Review by Frank Plowright

Originally conceived by Gerry Finely-Day as 2000AD entered a third year of publication, Fiends of the Eastern Front has proved surprisingly enduring for what was originally a b-movie plot blending vampires and Nazis. Over forty years and several editions later we arrive at this hardcover labelled Volume 1, but also as a definitive and expanded edition. That is the case, with the page count rising by 50% since the last edition to encompass new stories.

The original outing hasn’t improved over the years. Finley-Day writes to a cliffhanger formula introducing the nasty surprise for Nazis who discover their Romanian allies perhaps don’t have their best interests at heart. Carlos Ezquerra has fun, though, and is far better on the inspiration than working digitally on a later Dan Abnett script found in the previous edition, but absent here.

It took 22 years for a second outing, which only has Colin MacNeil’s grey wash art to recommend it. David Bishop tries to create tension via suspenseful narration, but the strip cries out for more action.

The more recent material is a considerable improvement, with the best of it supplied by Ian Edginton and Dave Taylor. They continue the theme of using Europe’s major conflicts via having the vampires infest Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Constanta is already engaging with military forces and it’s a superbly drawn, atmospheric story of bonding in adversity, with Edginton opening up the Eastern Front to supernatural threats besides vampires. Taylor’s choice of keeping much of the story bright flies in the face of tradition, but is extremely distinctive in what moves the series from the hokey supernatural to genuine horror.

Dave Kendall’s career has thrived on sometimes stomach-turning horror, and he illustrates a return to the more normal darkness in which vampires thrive. He creates a great new vampire look, and Guy Adams supplies a grisly lesson.

By Hannah Berry’s final story Constanta is in Vietnam in the 1970s. It’s a grim piece of sordid deception drawn by DaNi early in her career, competently, but before her great artistic leap forward.

While surrounded by much that’s ordinary, having the thirty pages of Edginton and Taylor’s moody statement in book form makes it something worth considering. As is buying directly from the 2000AD webshop where a hardcover is available with a stunning Mike Perkins cover. Edginton continues with Volume 2.