Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones Launch Dracula: Book IV – The Undead on Kickstarter

WEPAAAA! Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones are going back to Dracula one last time, and this time they are asking the question Bram Stoker left sitting there for more than a century: what if the bastard actually survived?

Dracula: Book IV – The Undead is the fourth and final chapter in Wagner and Jones’ graphic novel saga, and the project is live now on Kickstarter. Across the first three volumes, the creative team stayed close to the canon of Stoker’s 1897 novel while exploring Dracula’s hidden history and the events happening just outside the pages of the original story. Book IV finally pushes beyond Stoker’s ending and into territory the original novel only hints at.

Wagner points out that Professor Van Helsing lays out very specific rules for destroying a vampire, yet the heroes do not fully follow those rules during the novel’s climax. Add the fact that the sun is about to set and restore Dracula’s full power, and suddenly there is a nasty little opening for the Count to keep going. That discrepancy becomes the launch point for The Undead, turning what looked like a final victory into the possibility of one hell of a mistake.

If Dracula survived the attack that was supposed to destroy him, what happens next? More importantly, what does a centuries-old monster do to the humans who came within inches of ending his reign? Wagner is not treating this as a simple sequel built on familiar vampire tropes. The story is designed as a direct continuation of the Stoker mythology while giving Dracula room to strike back in a way that feels earned instead of recycled.

Kelley Jones says this may be the most evil chapter of the entire series, which is a pretty strong statement considering the first three books were not exactly bedtime stories. The final volume clocks in at 122 pages and once again teams Wagner and Jones with José Villarrubia on colors and Rob Leigh on lettering, keeping the same creative DNA that helped define the earlier books.

The Kickstarter campaign will be the only source for the oversized European-album-format hardcover edition, along with campaign-exclusive reward tiers. The series has already proven it has an audience too, with the first volume cracking Kickstarter’s Top 20 most successful graphic novel campaigns and the saga picking up praise from creators and horror heavyweights including Scott Snyder, John Carpenter, Mike Mignola, Leslie S. Klinger and Ryan Condal.

Snyder praised the team for finding new life inside one of horror’s most overused icons, while Carpenter called the series a horror lover’s delight. Mignola singled out both the madness of Wagner’s storytelling and the visual insanity Jones brings to the page. That is a hell of a lineup backing a project that already had plenty of pedigree before the endorsements started rolling in.

The timing also works for readers who want to catch up. Dracula: Book I – The Impaler and Dracula: Book II – The Brides are available from Dark Horse Comics in paperback, while Dracula: Book III – The Count is scheduled to hit from Dark Horse on October 20, 2026. That gives new readers a clean runway into the finale while longtime fans get the payoff they have been waiting for.

Wagner, of course, is the creator behind Grendel and Mage, with decades of work across Batman, Sandman Mystery Theatre, Zorro, The Shadow and more. Jones has spent his career making shadows look dangerous, from Deadman and The Sandman to his legendary Batman work and Batman: Red Rain, where, fittingly enough, he already had Batman throwing down with Dracula decades ago.

Now the pair are closing the coffin on their own Dracula saga, and they are doing it by digging deeper into Stoker instead of pretending they invented vampires yesterday. Dracula: Book IV – The Undead is funding now on Kickstarter: Back the campaign here. Four books deep, these dudes are hunting in the cracks of the original story, and that is a much better place to find monsters.