Yes, that’s Vlad the Impaler, did I really need to tell you? There are a few clues, after all, most notably, um, Vlad’s famous pearl-encrusted pimp hat.

Oh, and half a dozen guys on stakes.

No need to recount the gruesome exploits of Vlad the Impaler here. If you don’t know the deal, brace yourself and type his name in Google.

This is also the second Vlad the Impaler cartoon in the pages of Grinsane. I really wasn’t expecting him to become a recurring character, but sometimes things get creeping around your head. I really hope there isn’t some past life regression going on here. I had a similar experience with Pablo Escobar appearing in my dreams, telling me about secret caves of treasure and cocaine in the jungle. By the way, I’ll be traveling to South America soon.

I’m currently at the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts, which is probably one of the few academic conferences in the US where people might actually discuss the literary legacy of Vlad the Impaler. If one were to write a paper on a feminist reading of movies featuring Vlad the Impaler, this would be the place to present it (I attended a presentation on Countess Bathory several years ago where the author presented “newly discovered information” on the Blood Countess and then showed clips from Hammer films he found on Youtube).

Thanks for reading. See you next Tuesday for another thrilling horror comedy comic from Grinsane!