Draculagate

**Draculagate** is an upcoming graphic novel created by Chris Hastings and Branson Reese. It focuses on a group of United States diplomats attempting to establish peaceful international relations with the nation of Transylvania. The comic was initially announced in October of 2018.

## History

The idea for Draculagate was thought up by Chris Hastings. He received inspiration for the book from watching the comedic political satirist Armando Iannucci and imagining how funny it would be to include Dracula in similar types of jokes. In 2016, Chris pitched the basic premise of the book to a number of publishers but none of them agreed to publish it. A couple of years later, Chris discussed the idea with his friend Branson Reese (whom Chris had met at the Magnet Theatre), and the two agreed to collaborate on the project. In June of 2018, Chris and Branson began meeting together every day at 10am for nearly four months to discuss the story together and write it.

In October 2018, Chris and Branson signed up with *Make That Thing* (an offshoot company of TopatoCo) to launch a crowdsource funding campaign on the Kickstarter platform.

Chris and Branson both co-wrote the story for Draculagate, and Chris drew the backgrounds and layouts for the comic while Branson drew the foreground illustrations. Chris was eventually tasked with all of the lettering for the comic while Branson did the book's coloring. However, in late 2021 Branson Reese departed from the project completely to devote his energies to an upcoming TV show that had be recruited to make adapting his own original comic strip. Chris willingly took on the remaining Draculagate project by himself, and re-drew all of Branson's characters from scratch. Chris was explained that while his time writing The Adventures of Dr. Mcninja had trained him to efficiently construct comics on his own, some of Branson's previous portion of the money was used to hire a colorist to fill in the rest of the panels.

## Trivia

* Chris and Branson have mentioned in interviews that the character Chaz Oakerton and his Canadian television show were based on the real-life actor Jake Goldsbie and his role in Degrassi.
* The United States Secretary of State in the comic was based on the real US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
* A number of the characters drawn into the book were cameos of backers who supported the project abve a certain level on Kickstarter.
* After the announcement of Branson Reese leaving the project in late 2021 and the majority of the work being given to Chris alone, updates about the project were sparse. Following a mention that Chris was still working on the project in November 2022 via his newsletter, no new updates came out about the project for the next year throughout 2023.

## References

1. ↑ Newsweek - 'Draculagate' Graphic Novel from Creators of 'Dr. McNinja' and the 'One Fear' Meme is 'Veep' with Monsters
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/9oofz8/we\_are\_christopher\_hastings\_dr\_mcninja\_gwenpool/?sort=old
3. ↑ Draculagate Kickstarter Update #3: "We did it! We're making DRACULAGATE!"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Draculagate Kickstarter Update #4: "Cameo backers and general update"
5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200511034301/https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1782571526/draculagate/description
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20200813152202/https://shows.acast.com/rebootleggers/episodes/episode-96-the-funny-pages-feat-christopher-hastings-branson
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Comic Book Club: Chris Hastings And Branson Reese - October 9, 2018
8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20211207041822/https://www.publishthis.email/fwd-project-update-22-draculagate-by-christopher-hastings-Sk8Hm3ndF
9. ↑ The Dr. Hastings Miracle Letter - What If The Fantastic Four Got Each Other's Powers?