What I know of Kolchak is that it was a big inspiration for The X-Files, and that it featured a reporter investigating news of the supernatural and bizarre. So it's fair to say I don't have much of a nostalgic attachment to the character, which may explain part of why this book didn't do much for me. However, more of the problem comes down to problems in the book itself, from a predictable and overlong script, artwork that makes many of the characters indistuinguishable from one another and some odd production that winds up cutting dialogue out of the book.
Basically, Kolchak is on the trail of the vampire. I usually try to avoid spoilers in reviews, but that's hardly a spoiler, as the true nature of the killer is pretty much broadcast throughout. In fact, it was broadcast so loudly that I expected some sort of twist or revelation at the end, and was pretty disappointed when everything ended exactly the way I would have expected from the first few pages of the story. At this point in my life, I've read literally hundreds of stories of people tracking vampires, and Rice's script somehow hits every cliche, from the inability of the authorities to accept the existence of such forces to the lone nutty hero finally being the one to take the monster down, largely because he believes in them.
There are some fun elements to the story, mind you. The institutional cover-up and the sheer amount of hostility towards Kolchak is interesting, and the way the finale plays out, such that he is trapped into hiding the truth, is a nice bit of plot work. The angle of Kolchak as a newspaper reporter, rather than a crusading FBI agent or someone else with legal powers, is also intriguing, and I suspect that's where a lot of attraction to the property comes from. Of course, Rice's depiction of a newsroom and the way it operates is a little shaky, and the depiction of a press conference is pretty weak as well. Either the entire media except for Kolchak is meant to be toothless and wishy-washy, or Rice's script takes a bit of a shortcut to try and shore up Kolchak's lone crusader identity.
On the art side, I thought Purcell did a very nice job on backgrounds and establishing mood. The long shot of Vegas, or the interior shots of seedy clubs or suburban backyards, are full of atmosphere and are great for setting the scene. Unfortunately, too many of the male characters look alike, distinguishable only by the color of their hair, and while the script doesn't call for so many characters that it's that confusing, none of the characters really came alive as a result. Even Kolchak is mostly defined by his narration, rather than by a strong visual. I was also disappointed that the book was bound in a way that whole lines of dialogue disappeared into the spine. It was generally easy enough to figure out what the word balloons were meant to have said, but it was distracting.
I can't claim to be much of a Kolchak fan, so it's entirely possible that this didn't appeal to me because the property has no inherent appeal. However, I'm not actively disinterested in the idea of a crusading journalist either, but Rice and Purcell failed to grab me and pull me in with their take on an old chestnut of a story.
