Dead Souls #2

Book two of the three-part series Dead Souls. Even with Eastern European heavy-hitters Vlad Tepes, and Erzsebet Bathory as the deathless vigilantes of the title, the main character that emerges through this narrative is that of New Orleans herself - a Gothic beauty who moves to the rhythms of trad jazz, wearing her bruises and bereavements, her steamy history, and her wild voodoo nights with pride, with passion. A fascinating debut that delivers much and promises a great deal more. - Alan Moore, writer of The Watchmen *** On the streets of New Orleans, there are those who do not think twice about killing.

There are those who do not think twice about hunting those that would prey on others.

But, how do you kill someone that cannot die?

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These acts of murder are brutal and bloody, remorseless and vengeful.

We cannot help ourselves but to look, and to question ourselves.

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Dead Souls, a three-part comic book series by Kurt Amacker and drawn by Louis Manna, follows two of history's most notorious killers, alive and unstoppable on the streets of modern day New Orleans.

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In their own time when Prince Vlad Dracula and Countess Erzsebet Bathory took the lives of others, they did so remorselessly and for their own reasons some for war and others for pleasure. The world has never seen inside the mind of those out of time out of a time when life held little value for those that would take it at will.

Until now.

But, can a creature born into violence change with the tides of history?

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Those who Vlad and Erzsebet hunt are the very criminals who would turn our lives and homes into houses of fear.  Yet, do they have the right?

The executed are those who would act as unwarranted executioners.

But, vengeful forces have traveled through history to stop the immortals in their tracks.

Are there no heroes in Dead Souls? 

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There is a moment in the first book, when Dracula (not a vampire, but not a man; he himself not certain what he is, or how or why he is alive) says, 'Since my time...in my own country, man's warlike nature has remained intact.  But now laws...rights...and courts...protect the worst among us.'

The story continues as Dracula and Bathory storm a house full of drug dealers and addicts plying their trade.

Dracula watches Bathory as she methodically and maniacally leaves none alive.

He states, 'I love to watch her kill.  She takes her prey with neither compassion...nor mercy.  To the Countess Bathory, death is but an art, and murder her medium.'

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In the stories of old, heroes were not so difficult to discern.  Why has it become so difficult now?

Ours is a time when those that would fight evil must often adopt its defining methods.  Dare we, against the will of power, call them heroes? Or, are they only murderers seeking a different kind of prey?

Dead Souls raises many questions, but there are only the beginnings of answers. *** Two of the most infamous and bloody characters from the Middle Ages are given fresh new Satanic life in this illustrated modern gothic horror story. One of the best and profoundly imaginative comics i ve read for centuries... -Dani Filth