Elizabeth Bathory by Raúlo Cáceres

Published by Bloody Gore Comix ($60 CAD / ~ $44 USD)

Summary

“Elisabeth Bathory, the bloody Countess of the Carpathians who, with Dracula, marked the dark hours of Europe, is a real character in Hungarian history, who throughout the centuries, aroused all fantasies. 

Since the 17th century, Countess Elisabeth Bathory lived beyond morality. A vampire, she survived death to gather the fruits of life and enjoy the night. Our Lady of the Tombs only knows orgies and blood. 

Thief of sperm, devourer of flesh, this eternal woman is now tracking down a mysterious cursed coffin. But vampire hunters are also looking for it…” (back cover summary)

Around the book

As of 2024, it has been over two decades since we last saw an English translation of Caceres’ timeless erotic and gore Elizabeth Bathory. The series first began its publication streak in Wetcomix #1 (1998), an hardcore Spanish erotic magazine. 

As time passed, the North-American market was due for a new English edition to resurface, and there was no better name in the game than Steph Dumais’ Bloody Gore Comix to tackle this extensive work. 

This edition is  unabridged, uncensored and augmented with a gallery (including some of the covers originally created for the Eros Comix reprints rendered here in B&W inks and a few rough drafts). 

I bought this book directly at a BGC stand in late May 2024 and was given two stickers: one is the BGC logo and the other one is the Eros Comix cover for their 6th issue of Elizabeth Bathory. If you can order it from BGC, please mention the sticker if they have some left, those are very cool!

On the book (object)

Letter format hardcover, the covers are predominantly black and white, with embossed taints of red for the title, the publisher’s logo and a healthy sprinkle of blood all around. 

Pages are bound with adhesive, which is not ideal for a hardcover book. It would have been preferable to choose a sewn binding to offer better flexibility when opening the book (this is sligthly unfortunate for the two-page spreads). However, most of the pages have good gutter space, so the tight binding does not affect enjoyment by much.

On the book (content)

Countess Bathory is sent on a mission to destroy a cursed coffin containing a Varcolaci, a very powerful type of Hungarian vampire. However, renowned vampire hunters are also on the trail. The road to debauchery is paved with plenty of bloody orgies.

Cáceres has deeply researched the supernatural lore to populate Bathory’s journey with lesser known entities. A good showcase of this is the set of three werewolves she crosses paths with in chapter 9: Ana Maria, mistress of wolves, based on a historical figure from the 17th century; Gilles Garnier, a serial killer from the 16th century, accused of being a werewolf; and Rizzo the Lupunaru, another term used to identify werewolves. In doing this, Cáceres sets his characters as more than just the typical vampire, werewolf or other beast of darkness.

However, we must note that the extravagant orgies, although very well depicted in all their bloody glory, don’t really serve the plot much. Each chapter has one such very crude sexual encounter, but often characters are discussing important plot points at the very same time. They could be sipping tea or riding tricycles, the plot would still remain fully intact. We would have liked for those orgies to further the story in some way. Regardless, their very presence is still a welcomed sight.

On the translation

The book is translated by Alejandra Domja. To be fair with my readers, the translation is average. The translation doesn't use a lot of contractions (ex: "it's" instead of "it is"), some words are occasionnally missing, the sentences feel bloated. I've also spotted an instance of swapped dialogues.

Additionally, at some point, the translator chose to translate iterances of "kill" with "delete": instead of "you tried to kill me", you will read "you tried to delete me". This is very awkward coming from a vampire born in the 16th century and also inappropriate for an uncut edition.

Copies can be bought at: https://bloodygorecomix.com/collections/books-1/products/elizabeth-bathory-uncut