“Operation: Iron Coffin #1” Review – Hell is Singing

The Run Down

Going into this, I had little to no idea of what to expect. All of what I saw was the advertising put out by IDW. I didn’t want to look into the story or premise as I wanted to be completely surprised going in, and boy was I! To give a brief synopsis, if you know “Hellsing”, writer Kenny Porter seems very much inspired by that in order to create “Operation: Iron Coffin”. For those who don’t know, the story follows Dracula (or in the case of “Hellsing”, Alucard) as he works to help defeat the Nazi regime. Now follow me as we review and uncover this terrifying tale!

Writer: Kenny Porter
Artist & Colorist: Tyrell Cannon
Letters: Shawn Lee

The Writing

To cut right to the chase, Porter’s writing caught me hook, line, and sinker right from the start. Throughout, the writing was extremely engaging and easy to follow. While the face of the story is similar to “Hellsing”, there really seems to be more and very different things going on here. Instead of having been captured by Van Helsing and forced to work for a corporation, Dracula is serving a sentence for his atrocities, creating the backdrop for his character arc in a super unique way befitting of who and what he is.

Also, while the idea of Dracula fighting Nazis is nothing new, I love how Porter approaches it here. While I won’t spoil how or exactly what’s happening, it feels very fresh and exciting! Porter is really cooking up a very unique and horrifying tale of woe and redemption, utilizing familiarity in a brand new way! This is a character study unlike anything I’ve seen this year, and I’m super excited for wherever it’s going. Not only that, but several bits of dialogue and moments will stick with me for a while.

The Art

As I tend to say, if you’ve got great writing, then you need to have great art and colors, and I’m more than happy to say that Tyrell Cannon did more than deliver! There are so many moments throughout where Porter exuded trust in Cannon, and it shows. At several key points, the art truly tells the story, and if it’s not telling it, it’s heightening it. Without giving it away, there’s one page in particular where there are very few words and all we see are the actions of Dracula in a very symbolic moment that should resonate with anyone just trying to do better or better themselves.

Cannon seriously knocked it out of the park with the colors and shading as well! Everything felt appropriately dark, somber, bloody, and mysterious. He worked the colors extremely well to not only help himself create the gothic look and feel, but to bring out the readers’ feelings of disgust, anger, and hatred. Shawn Lee did a fantastic job with this as well as with the lettering! All in all, utterly fantastic.

Final Thoughts

If you were at all hesitant to pick this up, do yourself a favor and just do it. Kenny Porter feels at the top of his game with this, and trusting in Tyrell Cannon completely was a very smart decision. If I could read this for the first time again, I absolutely would!

Overall Grade: 10/10

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Comments

Were you looking forward to “Operation: Iron Coffin”? If you managed to pick it up, what are your thoughts? Let’s discuss in the comments below!