Marvel Classic Comics #9 "Dracula"

(Graded Reader)

I've recently had good luck using comic book versions of classic stories in my ESL classrooms.
The Marvel Classics version of Treasure Island was a big hit.  And the Classics Illustrated version of The Time Machine went over even better.
But having used up both of these ideas, I really struggled to think of the next comic to follow it up with.
My students had been really engaged, and I hated to lose that engagement by introducing a less-exciting story.
So I spent a long time (longer than I like to admit) going through all the classic comics I could find on the Internet (both old issues of Marvel Classics and Classics Illustrated.)

In the end, I didn't find anything that matched the fun, excitement, and pacing of Treasure Island and The Time Machine.
(I spent a lot of time looking at comic book versions of Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Les Miserables, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Robinson Crusoe, A Tale of Two Cities, The Iliad, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, etc. etc. etc.  And decided against all of them for one reason or another.)
So, in the end, I eventually settled on Dracula.

I suppose I should get into my own history with Dracula.
As a kid, I always found the idea of Dracula to be fascinating.  Partly because he was the most famous horror icon, and all kids are fascinated by horror.
And partly because the idea--the gothic castles in mystical Eastern European mountains, the wolves and bats, the graveyards--was just really spooky.
But the actual novel I always found boring.
I read a couple abridged versions as a kid, which I found disappointing.  At around 22, I did the original by audiobook, and also found it a bit slow and boring.  (Sidenote: I think I'm probably due to re-read the original at some point.  I've always felt a bit guilty about only doing it on audiobook, and I think my attention wandered a bit during some of the slower parts.)

But the boring parts of this book only come from the parts in London.  The first 3rd of the book, in Castle Dracula, is still exciting stuff.
It was at the very least much more exciting and atmospheric than Frankenstein (which was the other classic horror novel I was considering doing).
Plus, I had had good luck using a Graded Reader version of Dracula  with teenagers back in Cambodia.  They had really gotten into the story.

The Review
The Marvel Classics version of this story suffers from the same problems as the original source material.  The opening about being trapped in Castle Dracula is really exciting, but then the London parts are so slow and boring.
But in addition to the problems with the source material, there are also problems unique to the Marvel Classics adaptation.
My best guess is that this is a result of sloppy editing.  They couldn't fit the whole story into 48 pages, so someone starting chopping bits off.
As a result, there are all these plot points that are never explained, or references to earlier events which never happened.
For example, in Transylvania, Jonathan Harker references the cross the landlady had given them as if this was an event the reader should be familiar with.  But it was never shown.

Student Engagement
In both my morning class and my afternoon class, initial enthusiasm for this book was high.  When the students found out we were going to read Dracula next, they were very excited.
Just like I was at their age, I think the students were more captivated by the idea of Dracula than they were by Bram Stoker's actual novel.
Once we got into the slower parts of the story, enthusiasm began to wane.
The morning class actually put up with this better, and they remained somewhat engaged all the way up until the end.
The afternoon class started to complain and lose focus.
When we finished the story, the afternoon class told me, "Don't do a story like Dracula again."
"What kind of a story do you want?" I asked them.
"We want a horror story next," they said.
"But Dracula was a horror story," I said.
"No it wasn't," they insisted

Materials used for class: Google Drive Folder HERE, Part 1: slides, pub, Part 2: slides, pub, Part 3: slides, pub Part 4: slides, pub Part 5: slides, pub Part 6: slides, pub Part 7: slides, pub Part 8: slides, pub Part 9: slides, pub Part 10: slides, pub Handout: docs, pub

Link of the Day
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