What is the black mass? [Black Mass Rising by Theo Prasidis]

A titanic and darkly fantastical reimagining / sequel of Bram Stoker's sanguine classic. 

Set one year after the death of Dracula, hope is returning to the lands of Transylvania, and a young peasant girl named Aurelia dares to dream of a better future, free from the yoke of the devil's hundred years of darkness. 

But when a mysterious Healer drifts into town, seeking to cure land and people alike, a terrifying new evil stirs in the blasted lands, and it seems that the lord of the undead is not through yet...or could it be an even greater evil? 

The premise of Theo Prasidis' Black Mass Rising graphic novel is that its events take place a year after Dracula is gone from the land. At the start of the story, it wasn’t really clear whether the disappearance of the monster who had “terrorized the land” was because he was defeated or for some other unknown reason. By the end of the graphic novel we do find out why he disappeared, but in the context of that initial premise the reveal was weird. And seriously, only a year? It felt unnecessarily circular. 

What I was most interested in what came at the end. The black mass that rose. A lot of questions were left on answered with that panel. Is there to be a resurgence of Dracula's terrors? Or is something else, something worse about to terrorize Transylvania? What happens to Wilhelmina? Did Aurelia really just choose to try and live her best life by ignoring what she leaves behind? We always love a complicated romance plot. I, specifically, love unrequited love subplots. Add in a dash of non-heterosexual representation and it’s great. Because how much more complicated the story then, right? At least those are the vibes I got. 

The artwork from Jodie Muir was fantastic. The story didn’t really get going until we had our “core” trio moving along. But that was fine with me, I like where it went once we got moving. In my core, I want to give this five stars even though I know that, for me, it’s not a five star read. Giving it 4.5 would be more accurate if I was so inclined. I definitely like the story and if there were sequels, at least one, I’d definitely be on board to read them, or it. Though I suppose the ambiguous, up-in-the-air ending really works, unfortunately. So I’m gonna give this 4 stars, with the understanding that it’s a bit more in reality.

Black Mass Rising (ISBN: 9781952203169) was published May 31, 2022.