Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula #1: The Light of Day

Marvel’s latest expansive event centered around the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane has allowed for a unique opportunity to explore the darker side of Marvel Comics, so what better time to bring in the Count, right?

With a script from Tieri, Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula #1 proves to be an enjoyable if not woefully inconsequential one-shot featuring a particularly memorable duel between Captain American and the Count himself. Considering the nature of the story, it’s entertaining enough, but it’s not exactly doing anything either all that important for the overarching event or for Dracula in the Marvel Universe.

Dracula simply isn’t a character that we get a lot of updates on, so issues like this are an easy purchase when I’m at the comic store. That alone makes this issue feel like it is worthwhile, but as we finally get to the last page it becomes clear that it is ultimately a forgettable experience. The fight between Dracula and Captain America is a lot of fun, but it’s just not enough to pull the issue out of the mundane.

While there is some clash in the contrast of art between modern day and the flashback sequences, it still feels like a cohesive book. This speaks to the team’s storytelling abilities and their ability to uniformly execute such a structure. Rachelle Rosenberg also pulled double duty on colors and does a great job in giving both distinction and coherence to the visuals.

If you are sold on the Ravencroft event and just have to know everything there is to know, this issue will undoubtedly entertain. It might not be revolutionary, but it’s a fun one-shot style narrative featuring Dracula at a point in history that isn’t often explored. While I would have truly loved a bit more depth of plot and characterization for the titular character, it’s still an enjoyable read.