Bella Lugosi is Dracula. In 2021, we all know that. Every Dracula adaptation since 1931 has been a riff on his iconic portrayal. But Lugosi was also a flesh and blood man who wasn't actually a Transylvanian count who wanted to suck blood. Koren Shadmi's biography works to capture the man behind the cape, detailing his life from a young Hungarian actor turned union crusader to pawn of the studio system. It doesn't shy away from his many previous relationships (including the first time Dracula met Betty Boop), low moments, and struggles with drug abuse.

Shadmi doesn't linger too long on any one part of Lugosi's life, save his framing device rehab trips, but in doing so he provides a quality biography for a man whose life is remembered less for who he was and more and more for his cape and eyes. But as the end implies - Dracula does not die, and therefore neither does Lugosi.

I knew Bela Lugosi from, like many others, movies like Dracula. I learned so much, and I really enjoyed this graphic biography. Will recommend to horror fans, movie fans, history fans, and anyone looking for a good biography.

I still remember the first time I saw Bela Lugosi's image on the black and white screen, I have been hooked on Dracula ever since, for me he enclapulates the prince of darkness. Since being a teenager I have recognised his name and image but ever really known much about the man off screen, so when I saw this book advertised I knew I had to get my hands on a copy.

I find with some biographies I get bogged down with two much details, however this graphic novel was so refreshing and seems very in keeping with his character and life style. This book gives us an insight in to his career high and lows, how by becoming the such a memorable version of Dracula, he would be typecast for years to come, falling out with various producers his career plummeted. The old saying 'be careful what you wish for" comes to mind, His various unsuccessful marriages all of which lead to a life of alcohol and drug abuse. I wouldn't say he was a nice man or easy to like, but his story makes for good reading and is very interesting.

I also thought the graphics and art in the book were wonderful, the information flowed off the page. A really enjoyable experience for me as I am new to graphic novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and Humanoids Inc. for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this! Wow, this was an amazing biographical pictorial! I was only a little familiar with Bela Lugosi's story, but I feel this graphic novel gave a great overview of not only his career, but also his motivations, his dreams, and his fears. Bela is a one-of-a-kind character, and he most certainly achieved what he set out to do-which is be immortal! I think most people write off those actors who get mixed up in addiction as junkies, but rarely do we get to hear their story, especially someone of Bela's time period, and his immigrant background. While it's clear he definitely struggled with extreme narcissism and manic episodes, he still remained a dedicated artist, always proud of his most famous role, and I really respect that. Many people don't consider the horror genre to be anything more than crude and flat-out dismiss it, so it's wonderful to read that Bela, even until the end, cherished Dracula and his other characters. Also, the Ed Wood parts were great, Bela clearly fits in with the "weirdos" of the world! I believe this book really pays great homage to the great Bela Lugosi and I look forward to recommending this to all horror fans in my circle.

4 stars - It was really good

This is a comic biography detailing the rise and fall of the horror film icon Bela Lugosi. Lugosi is a household name because he brought to life Dracula and embodied the role multiple times during his career. Unfortunately his life was not all wonderful. This was a wonderful and heartbreaking comic that tells the story of Lugosi’s rough life in the film industry.

As with most horror fans, Lugosi is a name that I have known since I was a young teenager. His portrayal of Dracula was amazing for that time and he really helped kick start the monster horror film genre. What I never knew though was how rough his life was before and after Dracula. He had sciatica, which caused him to become addicted to morphine and other drugs. He was also married five times over his life and most of the women were a lot younger than he was.

Lugosi's career was very interesting because after the success of Dracula he couldn’t really get away from that role. From then on he was almost always typecast as the boogeyman in roles, which wasn’t what he wanted but he needed the money. I also found his relationship with fellow horror icon Boris Karloff interesting. I really thought they were friends but that wasn’t really the case.

This was just a fascinating comic that looked into the life of a man who changed the horror industry. The artwork was wonderful, especially in the likeness of Lugosi and Karloff. I highly recommend this comic if you are a fan of Lugosi or film history.

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

My low rating of this book has nothing to do with the art or writing itself. The creators of this work did a fantastic job. The art is well done and the colors add to the themes without, but I was taken aback by how sad this work would be (though the title gives it away).

I was hoping to glean some interesting facts about one of horror's most captivating screen names. Instead I was disappointed about the life this Hollywood star led. Drugs, alcohol abuse, even the way he treated his many different wives throughout his life (though a lot of that was probably on account to the drug and alcohol abuse).

The story was dark and sad- probably fitting to the man who played Dracula (a dark and sad character in and of himself).

Still, I was a bit disappointed to learn these things. Again my low rating has nothing to do with the quality of the book itself, just my disappointment at what I was wanting to get from it.

For fans of movies, TV, monsters, and Bela Lugosi alike. Just be prepared for being let down by one of your favorite old school actors if you were unaware of his character before hand.

Art work: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Met expectations: 3/10

A good graphic novel on the life and times of one of the legendary founders of Horror Cinema. The art style was beautiful, and I would love to own a framed copy of some of the sketches in the back, they are so evocative.
While the information contained within this book is somewhat widely known by Lugosi fans, the juxtaposition with the lovely art makes it a worthwhile purchase.

Lugosi is the engrossing graphic novel depiction of the life of polarizing Hollywood legend Bela Lugosi, most well known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the Universal monster movies. Spanning his entire life and career and framed by his intake into a rehab facility for his addiction to morphine and methadone, Lugosi shows the ups and downs of a roller coaster career marked by hubris and poor decision making. While Bela is not always a likeable figure, he is often sympathetic and tragic. At times destitute, lonely, and drug dependent, Lugosi was typecast after Dracula into portraying mad scientists and monstrous roles in increasingly low budget movies culminating in his infamous allegiance with "worst director of all time:" Ed Wood. The graphic novel medium is a good one for this tale, utilizing black and white imagery for a gothic tone befitting the subject. Highly recommended for those interested in the life of a true Hollywood legend.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Netgalley and Humanoids Inc**

Well, after nailing Rod Serling (OK, if not nailing, then certainly producing something other books I've read since certainly tally with), this creator dips back into Hollywood history with the ups and downs of Bela Lugosi's life – the multiple failed marriages, amongst which four days seemed a lowest low, the dodgy career decisions, and the errant inability to keep it in his pants and his wage in his pocket. For all the brilliance of his Dracula, there was a need in his life, it seems, for someone to rein him in, to tell him that just because he trod the boards of the Hungarian National Theatre, he was not the be-all and end-all, and could not pretend to slip into every hit role going. Still, what is a little too much self-confidence? A dangerous thing, to finish the misquote, on this evidence.

If memory serves this is a lot wordier than the Serling volume, and does seem to trudge at times, even if it flashes between his past and his later years in rehab and hospitals. It is, however, a perfectly reasonable read, showing us the dark side behind the lights and glamour. It will, as the introduction declares, prove a worthy tribute come investigation whatever your prior knowledge. A strong four stars.

"I guess I'm pretty much of a lone wolf. I don't say I don't like people at all, but, to tell you the truth, I only like it then if I have a chance to look deep into their hearts and their minds."

Bela Lugosi will forever be known as Dracula to me. No one can replace him as that character. The way he took that role and let it morph him into the prince of darkness was mesmerizing. No one has ever played that role as fantastically as Lugosi.

While we know the highs of his life, we only know so little about the lows. This book fills in those gaps of his very hard life. The ups of his life in films and the downfall of his marriages gone wrong and his life being consumed by alcohol and drugs.

Books like this would make everyone interested in biographies. Graphic novels mixed with biographies makes things a lot more interesting and I love it. I would be more willing to read random bios if they were presented like this.

This was all around fantastic and informed me about a lot of things that I never knew before. Things weren’t sugarcoated and the truth was all laid out for everyone to see. This is perfect for fans of horror films, all things Lugosi, and all lovers of graphic novel bios.

Long live the true Dracula!

There’s the likeness and the icon itself. The myth and the man behind it. We owe our modern conception of Dracula to Bela Lugosi, who donned the cape of the infamous bloodthirsty count in Tod Browning’s production of Dracula, which premiered in 1931, before the pearl-clutchers would focus their prudish crosshairs on the film industry in the form of the Hays Code, which forced studios to either veil or completely eliminate references to anything the aforementioned pearl-clutchers would consider morally reprehensible. Horror films were a natural target of the Code, so it is to the benefit of the culture at-large and the horror industry in particular that Dracula was released in the pre-Code era.

Bela Lugosi was a Hungarian émigré who first cut his teeth on the stage in the National Theatre of Hungary. After facing political persecution, he made his move to the promising shores of America. First starring in (as well as producing and directing) shoestring-budget theater productions with other Hungarian émigrés, young Bela soon found himself disheartened, feeling as if he was destined to die a penniless pauper.

His first big break came when he met Henry Barton, a theatrical manager who had been impressed with Lugosi’s performance in one of his Hungarian-language productions. The American impresario hadn’t understood a word of the dialogue, but had been captivated by Lugosi’s command of the stage. He told him he would be perfect in a new play he was producing called The Red Poppy if only his English were better. Never one to give up, Lugosi told Barton he was a quick learner and would be willing to have an English tutor hired with the tutor’s wages deducted from his own.

The Red Poppy’s run was short-lived, a commercial failure. Lugosi, however, was praised for his performance and afterwards he had consistent work in small-budget English-language theater and silent film productions. Once he secured the role of the titular character in Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston’s Broadway production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, his fate was sealed. The rest, as they say, is history.

Koren Shadmi does an excellent job bringing Bela Lugosi to life. Penning a pictorial biography of one of the world’s most iconic actors is a daunting task, certainly not for the faint of heart, but Shadmi deftly illuminates the man behind the myth, waking him from his coffin for a whole new generation.

Shadmi’s book is just as perfect for the longtime Lugosi acolyte as it is for those who only know him through his image as Dracula. It is evocative and daring and sobering. I honestly can’t recommend it highly enough.

This a pretty sad look into the life of Lugosi. The pictures are well drawn and it flows nicely. I didn't love it as much as I was hoping but I still enjoyed it overall.
It was definitely a interesting way to look into someones life

I am pretty new to the graphic novel world, but I love non-fiction so I knew I had to request this one. I really loved the artwork and the overall style of this novel. I didn't really know Bela's story so it was all new information for me. I would for sure recommend this for just about anyone.

Graphic novel biographies > traditional biographies

I’ve now had the pleasure of reading a number of these non-traditional format biographies, and I find the approach to be exceptionally satisfying. It’s a great way to get the history of a famous figure in a more concise and entertaining method than standard biographical nonfiction.

Bela Lugosi is a fascinating if not particularly likable icon of old Hollywood’s monster movie craze. His Dracula is one of the most iconic of all time, and a role that meant the world to the man who played him.

Lugosi isn’t exactly what you would call a likable guy. He was a nasty addict and a misogynist womanizer who was likely a diagnosable narcissist forever desperate for attention.

Thus he isn’t exactly the hero of his own story, but his story is an interesting one anyway and it is well rendered here. The art is also excellent, accurate but with a bent that is a nod to the subject’s life’s work and also—I think—just how Bela himself would have liked to be illustrated.

This is a fun graphic novel about the life of Bela Lugosi that hits a lot of the high and low points in his life from childhood to death. It starts with Lugosi checking himself into the hospital to detox from his morphine and alcohol addiction where he has flashbacks to a lifetime of choices that are haunting him. From his childhood in Hungary to Hollywood, Lugosi confronts himself. At the beginning of the book, the author says that this is a book for anyone who wants to know more about the man who first brought the iconic character of Dracula to life on the screen in 1931. I would argue that having some knowledge of the man and the things going on at the time would be pretty helpful for even the casual reader. For example, the affair that Lugosi allegedly had with Clara Bow is included in this 160 page book and if I didn't already know a lot about Bow, I would think of her as a strange floozy who just showed up in the story to party with Lugosi for a few months and then disappear. The painting that Lugosi commissioned in her likeness and hung over his bead for the rest of his life after wasn't even mentioned. There are several other figures that show up like this who I was grateful to already have background knowledge on (such as Ed Wood Jr., Carl Laemmle, and Tod Browning), but that is more of a nitpick since the focus should remain on Lugosi and not the side characters in his life. This is a fun and quick read with above average art.

Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula is a biographical graphic novel telling the life of actor Bela Lugosi. It was so well written. I loved the use of flashbacks. It made a very straightforward story much more dynamic. The artwork was wonderful. It was simple but very effective.

The vampiric figure of Bela Lugosi has become legendary. For horror movie lovers, he’s an icon. But even for those unfamiliar with the genre, images of Lugosi’s Dracula are common throughout popular culture. In this captivating graphic novel, Koren Shadmi delves into Lugosi’s real life, from his childhood in Lugos, Hungary (the inspiration for his stage name) to his old age in Los Angeles.

The story is told in flashbacks. An elderly Lugosi lies in a hospital bed struggling to overcome his drug addiction as he remembers his life. Some memories come freely, while apparitions of days gone by are conjured by the fever dreams of withdrawal.

Shadmi paints a rather sympathetic picture of a generally unlikable man. Lugosi was a womanizer and a schmoozer and often lived well beyond his means. But he paid for these decisions with many tragic moments in his personal and professional life. What I found most interesting was his tumultuous relationship with Hollywood studios. Typecast as Dracula, Lugosi struggled to find other roles and was often treated and paid unfairly.

For movie lovers and history buffs, "Lugosi: The The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula" is chock full of information on cinema and society at the time. The graphic novel even gives readers a glimpse into Hungarian socialism as the backdrop for Lugosi’s early interest in unions. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Universal Studios in its early days, as well as the social and moral pushback against horror in the 1930s. And many horror icons like Boris Karloff, Tod Browning, and Ed Wood join Lugosi in the beautifully illustrated panels.

Lugosi the man was always dramatic, on and off stage, and "Lugosi" the graphic novel pays homage to this. The illustrations often feature long shadows, clutching hands, and close-ups of anguished faces. And the text compliments this well. In the first few pages of the book, the text narrates Lugosi’s walk into the hospital: “Used up, strung out, and forgotten by an industry that took him for all he had. This is his last act of hope, last chance of salvation.” "Lugosi" delivers its namesake’s story with all the drama of a 1930s horror movie.

I love that Shadmi included panels from Lugosi’s movies. This is one of the many clever touches that bring this graphic novel to life. Shadmi’s brilliant work illuminates the good and the bad with poignancy in this story of the man behind the fangs. This is a truly enjoyable read for horror movie lovers, cinema buffs, and everyone else.