We live in a media world that has been oversaturated with vampires; particularly in recent years, as the young adult fiction market seems to have blossomed into an excuse for girls to be whisked away by creatures of the night. It’s ruined the entire concept of vampirism, really; with very few exceptions in cinema or literature.
Thank the gods we have comics to remind us that even when it comes to a monster as overused as the vampire, there are still stories to be told, if done well. I give you three examples from this week’s hefty load of quality material.
I, VAMPIRE #19
Story: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Art: Fernando Blanco & Andrea Sorrentino
WHY IT WORKS: Narrative intelligence. The problem with a lot of vampire stories is that they focus entirely on the state of vampirism without venturing outside of it to bring in antagonists or storylines that might feature well otherwise. Throughout this series, which is tragically ending this week at Issue #19, Fialkov has bombarded us with status quo changes and fast-moving conflict, which has served his romantic focus on Andrew Bennett and Mary Queen of Blood remarkably well. Here, he even includes flashbacks to their origin without even slapping them with “Previously…” captions—flashbacks so beautifully rendered by Andrea Sorrentino that they seem mythological. Fernando Blanco does well enough with the final conflict with Cain, damning him to Hell’s judgement, and there is even a helpful vampire dog. It’s too bad that I, VAMPIRE wasn’t ever titled something else, because I suspect its audience would have been much larger without the dreaded V-word.
MORBIUS, THE LIVING VAMPIRE #4
Story: Joe Keatinge
Art: Richard Elson
WHY IT WORKS: It puts the vampire out of his element. The “living vampire” bit isn’t really the point, here; as Morbius has escaped from jail into Brownsville, a slum of a town with a drug overlord whom he accidentally kills in defense of a boy, Henry, and his babysitter—thus bringing the wrath of the overlord’s followers down upon him and dredging up the cruel history of the town. It’s sort of arbitrary, even, that Morbius is even a vampire, beyond his accidental bloodlust and ability to regenerate himself. The supporting characters actually steal the show, particularly when Henry’s mother is revealed to be a bit of a badass herself. And when Morbius does bring up elements of the supernatural—“I once fought a guy who was covered in eyeballs”—it’s to rather humorous effect, seeing as the Brownsville situation feels much more real, and for that, much worse.
B.P.R.D. VAMPIRE #2
Story: Mike Mignola, Gabriel Ba, & Fabio Moon
Art: Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon
WHY IT WORKS: Two reasons. One, the historical context provided by the preceding series, B.P.R.D. 1948, has given us a protagonist that is not actually a vampire, but haunted by them and their history, giving Mignola and co. the excuse to introduce us to this history in a series of pages that are less like a classroom lesson and more like a virtual reality tour. And two, the art here is unfathomably beautiful. Brothers Ba and Moon rarely work on books together anymore, and their distinctive style is a special treat, especially because it allows horror imagery normally associated with sinewy line art to take shape in blocks of vivid color and distinctive body shapes.
Finally, although they have naught to do with vampires, also deserving mention this week are YOUNG AVENGERS #4, in which Noh-Varr makes quick work of a bunch of slimy, tentacled monster-parents and remains sexy while doing so; HELHEIM #2, featuring an ancient Nordic Frankenstein; and JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #19, featuring the actual Frankenstein—not to mention a smattering of different visual nightmares manifested by the legendary House of Mystery (tentacles, skeletons, & giant snakes? I’ll take it!). Great week for horror comics overall.