Discover the Life of Bela Lugosi in a New Comic Book Biography from Humanoids
Sep 29, 2021
Humanoids, the publisher of some of the world’s most iconic and groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy graphic novels, will publish LUGOSI: THE RISE AND FALL OF HOLLYWOOD’S DRACULA by award-winning cartoonist Koren Shadmi. The biography will chronicle the tumultuous personal and professional life of horror icon Bela Lugosi. The book will be Shadmi's second collaboration with Humanoids in the media biography space after The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television (AUG192011), which came out in 2019. LUGOSI will be published under Humanoids’ Life Drawn imprint, which showcases diverse voices and slice of life stories from different points of view.
LUGOSI, the tragic life story of one of horror’s most iconic film stars, tells of a young Hungarian activist forced to flee his homeland after the failed Communist revolution in 1919. Reinventing himself in the U.S., first on stage and then in movies, he landed the unforgettable role of Count Dracula in what would become a series of classic feature films. From that point forward, Lugosi’s stardom would be assured… but with international fame came setbacks and addictions that gradually whittled his reputation from icon to has-been. LUGOSI details the actor’s fall from grace and an enduring legacy that continues to this day.
Here’s what critics are saying about LUGOSI:
“Lugosi is nothing short of a masterpiece. With riveting style and a storyline that drives full-tilt from the opening panels, Shadmi tells the tale of the man behind Dracula—his immigrant struggles, his wild love life, his dope fiend torments, his heinous treatment at the hands of studio moguls—with such vision and heart, you find yourself rooting for the monster from beginning to end.”―Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight, Hemingway & Gellhorn)
“Lugosi welcomes you to explore the life of one of film history’s most evocative, mysterious figures in a journey that’s both haunting and humanizing, something cut from the cloth of Adrian Tomine and the Coen Brothers alike. A moving bildungsroman…with bite!” ―Steve Orlando (Commanders in Crisis, Wonder Woman, Rainbow Bridge)
“Poignant and informative.” ―Joe Dante (The Howling, The Twilight Zone: The Movie, Gremlins)
The gripping biography LUGOSI (JUL211728) is available now at your local comic shop, just in time for the spooky season.
Beginning with his early life in Hungary as a young actor and activist, this first-of-its-kind graphic memoir details Lugosi's flight from his homeland after becoming an enemy of the state and his eventual move to the US, where his career flourished-for a while. Following a pivotal career mistake that allowed Boris Karloff's star to rise while his plummeted, Lugosi's pride, extravagant lifestyle, and addiction to drugs, women, and the high life led to his tragic decline and humiliating later years that saw him join forces with infamous B-movie director Ed Wood for one last shot at stardom.
