Hey kids! I just read a fantastic graphic novel written by Sid Jacobson and illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Ernie Colón (1931 – 2019). This 115 page bloodfest was published by Hudson Street Press, and it follows the life story of Prince Vlad Dracula the fifteenth century ruler of Wallachia whose bloody antics were the inspiration years later for Bram Stoker’s blood-sucking ghoul, Dracula.

It’s no secret that Ernie Colón is one of my greatest artistic inspirations. I love his work for Harvey Comics on Richie Rich, and Casper (in a 2007 interview with The Comics Journal,  Colón estimated that he had drawn around 15,000 pages for Harvey), and he was quite an influence on me in my burgeoning interest in comic books with his work for Atlas Comics (Grim Ghost, Tiger-Man). He created the warrior princess, Amethyst, at DC Comics, working with the writers Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin. He also collaborated with Roy Thomas on the native American character Arak, Son of Thunder.

While at Harvey, he met Mr. Jacobson, a Harvey staff editor who would become a collaborator and a lifelong friend. They have created several nonfiction books together, including biographies of Che Guevara and Anne Frank and The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, an illustrated adaptation of the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.