While brainstorming ideas for Volume Two, I had the notion that Dracula, early in his monarchy, might have actually employed bodyguards. In truth, I was likely channeling the Fedaykin from Dune. Then, somewhere along the line that concept intermingled with a desire to give a hat tip to Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur by introducing the Ultrasylvania take on Serbian cat people. That was when I knew these few pages would get rather bloody.
This isn’t the first time – and likely won’t be the last – where I’ve referenced mixing up more than one story idea into a compound. For those non-writers out there, this is rather commonplace – so much so that it often goes unnoticed by the writers themselves. Of course, I’m just speaking for myself, though I’ve heard others more notable than me echo the thought. The fitting of two or more pieces together in just the right combination – for me, this is one of the great joys of writing.
In modern horror pop culture, Cat Women are kind of a cult favorite. I think we have Capcom’s Darkstalkers games and various other Japanese properties to thank for that. Of course, like you said, there is Val Lewton’s Cat People and Marvel Comics’ character Tigra made many of her early appearances in ’70s horror comics.
WoW
Impressive!!!