This is a clever reworking of Dracula. Starting off in the middle of the story, and still told mostly through articles and journal entries, this manga shakes quite a few things up. For one, all of our main players are children in a school, and not adults, even if they have the same names as their classic counterparts. Joe is the unknown of the group because he has no ties to the original novel . This story is leaning in on the horror elements, and the art really carries it well. Sor far, it's a really good remix of a classic gothic tale with enough original elements to keep me interested in more.

This was shockingly good. I didn't have high expectations, for whatever reason, but this surrealist, delicate, gory, truly unhinged retelling of Dracula is compulsively readable and absolutely gorgeous. The versions of Lucy, Mina, and Renfield in this are wild, and I can't wait to read further in the series. This edition also looks like it's going to be gorgeous, and I can't wait to get a physical copy.

Please see my review in Booklist for my full thoughts on this title. I highly recommend this incredible retelling of Dracula to adult readers.

It's impossible to overstate the influence Bram Stoker's 1897 novel <i>Dracula</i> had on literary and pop culture, but few titles do as fascinating a job of being inspired by it as <i>#DRCL</i>. Hewing closely to the source text, this volume covers up to partway through Stoker's original chapter seven - and that it's so easy to look at Stoker and find that out is high praise indeed. That's especially true because this is still very much its own story - with a transgender Lucy (AMAB) and little tweaks to the story, this is both expected and unique. It's hard to explain just how well it works.

The art is also a major draw. While not always pretty - and in fact pains have been taken to make sure that Mina isn't conventionally attractive - it excels at setting the time and place, and little supernatural details dress the story up beautifully. Good use is also made of jump scares, which isn't easy to do in manga, and barely-seen elements are also well used. It's not going to be a story for everyone, and it does feel like it tries too hard in some places, but if you're into Stoker, you do NOT want to miss this.

#DRCL Midnight Children is a gorgeous and haunting reimagining/retelling of the classic Dracula story by Bram Stoker. This first volume serves as a sort of prologue, introducing our cast of characters and setting the stage for the horrors that will befall our cast of heroes.

I believe the best place to start with this review is the plot and characters.

While it seems to so far hit some of the familiar story beats of the original story, our heroes are far younger and the setting seems to be a boarding school. We have Mina, who in this iteration is a spitfire red head who is determined to make her mark in the male dominated world of academia. Her brother Jonathan, who is the main character of the original story is shown maybe once? There isn't much about him so far. We have Arthur, Quincy, and Joe who are fellow students at the school and… I think they're supposed to be Mina's friends, but she seems to linger at the edges of their group. Reinfield makes a brief appearance doing his normal eating flies and spouting weird, ominous ramblings about his Master shtick. Renfield is always fun.

And finally, we have the most fascinating, at least to me so far, character, Luke or is it Lucy or Luke? Luke is this version's iteration of Mina's friend Lucy, and the first to fall to the darkness of Dracula in the original story. Luke is a bit of a mystery to me. I do wish his character was a little better explained, but maybe it will be addressed more in future volumes!

Dracula himself is seen only in glimpses and shadows and bits and pieces. He is a whole other matter that I will discuss separately now as I talk about the art.

ART GUSHING BEGINS NOW.

Where do I even begin. It's no exaggeration to say that this is some of the most beautiful art I have seen in manga in a long time. It is elegant and gorgeous with beautiful shading and delicate lines. The characters are all so distinct and expressive. There are portions of this book that simply took my breath away, and I found myself lingering on them just to drink in all of the details. This must have taken the artists so long. Just looking at all of the lines and details made my wrist twinge! I draw myself and I can't imagine the patience and care and dedication it took to make this a reality. There is so much love and imagination poured onto every page. (I read an advanced digital copy from Netgalley and I wanted to scream because VIZ media put watermarks on every page and while I understand the need for that AHHHHH I WANTED TO SEE THE ART. I'm gonna be buying a physical copy immediately so I can see it all in its full glory.) But the art was not just beautiful. It was SCARY. Parts of it made me think of Junji Ito's work. (Specifically everything during the beginning ship scenes.) There are some downright unsettling images and some glorious body horror. (In my opinion the body horror elements are stylized in a way as to not be super gory or traumatizing, but if it's something that bothers you just be aware that it is there.) Dracula himself is glorious. I love the way the artist chose to draw him. He is mist, he is shadows, he is tooth and claw, he is a bat, he is a wolf, he is amazing. While we don’t get any real dialogue from him in this volume, he is a presence that permeates through the entire book. Every page with him on it is a masterpiece. I adore him. I adore the art. The art is SO GOOD. SO SO GOOD.

AND THAT COVER?! AHHHHHHH!!!!

ART GUSHING END.

The only real issue I had with the art is that some of the lines are so delicate that the images have a kind of blown out quality to them that makes them a little hard to read, but I am going to chock that up to me reading an advanced copy with very visible watermarks on a tiny phone screen.

Overall, I would highly, highly recommend everyone who is even remotely interested to pick it up. While this volume does kind of serve as a set-up piece, and as such, we don’t get a lot of deep story just yet, consider it a most beautiful appetizer of what is to come. I would honestly buy this for the art alone. It is that good. Some of the spread pieces I would honestly like framed on my wall so I can stare at them all the time. I am a little sad that I got to this so early, because now I’m going to have to wait for the next one, but it’s worth it. I can’t wait to see where this story goes.

Thanks to Netgalley and VIZ Media SO SO MUCH for giving me the chance to devour this as a digital ARC for my review. All of my opinions are my honest ones.