Here’s a question: what connects Percy Bysshe Shelley, Howard the Duck, a vampire cow and a murderous surgeon? The answer is that they’re all influences author David Annandale drew upon in one way or another when writing his latest Marvel novel Reign of the Devourer, which is out now (in ebook) from Aconyte Books! After reading his recent guest post about the relationship between horror fiction and visual media, I thought it might be fun to ask David to talk a bit about the books, comics and movies that inspired and influenced him while he was working on Reign of the Devourer, and put together a sort of ‘primer’ for the new novel. If you want to get into the appropriate mindset for the latest (mis)adventures of Doctor Doom, these stories are exactly what you need!
First of all though, before we get onto the influences let’s take a quick look at what the novel is about. It’s David’s second Doctor Doom novel for Aconyte’s Marvel: Untold range, and promises to be another dark, gothic, grandiose tale digging deeper into the character of this legendary figure from the Marvel comics, who normally takes the villain role but here plays the part of protagonist. Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:
Victor von Doom saw his future for an instant, and now he cannot rest. His obsession with regaining those memories leads him into the arcane science of geomancy. As he delves into the ancient memories that lie beneath his land, Doom discovers a tremendous concentration of power… one that should never be explored. Doom’s excavations and necromancy fracture the prison of something awful: the Devourer of Souls. Now free to roam Latveria, the Devourer spreads a plague of soul-hungry vampires. Doom must choose between seizing this power for himself or destroying it, before his realm is no more.
When I asked David for an overview of what we can expect from Reign of the Devourer, he told me that it “picks up in the aftermath of The Harrowing of Doom, with Doom obsessed with finding, and taking possession of, the repository of all memory. This quest has terrible consequences, leading to a plague of a kind of soul-devouring vampire. Along with plenty of spookiness, readers should expect to see still more of life in Latveria, and to see how Doom deals with the results of his own megalomaniacal projects. Much of the cast from the first book is back too, with Dr. Orloff playing a key role this time around.”
Sounds great, right? With that done, let’s turn our attention to how to prepare yourself for the new book. First and foremost, if you’re excited to read Reign of the Devourer then the obvious place to start – if you haven’t read it already – is with the first book, The Harrowing of Doom. In my review I called this “a tale of iron will and fierce obsession as Doctor Doom sets out to turn the tables on Hell itself”, a book that “mixes gothic tragedy and bold, cinematic action to create something powerful and exciting”, and which is “as spectacular, characterful and downright entertaining as any Marvel movie.” Seriously – it’s a brilliant book, and absolutely worth the read. If you’re still not sure, check out my interview with David about it for more information.
Once you’ve read that, now’s the time to check out the books, comics and movies that David has identified as the key influences on Reign of the Devourer. I’ve split this out by medium, so without further ado…over to David.
Books
DA: “If I took Byron’s Manfred as a point of inspiration for The Harrowing of Doom, I engage in a few deliberately perverse thematic points of encounter with Percy Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound this time around.
But that said, the book that led to the original inspiration for Reign of the Devourer is Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot. For whatever reason, I found myself thinking, “How would Doctor Doom deal with a situation like ‘Salem’s Lot?” Though Reign of the Devourer, in its final form, departed significantly from this first notion, there are still moments where I quite consciously bounce off King’s book, which I reread for the first time since the early 80s as part of my research.
Then there’s They Thirst. I read Robert R. McCammon’s book in my teens, and though I haven’t reread it since, there are scenes that have stayed with me for a good 40 years. So though my memory is obviously a distant one now, I’d be kidding myself if I pretended that this novel of a monstrous, large-scale vampire plague hasn’t influenced Reign of the Devourer.”
Comics
DA: “This is going to take a bit of explaining, and I hope it makes sense. While numerous Doctor Doom stories do, of course, loom large over everything I do with the character, the comic story that especially lurked in the back of my mind as I wrote this doesn’t feature him at all. It doesn’t even feature its title character. The third story in issue 5 of Giant-Size Man-Thing is called “Hellcow!” and it features Howard the Duck coming to grips with Bessie, the vampire cow. The premise is ludicrous, of course, but the genius of the tale, written by Steve Gerber, is that it is also genuinely creepy.
In my memory, the art was by Gene Colan. It is not, though — the penciller is Frank Brunner. This story, which I first read when I was very young, both fascinated and disturbed me. And though the art is not by Colan, and though I am a late-comer to Tomb of Dracula, Colan’s art in other comics, and its supremely gothic, misty atmosphere, shaped my imagination for Reign of the Devourer too.”
Films
DA: “There are, as in The Harrowing of Doom, references to Universal and Hammer horror films (the name of the antagonist, Maleva Krogh, is one such nod). I also looked a bit more toward films from the European mainland this time, such as The Vampires’ Night Orgy (1974).
But there are two movies that play a more direct role in Reign of the Devourer: Dark Eyes of London (1939) and The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962). In the former, Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Orloff, insurance swindler and murderer, while the latter has Howard Vernon’s murderous surgeon as the first of many incarnations of director Jess Franco’s Dr. Orloff (or Orlof, as he is in this film). Not only are they part of the evil doctor lineage that includes Doom, but I decided to make them actual ancestors of my own Dr. Elsa Orloff, dark figures of a family history she worries about repeating.”
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So there you go. If you’re a fan of tragic villains as heroes, Doctor Doom in particular, or horror-inspired fiction in general, Reign of the Devourer sounds like it’s going to be one to look out for, and now you know exactly how to get in the mood for reading it!
Massive thanks, of course, must go to David for chatting to me for this article, and providing all the great details of the inspirations behind Reign of the Devourer. If you haven’t already, here are some useful links to check out regarding the first book in this series, and David’s work in general:
See also: my review of The Harrowing of Doom
See also: my interview with David Annandale discussing The Harrowing of Doom
See also: all of the David Annandale-related reviews and interviews on Track of Words
See also: the main Aconyte Books page on Track of Words
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David Annandale is a lecturer at a Canadian university on subjects ranging from English literature to horror films and video games. He is the author of many novels in the New York Times-bestselling Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 universe, and a co-host of the Hugo Award-nominated podcast Skiffy and Fanty.
You can find David on Twitter or on his website.
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Reign of the Devourer is out now in global ebook, with the US paperback due out on February 1st, 2022 and the UK paperback due out on the 21st April 2022. Check out the links below to order/pre-order your copy*:
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