Dracula Villain: Doctor Facade (Patreon)

Really excited about this new Dracula villain! Meet Doctor Facade, who fills the role of Jekyll and Hyde in Dracula's monstrous rogues gallery.

ORIGIN

Doctor Henrietta Edwards had dedicated her life to the destruction of man’s evil half. Born into an abusive household where both of her parents suffered from extreme cases of bi-polar disorder, the rollercoaster of torment and care Henrietta endured led her to believe there were two sides to humanity- one good and one bad - and her desire to save others from the same kind of abuse she suffered led her down an obsessive path of suppressing and all together annihilating mankind’s darker impulses. A leading psychiatrist and pharmaceutical chemist as an adult, Doctor Edward’s life work was a serum designed to slowly suppress the darker urges of humans, eventually destroying it all together. But her serum was far from perfect, and decades of testing it on the worst of humanity found in prisons and asylums led to no breakthroughs, if anything her serum would sometimes have a reverse effect causing the dark impulses of humans to grow stronger, making them violent and demented.

When Doctor Edwards discovered that her research had been leaked to the criminal syndicate known as the Think Tank to further enhance their Roid-M formula, that was the last straw. Having lost faith in humanity altogether, Edwards concluded that she had been wrong- humanity was not capable of good, but truly monstrous at heart and any goodness exhibited was just a facade to hide its true evil. No longer seeking to help others, Edwards took her research and that the Think Tank had expanded on it with and created a new formula, one that she intended to unleash on the world to bring to light the monsters that humanity really was and let them tear themselves apart in the carnage. Leaking her serum into the drinking water of her home town, her scheme was discovered and halted by Dracula, who’s own medical knowledge allowed him to cure the inhabitants but in the result battle caused Doctor Edwards to be infected with her own formula. Now struggling with her own darker half, Edwards swore revenge on the Prince of the Nocturne.

Powers/Abilities:

Able to transform into a more compressed, monstrous version of herself. This “Hyde” form offers Doctor Facade increased superhuman strength, speed and acrobatic agility, making her akin to a human wrecking ball.

Genius in psychiatry and pharmaceutical chemistry.

As I mentioned before, the theme of Dracula's rogues gallery is classic horror monster and villains, mainly those from classic literature and the golden age of cinema. And Doctor Facade obviously fills the role of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, in fact her really name Doctor Henrietta Edwards is taken from Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde (Clever, right?). A since many of Dracula's rogues gallery takes the themes/symbolism of those classic monsters and villains and spins them in a new way, I did the same with Doctor Facade, in this case being the duality of man; good and evil. Only while the original Doctor Jekyll created his persona to indulge in his darker side, Doctor Facade instead has dedicated her life to the destruction of man's darker impulses, being a childhood victim of such impulses. Problem is, after years of research, experimentation and no breakthroughs, she's lost all faith in humanity, believing mankind to be pure evil at heart and any goodness is a facade. Now she dedicates her life to mankind's destruction, bringing out its darker impulses just to tear each other apart. This background in science and loss of faith in humanity makes her a perfect foil to Dracula who is also a man of medicine and tries to hold on to his humanity.

Designing Doctor Facade was a lot of fun, especially her Hyde form. Not many people realize this, but in the original novel Edward Height was actually shorter than Doctor Jekyll when transformed. Most modern adaptions have lost this and instead make Hyde a huge hulking monster. But instead I wanted to stick true to the original novel by making Doctor Facade and all her Hyde monster forms much smaller than their original human selves, albeit a bit more beastlier. I also contacted her own formula to Roid-M.

Oh, and fun fact- My chosen villain name for her, "Doctor Facade", comes from my favorite song of the Jekyll and Hyde: https://youtu.be/n0bSFG0cBYo

Anyway, I hope you guys like this brand new villain for Dracula! Let us know what you think with a comment below!

Dracula: Prince of the Nocturne © NRG Comics

Art and Design by Danilo Cassonato