'Rasputin' adds depth to legend of the Mad Monk

The Mad Monk's getting a makeover.

Writer Alex Grecian and artist Riley Rossmo give the influential Russian peasant and mystic Grigori Rasputin a bit of immortality in an adventure full of mystery, murder, magic and even love in the Image Comics series Rasputin, debuting Oct. 29.

Grecian describes it as "Dracula in Downton Abbey" — set in pre-World War I Russia, the comic book mashes up the historical soap opera and all its palatial intrigue and wartime tension with a dark supernatural monster who takes the ruling class by surprise and turns everything upside down.

"There's something very sinister about Rasputin, and we're throwing him into the lives of ordinary people who are just trying to get through the day alive," Rossmo says.

"Some of them won't," adds Grecian, who also worked with Rossmo on Proof, which imagined Bigfoot as a secret government agent.

Rasputin is based on true events — the real guy was an adviser to Czar Nicholas II and the ruling Romanov dynasty of the early 20th century, and he was said to actually have helped Prince Alexei through a nasty bout of hemophilia.

However, the creators veer from history almost immediately, according to Grecian.

His and Rossmo's version of Rasputin practiced sex magic and actually had supernatural powers as he ultimately took control of Russia's royal family and army.

"We're coming right out and saying he could actually heal people, he could actually see his own future, he could manipulate peoples' minds," Rossmo says. "He could survive being poisoned, stabbed, shot, beaten, tied up and drowned in an icy river."

The first issue shows the endpoint of an assassination plot by British spies in MI5 and those in Rasputin's own court, yet quickly jumps back in time to show how the Infamous Russian winds up there.

"He makes a decision when he's a child that affects the entire rest of his life. And it's a decision I might have made, too, under those same circumstances, but there are serious consequences for him," says Grecian, author of the Scotland Yard Murder Squad book series.

There is espionage and historical fiction in Rasputin, yet Grecian and Rossmo are staying clear of pure fantasy, even with a larger-than-life supernatural type.

It also was important to Grecian that they not do the insane, bearded Rasputin most people think of when they hear the name.

"What was he like as a young man? So we imagined a Rasputin that Johnny Depp or Joaquin Phoenix might play in a film — the crazy old man before he became crazy and old," the writer says. "Deconstructing him gave us complete freedom to create something fresher and more modern."

In adding nuance to old legends, the comic creators want to explore where Rasputin came from and the reasons he looked so haggard and wild by the end of his life.

"The most enjoyable aspect of this series for us is taking a person who's basically a villain, not really a nice guy at all, and making readers care about him," Rossmo says. "If we do this right, you'll sympathize with him from the very beginning and you'll have to take a step back as you read along in order to figure out that maybe you've sided with the wrong guy."

Adds Grecian: "Or maybe you haven't."