Just a story about a girl and her undead entourage.
Of the many cartoons that are often overlooked or forgotten I never really accepted why Rob Renzetti’s Mina and the Count never gets more love than it does, especially during Halloween. Essentially on the same level of Roman Dirge‘s Lenore – albeit a tiny more kid-friendly – Mina and the Count followed a tiny girl named Mina Harper and her “best friend” the Count (a play on two of Bram Stoker’s character in Dracula). There was also Igor, the Count’s hunchback assistant who also despises Mina for making the Count in a roundabout wussy.
The show first appeared on Nickelodeon’s animated anthology show, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, and continued to do so for its short 5-episode run. In fact, I could only recall seeing two of the episodes prior to this review (one of them shown above). Renzetti, who also created My Life as a Teenage Robot, offers up an interesting mix of Tartakovsky’s visual style in Dexter’s Laboratory with the morbidly cute characterizations of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. It’s a combination that works well and backed by some serious voice talent in the form of Mark Hamill (The Count) and Tara Strong (everything from Batgirl to Ben 10).
This article is part of the Countdown to Halloween blogathon, a month-long blogging marathon dedicated to honoring the Halloween season. For more information and a full list of participating sites, please visit www.countdowntohalloween.com.
