SCREAM! & MISTY SPECIAL: Gráinne McEntee on The Dracula File!
31st October 2017
Just in time for Halloween, the Scream! And Misty Special promises a chilling, thrilling set of comics reimagined for today from two of Britain’s finest frightfest comics.
Stakes and garlic at the ready, Richard Bruton sat down for a chat with writer Gráinne McEntee, who gets to take a bite out of classic Scream! strip The Dracula File.
The Scream! and Misty Special brings back some fantastic old favourites from British comics past. Were you aware of them at the time, or is this a completely new experience for you?
Gráinne: I’m an Irish lass and to be honest, comics weren’t really encouraged growing up so I missed out there. Aesop’s Fables, Tales of Greek heroes and Irish mythology were my literature fodder at a young age. My comics epiphany came when I saw Watchmen at the cinema and I devoured a heap of graphic novels after that. I’ve only recently gotten into single/monthly issues. Unsurprisingly, I’m stuck into the current Dynamite run on Bond, and I support as much independent stuff as I can.
Can you tell us a little about your strip, what you took from the original, what you might have added?
Gráinne: I read the original Dracula File and loved the idea of hauling the story into the 21st Century. There have been so many takes on the trope and to be given a chance to put my own spin on it was incredibly exciting. Our story picks up from where he last disappeared and is set in here and now. Dracula is slowly reintroducing himself to London society after having been underground for many decades, waiting for his time to come again. We learn of his past and that he has chosen this time to reveal himself and strike. There is interplay between the hunter and the hunted which provides the action, but I won’t say more on who his version of Van Helsing is. You can find that out when you get hold of the special!
I’m actually obsessing a bit about where we could take Dracula if the reboot takes off and Tristan and I find ourselves working together again. That’s really exciting, and I’m such a big lover of the Vampire trope, it would be amazing to be able to evolve the story.
How did you get involved with the Scream! and Misty Special?
Gráinne: I’m going to go with just being in the right place at the right time! Matt (my partner) and I attended quite a few comic conventions last year, and it was at MCM London, Keith Richardson was on the lookout for some fresh blood to contribute to the revamping of the title (am I using too many puns here? It’s entirely deliberate!) He picked up my existing titles – Bubbles O’Seven and Apes ’n’ Capes – and I guess he liked what he saw because he got in contact a few months later and asked me to write the Dracula reboot. Needless to say, as a complete unknown, I was blown away by the opportunity.
With Rebellion having access to loads of classic Brit characters and strips, is there anything you’d love to bring back?
Gráinne: I haven’t read that much of the original stuff to be honest, but I love the idea of The House of Dolmann. I’m having a lot of fun with my own James Bond parody comic and the Q-inspired element is one of my favourite parts so to get to play around with a crime-fighting inventor would be great.
Gráinne, can you give us a quick idea of who you are, what you’ve done?
Gráinne: I started creating comics with my partner, Matt Rooke who wanted to get back into drawing a few years ago. I wrote a story called Apes ’n’ Capes and that was it – I was hooked! Four issues later, I put that on the back burner to get some experience working with other creators and was lucky enough to contribute to Mike Garley’s Dead Roots anthology and Brett Uren’s Torsobear and most recently Jimmy Furlong’s Shit Flingers, Ken Reynold’s Sliced Quarterly and Andy W Clift’s Amazing Tales (WIP). I’m heading into my fourth issue of and Kickstarter for my own title Bubbles O’Seven: Simian Agent – a parody on James Bond. I’m part of a five-person group called Bounce Comics, informal and low key at the moment but we have hopes to develop that further down the line.
Gráinne and artist Tristan Jones take a bite out of the Count in The Dracula File, part of The Scream! and Misty Special, out now!