Woodstake
A vampire invades Woodstock in the entertaining graphic novel Woodstake.
In 1927 in upstate New York, a vampire awakens. Van Helsing helps to put the soul of a bitten woman to rest, but the vampire escapes, hibernating for years until the late 1960s.
In 1969, Jon, an aspiring magazine publisher, his girlfriend, Nina, and their friend Artie head to Woodstock. Meanwhile, the vampire, seeking revenge, takes the local sheriff under his thrall and indulges in the chaos of the festival. Van Helsing’s descendant, Alexandru, leads the exciting fight against the vampire, in which unexpected players take on key roles.
With its moody photobash illustrations made up of composites of photographs, digital paintings, and 3D models, the book is great fun, evoking the era with references to popular songs and cameo appearances by Richie Havens, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Jimi Hendrix. Most of its action takes place in a defined area of upstate New York—an imaginative take on the classic single-location horror story that benefits from the accompanying claustrophobia and isolation.
The human characters are complex, with conflicts arising from their changing romantic feelings and the cultural environment of the times, including disputes about the Vietnam War and the Grateful Dead. Occasional humor spices up the storytelling: when a joking human tells a vampire in hippie garb “you’re an animal,” the vampire responds with “You have no idea”; in another scene, the vampire is called upon to compose a poem on the spot by a group of concert attendees.
Woodstake is a rollicking graphic novel about a vampire among hippies.
Reviewed by
Peter Dabbene
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
