and how many people might show up. Zoom Pro has a limit of 300 participants during any particular session and, if we’re lucky enough to have that many of you show up, we’ll try to keep things organized but lively. If the turnout is a much smaller attendance, we’ll have a more intimate exchange that might likely end up being more in depth. Again, this session is exclusive to our backers and NOT open to the general public.
As always and even if you can’t hop on board during this live chat, Kelley and I are incredibly thankful for your patronage of this project that is so very special to both of us. After decades of us talking about someday working together on something significant that would make a real and noteworthy mark in both of our careers, we finally stumbled into what I feel is a perfect collaboration.
And, to prove that fact and as a further celebration of this campaign getting ready to wrap up its funding stage…here’s a sneak peek at Kelley’s amazing B&W art for the first 30 pages of DRACULA: BOOK III—THE COUNT! Kelley’s art should be wonderfully familiar to you by this point but is also drastically different from the scenarios he had to render in the first two volumes—we’ve switched for a remote and isolated area of the world, replete with legends of spirits, monsters and demons to one of the world’s most metropolitan cities. As per usual…the Maestro’s results are stunning! I’m sure you’ll agree and we can’t wait for you all to read the book in its completed form.
Lastly, and as per usual, we’d like to end with (this time) a pair of other projects that we’d like to promote. These two are both special to us because their sponsors are both part of Team Dracula and crucial to us launching and managing our campaigns.
First up, we’ve got an all-new project from Monstrous Books.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/manbomb/weird-tales-graphic-novel?ref=9i1wlv
First published in 1923, the iconic pulp magazine Weird Tales defined the horror and fantasy genres and helped give rise to icons such as H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Ray Bradbury, and C.L. Moore. A century later, Monstrous is teaming up with Weird Tales Magazine to publish the first-ever official Weird Tales graphic novel. — an ambitious adaptation and expansion of the legendary magazine — featuring covers by legendary artists Kelley Jones (Dracula, Sandman) and Eric Powell (The Goon, Dr. Werthless). Fans can follow the pre-launch page now to get an email when the campaign launches, to make sure that they don’t miss early bird specials and limited edition tiers.
The Weird Tales graphic novel features adaptations of seminal stories, including:
The Weird Tales graphic novel also features original stories, including:
Next up…Have you heard about the Superfan Podcast, where the people who make the comics you love talk about the things that they love… that aren’t comics. Join co-hosts Christian Gossett (Story Artist, Eyes of Wakanda, The Red Star), Kristen Simon (Executive Editor at Mad Cave Studios’ Nakama Press), and Superfan Promotions founder David Hyde, as they interview superstar comic book writers and artists about what they’re passionate about — outside of comics.
In the pilot, Peabody Award-winning screenwriter and producer Rodney Barnes(Blackula, Killadelphia) reflects on what makes for a seminal Stephen King story. Rodney also opens up about his own creative journey, which was forever transformed in unexpected ways by his up-close and personal experience on the film The Green Mile, with his favorite novelist. Other guests include Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Marc Guggenheim on Billy Joe, Eisner Award-winning and Hugo Award-nominated writer Kelly Sue DeConnick onAlan Alda (and her decision to get Alan Alda knuckle tattoos) Harvey Award-winning and New York Times bestselling cartoonist Matt Kindt decoding the joy of John le Carré’s spy novels, Eisner Award-winning writer Marjorie Liu on why gardening is her obsession, and New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Honor-winning cartoonist (and former musician) Patrick McDonnell (Mutts) reveals why he’s fascinated by Frank Zappa. For each episode, the co-hosts also share a conversation-appropriate dessert recipe, as well as a cocktail and/or mocktail inspired by the interview. You can check out the Superfan podcast on most platforms:
Okay, gang…that’s it for now. Thanks again for your interest and support annnnd…WE HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU FOR THIS EXCLUSIVE CHAT!
Hoping your Halloween is haunted and happy.
MATT WAGNER~
Hey gang…as the campaign for DRACULA: BOOK III—THE COUNT winds down, here’s a peek at some of Kelley’s in-freaking-credible art from this volume!
I mean…WOW, right?
Working with Kel on this project has been an unbelievable privilege and an utter joy. He is SUCH an amazing draftsman as well as being an absolute master of drama and mood. Black and white lines are the notes and chords in his visual symphonies of terror! I don’t think there can be any doubt that this project will someday become known as Kelley’s magnum opus.
For those of you who haven’t yet backed BOOK III—THE COUNT, only two days remain for you to secure one of these beautiful European album-style books. Don’t wait another minute to join us on this in-depth journey into the shadowy and untold histories of the most famous literary character or all time—Count Dracula!
And to those who’ve already come on board for this volume as well as the previous two books, we can’t thank you enough for your continued and enthusiastic support for this very special project. Kelley and I had dreamed for decades about someday crafting a bold, resonant and enduring narrative together. Our passion for this ongoing tale is what led to its creation and gestation…but it’s your patronage that helped ensure its fruition.
If you’d like to delve a little deeper into our motivations, working relationship and philosophies about our sinister title character, check out this incredibly lively discussion with Brad and Lisa Gullickson from Comic Book Couples Counseling! These two always have lots of great questions to fire our way and we have a great time providing the answers. Always a great time on CBCC!
Lastly, here’s a reminder of what legendary film-maker John Carpenter has to say about our series of DRACULA graphic novels.
Incredibly kind words from an absolute maestro of horror narratives! We are truly humbled by and grateful for his gracious endorsement
Again…only two days remain in the campaign for BOOK III—THE COUNT!
Make sure to close your coffins before sunrise!
MATT WAGNER~
Hey gang…just a quick update to say that we’ve added a tier in the campaign for DRACULA: BOOK III—THE COUNT where you can order ALL THREE volumes with a single click! This bundling applies to both the print and digital versions.
And, in honor of a special day (no…not John Lennon’s birthday), our friends at 13th Dimension ran a spotlight overview of all three books in our ongoing epic history of the vampire lord! Check it out here to see how things have progressed.
Lastly, we wanna give a special shout-out to one of our very favorite podcast—LAST PODCAST ON THE LEFT! If you’ve never tuned in to this long-running, informative, hilarious and incredibly popular cast, now’s the perfect time to check it out as the boys have just started a multi-episode series in an all-new Portraits Of Evil theme. Their first subject is the Third Reich’s number two mother-fucker, Heinrich Himmler, truly one of the most vile human beings to ever exist! LPOTL is available on Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts.
And…LPOTL has a very special episode coming up soon! More info to come…
Spooky is season is upon us, you Children of the Night!
MATT WAGNER~