Saladin Ahmed's Dragon pits a nun and a Muslim warrior against Dracula

(Image credit: Saladin Ahmed/Dave Acosta)

Writer Saladin Ahmed has teamed up with artist Dave Acosta to produce Dragon, an original graphic novel telling the tale of a pair of religious heroes taking on the ancient evil of Count Dracula in the 1300s. Ahmed and Acosta are seeking $40,000 on Kickstarter to produce the OGN – a goal that has already been doubled in pledges.

Chris O'Halloran will color Dragon, with letters from Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

(Image credit: Saladin Ahmed/Dave Acosta)

"Presented exclusively as a deluxe format over-sized hardcover, it's a dark, atmospheric tale set at the dawn of the Ottoman Empire - a rich, grisly world of dazzling arts and brutal massacres, opulent palaces and bloodthirsty kings," reads the official description of the story. "Dragon tells the story of Adil, a fallen old Muslim warrior, and Marjorie, a zealous young Christian nun, two scarred heroes who must overcome inherited bigotries and mutual distrust to hunt a demonic creature that wears the skin of a prince ⁠— Vlad the Impaler, known to history as Dracula."

Ahmed is best known for his work as the current writer of the Marvel Comics ongoing series The Magnificent Ms. Marvel and Miles Morales: Spider-Man. He won an Eisner award in 2018 for his acclaimed Black Bolt series alongside artist Christian Ward.

Acosta is known for his work on horror and adventure-themed titles from publishers such as Image Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, and more – including Elvira, Doc Savage, and Vampirella.

With 28 days left to go in its Kickstarter campaign, Dragon has taken in $82,097 at the time of this writing, more than doubling the campaign's stated goal of earning $40,000. Dragon will be released as a hardcover OGN, with no plans for a softcover or digital release, according to the campaign.

Dragon is expected to ship in summer of 2021.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)