David Dabel and Carlton Holder have created a horrific retelling of Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Several things have changed in this graphic novel retelling besides the genre, Edmond Dantes is a Haitian descendant, a former slave, and of course. Instead of a priest helping Dantes in prison, it is a creature that no one else can see that teaches Edmond about the world. I did not think that I could have a favorite version of the famous novel, but here it is. I’m not going to go any further into a review because you need to read it. IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE READ!

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This reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo was incredible. The storyline and plot were so interesting and were beautifully portrayed by the art style. Being in all colour, the images were really represented and all the demonic themes really shone through. I had so much fun reading this and would definitely recommend, even if you are not aware of the father story, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Growing up, the 2002 Count of Monte Cristo movie was one of my favorites to watch and rewatch, and as a result I’m a big fan of adaptations of the story. The Curse of Monte Cristo immediately drew my eye because of the horror and demon elements, and especially the perspective of a formerly enslaved man and Haiti as a setting. This is a really excellent adaptation and I really love the blending of historical events and the Revolution of Haiti with the story of Monte Cristo. The art is a really good fit for the story and the violence and horror of it all. I really enjoyed this.

This graphic novel takes the Count of Monte Cristo (obviously) and adds in race. Here, Dantes is was born to enslaved parents on the island of Saint-Domingue — modern day Haiti, where Dumas’ own mother was from — and bought and sold away from his family. He participated in an uprising which was quickly put down, and fought his way to freedom where, with the help of a kindly Captain Leclere, he was given a new life, and found happiness with Mercedes, his fiance. When Leclere died, Dantes was given captaincy of the ship. Jealous of his good fortune, Danglars, a fellow crewman who felt the position should be his, Ferdinand Mondego who felt Mercedes should be his, and the magistrate de Villefort conspired to have Dantes arrested and thrown into the penal colony of Chateau d’If.

So far, other than Dantes being black, the story follows the same beats as the original. However, in prison, Dantes meets Faria, who is no kindly abbot, but is instead a demon from hell who promises revenge. What follows is a bloody and gory adventure that takes place — not in France — but in Haiti against the backdrop of the uprising of the enslaved peoples reclaiming their home. Between race, religion and revenge, there’s a lot going on in this story, but I appreciated how it stayed close to the original story beats and how recontextualizing Dantes as Haitian changed so much and yet, not all that much in the end.

The artwork is clean and evocative, with the characters expressions given center stage. The action scenes, from bloody whippings to sword fights, from torture to horror, are so well done. The backgrounds are dark and moody, the colors feel like they were picked out of a Del Toro movie, and the dialogue bubbles are clean and easy to read.

I will say that the gory and bloody scenes are very gory and bloody, and readers who don’t enjoy quite so much red on their pages might want to skip this book. However, if you like horror, revenge stories and the Count of Monte Cristo retellings, grab this book! It’s so very worth it.

Thank you very much to Net Galley and the publisher for giving me an ARC to enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC ✨

There was… a lot going on with this graphic novel. The Count of Monte Cristo is already one of my favorite books of all time. I thought a new take on it— especially in graphic novel form, would be interesting to read.
The Count of Monte Cristo already has such a dense plot and theme, to add a level of demons and owing debts to a devil figure was already a lot to do. Then adding in the topic of slavery and how horrendous people can act in that degree, was even more. I think if this had been its own, original work without connection to the Count of Monte Cristo and done in a way that was simply inspired by it, I would have liked it more.
I enjoyed the art style, very colorful and gory which I liked!