The Book Of Nosferatu: A Graphic Novel Store!

Check out these amazing sketches from artist Todor Hristov of key characters in The Book of Nosferatu!  

Check out the Todor Hristov interview below and back the campaign!

ABLAZE: Do you have any specific working practices? What tools do you use? Do you need a specific routine/environment to help the workflow?

TH: Honestly, nothing too specific or fancy. I use both traditional and digital mediums for my projects. Some scenes just look and feel better on paper, others are more complicated, and digital just allows more freedom and saves time. As for routine, I prefer to work in isolation and silence these days. Rarely, I’ll put on a podcast or instrumental music, but I found my brain works best and fastest when there is no background noise.

TH: Ahh, this will be hard. My artistic influences are in the world of fine art, comics and cinema. Honestly, there’s too much to name just a few, but lately I am looking a lot at some classic Russian painters and reading a lot of manga and American mainstream comics from early 2000s.

ABLAZE: The Book of Nosferatu has specific time-and-place influences when it comes to the environment and character design. Was there any interesting research required going in? And do you have a favorite aspect to portray within this story?

TH: Yes, the period is very interesting. The story takes place in the territory of the Habsburg Empire, but it’s closer to the region of Transylvania and Hungary. And they have very specific cultural heritage and costumes and clothing that is different from the Austrian and German. It’s closer to what we see in Bulgarian and Wallachian ethnic clothing from the period. It’s very richly ornamented, especially women’s clothes, so I had to find a way to simplify but keep the overall feel of the period and geographic area.
As for a favorite aspect to draw, Emil has a big scarf that was knitted by his wife, and he’s wearing it almost all the time. Of course, that’s not in the script and Mike doesn’t know about it, but it makes so much sense to me that it’s canon in my head.

TH: The appeal is universal!  It’s the first unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the visuals, despite being limited by the era in which it was created, are quite well composed and impactful. There’s something quite visceral and unforgiving about the raw black-and-white footage, and to see the monster come to life for the first time, so dangerous and haunting. It holds a special place in the pantheon of cinema.

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ABLAZE: What is your history with the Nosferatu character and his world? Is the character one you’ve had a personal interest in before this project?

MM: I’ve loved Nosferatu for as long as I can remember. The original movie is one of the most chilling, haunting stories ever captured on film. That era of German expressionism changed film, helped create it, and as a film buff, I’m obsessed with that period. It’s such a powerful, strange movie—almost like it’s a cursed object, in a way. Every time I watch it, it’s like a whole new experience. That’s how rich it is.  

MM: Not really, no. I want this story to be connected to Murnau’s vision and nothing more. I did look at some lore, specifically the lore within the movie’s text itself. We kinda take for granted that the film specifically references werewolves like it’s no big deal, not to mention all its allusions to the occult. 

 

 

MM: There’s something kind of primal about it, because it’s about more than a vampire. It’s about death, death as this plague-level force that is coming for you, relentlessly, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That’s what Orlock is: He’s death. And in that, we find fascination. Sure, we’re frightened of it, and the figure of death, Orlock, is revolting. And yet we can’t look away, as we know we’ll all be staring at this truth sooner or later. 

MM: Not really. I’m grizzled old vet, haha. I just sit down at my desk at 9 am and I write until around 3, when it’s time to get my kids. 

 

MM: I’m a film obsessive, so I’m always reading books about film. I just finished Nick De Semalyn’s Last Action Heroes, which was fantastic. If people want to read more about the period of history in which Nosferatu was made—this post-World War I era of film, specifically—I highly, highly recommend Wasteland by W. Scott Poole. It’s incredible, and it really shows how these cinematic nightmares were born and put on film. 

MM: Too many to count!

 

MM: It’s not a cutesy, easter egg-laden slog, where I’m trying to reference the source material so much I can’t tell my own story (which is what so many IP stories do). It’s a slice out of Nosferatu’s life. A moment. He takes a woman, and her husband pursues her, coming closer to this darkness—this death—and seeing himself transform in the process. You can’t follow Orlock, you can’t be like him…without paying a price. That’s what this story is all about. 

Michael Moreci is a screenwriter and bestselling comics author. His award-winning debut feature film, Revealer, premiered on Shudder in the summer of 2022. His second feature, Holiday Hold-Up, a crime comedy that Moreci co-directed/wrote, premiered on Peacock in 2024. In the comics space, Moreci is the creator of the acclaimed gothic horror series The Plot, the werewolf drama Curse, the existential space opera Wasted Space, and the smash-hit sword-and-sorcery series Barbaric,. He’s also written for numerous legendary characters and properties, including Star Wars, Rick and Morty, Batman, Stranger Things, and more, and he co-hosts The Filmographers Podcast.

Backers,

We got a holiday treat for you. Thought you'd like to see Todor's original art before colors. 

Thanks for supporting the campaign. More to come!