Van Helsing vs. The League of Monsters

Van Helsing

by Dave Franchini, Raven Gregory, Julius Abrera (Illustrator)

Van Helsing is still reeling from the revelations of recent events after her world came crashing down around her. But she won't have time to catch her breath as something catastrophic is heading her way. Will she be able to handle some of the deadliest creatures in all existence? Alone any of these would be formidable foes, and Liesel will have the ultimate challenge laid before her, with taking them on all at once. The odds are not in her favor, and it doesn't look good for the legendary vampire hunter.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Horror

159 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 2021

Reviews

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for anhonest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Van Helsing vs The League of monsters is a comic book collection all in one book.
In these comics, Draculas daughter and a newly resurrected Dracula are causing death and destruction with other hideous monsters at their side such as Frankenstein, Wolfman and The Mummy.
Van Helsing certainly has her work cut out to stop them for good. With help from powerful friends will she pull it off?
This series reminded me in a way of the avengers. The pages are stunning with the detail and colours used!
I can't wait to read more of these and see what other adventures unfold.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A newly returned Dracula and his daughter gather the traditional monsters (albeit updated versions) of the Wolfman, the Mummy, and Ms. Hyde to take on Van Helsing's daughter and Robyn Hood while they try to resurrect Dracula's wife. Not a bag way to spend an hour.

Received a review copy from Zenescope and NetGalley

[Sarah-Grace (Azrael865) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zenscope does not disappoint. As always the art is absolutely amazing and the story is very good. I enjoyed all the characters, and even though I haven't read any of the stories leading up to this one, I was able to follow along with this one perfectly fine. I started reading the Zenscope Grimm Fairy Tales series when they first were published in the early 2000's but hadn't kept up after that. Thank you to Zenscope and NetGalley for the opportunity to get reacquainted with the Zenscope graphic novels through being able to read this e-ARC.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Van Helsing vs The League of Monsters directly follows Dracula’s Daughter and plays out a lot like a big budget blockbuster crossover ala The Avengers or Justice League. All of these monsters are being rounded up into an army with the freshly resurrected Dracula at the helm and his sinister daughter at his side. With Characters like The Wolfman, The Mummy, and even Frankenstein throwing their weight around, it’ll take an equally impressive army to fight back. Good thing Van Helsing has friends of her own.

I think I preferred the previous volume a lot more, but this volume has a lot to offer for fans of classic monsters. When Universal stumbled epically trying to make a shared “Monsterverse” a few years back, I look at something like this done very well and successfully, and wonder what they were smoking? So, if you want to see this concept done right, look no further than these comics from Zenescope.

While these books aren’t literary classics or anything, they are a ton of fun, and at the end of the day, that’s mostly why I read comics. I LOVE these sort of “cheesecake” books with pinup-styled art that harken back to comics from the past, and will support any company that does them.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last time round (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) the comic ended on such an absurd high – so removed from anything Stoker or the real authors of this kind of thing would ever have recognised – I honestly feared for ever enjoying one of these books again. Luckily, we start reined in, and not with the dial turned to ten before we've even got anywhere. Basically, the world our heroine is in now has more baddies, and she might have fewer goodie allies – although rest assured the whole lot will feature here some way or other. Actually, they'll make a right royal narrative mess, unless you're better genned-up on all their history than me. But as I said before, criticism of this series and its like falls on deaf ears, and it will be bought and adored by its fans regardless of any write-up like this. The rest of us will not regret missing out on anything.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very pulpy mini-series that might require some background information to fully appreciate. It's a fun little romp with some pulp elements. You gotta give the makers credit for sticking to the use of classic characters especially the universal monsters. All with different spins like a Chinese mummy instead of an Egyptian one and a few stakes in it for most characters. They all bounce off each other and there's some decent chemistry in some places.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Van Helsing, Liesel Van Helsing. Daughter of that Van Helsing. It’s Liesel Van Helsing vs the League of Monsters. The monsters include her stepfather, her half-sister, a mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, Miss Hyde, werewolves and various vampires. On Liesel’s side are Igor, Dr. Jekyll (when she is not Miss Hyde), and a female superhero archer.

There are six chapters included here. The artwork is darkly pretty, which is perfect for this mostly gothic tale.

My problem is with the choice of characters. Adding every major character from classic horror with a modern Marvel character (Hawkeye) just creates a confusing jumble. None of the minor characters are described other than by name or appearance. All the protagonists have been flipped to female except minor character, Igor. They also look and dress like strippers for some reason. Even the ending was disappointingly rushed. Van Helsing vs the League of Monsters gets 3 stars for the art alone.

Thanks to Zenescope, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[♛ Garima ♛]

I started with this and got completely lost. So, I backtracked and searched for the correct reading order.

This is the correct reading order:

Van Helsing

GFT Hunters
GFT Vampires and Werewolves
Unleashed Vol. 1
Unleashed Vol. 2
Realm Knights
Helsing: The Darkness and the Light
Van Helsing vs. Dracula
Van Helsing vs. Frankenstein
GFT Apocalypse
Van Helsing vs. The Mummy of Amun-Ra
Van Helsing vs. The Werewolf
Van Helsing vs. Robyn Hood
Van Helsing: Sword of Heaven
Grimm Universe Presents 2019 – Daughter short story
Van Helsing vs. Dracula’s Daughter
Van Helsing vs. The League of Monsters

I only have a copy of the last 2 books Dracula’s Daughter and The League of Monsters so I will come back to this after reading Dracula’s Daughter and will hope it makes more sense.

[Misa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in echange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars
So, this is my first Van Helsing version as a woman and it was pretty interesting with a nice story and good art. I loved the different books of Van Helsing's story mainly "Hellsing" by kohta Hirano.

About this book, I liked it and I got so much fun while reading to the point that it got me in a mood for more Vampires readings. It is a comic book which worked its purpose and that is to entertain its readers. I really enjoyed it and it was funny. I loved Angelica's character in this story and I hope that she will be in other volumes of this series.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that Charlotte, the daughter of Dracula, has her daddy back, what do they do? Why they form a League of Monsters to torment poor Liesel and her few remaining friends! It takes a while, but Liesel finally wakes up,smells the rot, and takes action. Sometimes you just wonder about the smarts of heroes and heroines. But maybe they just are not reading the right books! This title has plenty of action, plenty of twists, and leaves plenty of room for more adventures to come. The artwork has a nice steampunk feel to add to the noir feel. So if you like snarky heroines beating up on baddies, dive in!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title!

[Tala · Rating 4 out of 5]

The next installment to this series pulled no punches. I really enjoyed this one! It helped relationships had been established and the stakes were so high. It does make me want to go back and check out the previous titles mentioned in its corresponding panel.

**Provided ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Zenne]

DNF at 21%

i just really could not get into it. it was a combination of the very small text and the story just not grabbing my attention. I do however recommend this to people who love action comics.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange of an honest review*

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review Submitted to Diamond Bookshelf for potential professional publication.

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the single issues

[Jenn Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 9th volume in the Van Helsing series collecting issues 1-6. Her world is falling apart, but even more trouble is coming. I don't know what to say about this book. You really just have to experience it for yourself. Sometimes the gender bent series have a lot of fan service and very little story. This is not the case with the Van Helsing titles. There is a bit of fan service, but it isn't bad. Van Helsing was a ton of fun I couldn't put it down.

Creative Team:
Story: Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini, Raven Gregory
Writer: Raven Gregory
Artwork: Deivis Goetten
Colors: Robby Bevard
Letters: Taylor Esposito