When I read the back of this release, the hairs on the back of my neck quite literally stood up.

The legendary X-Men taking on a group of vampires lead by the son of the one and only Dracula in an effort to stop a plague from spreading?

Hell yeah! Count me in.

However that was where the excitement for me ended. I'm not sure if it was the editing or the writing itself but parts of the story seemed disjointed as if there were parts missing from it.

Also, there were some very strange storytelling choices too. They made a massive deal about finding Dracula's head in order to set their plan to rid the world of the plague in action. A pretty big plot point right? No, instead it's glossed over as if it doesn't matter. One moment they say they need someone to get the head then Namor turns up with the head. No information on how he managed to get it so easily, after in a previous scene they mention how hard it's going to be to do, he's just there. That decision took me out of the story entirely, which is a shame. I know there's a little caption on the scene that says "For the full story see Namor: The First Mutant now in stores" but that irks me. To use such a major plot point in order to sell a different comic to the one you're reading, in my opinion, is an annoyance. Would it have killed them to just have included even one page just to say "here's Namor getting the head"?

The rest of the writing is workmanlike and there are some good twists and turns yet I can't help but think it could have been a lot better.

The artwork however is absolutely superb. While normally known for his more cartoon style illustrations, Paco Medina has surpassed himself here with an attempt at a more realistic look and created a story that leaps off the page. It's just a shame the writing doesn't do the same.

While I would recommend this for the art alone, I did find the story to be a bit lacking and slightly disjointed. Still worth picking up though, even if it is just for the stellar work by Paco Medina.