By Ryan Riley, Contributor
The movie "Twilight", based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer, did very well for itself on its opening weekend, raking in almost 70 million dollars from legions of loyal fans. And, as my colleague Robert Meeks pointed out in an earlier column, "True Blood", a series based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, is gaining a large following of its own on HBO. Thanks largely to these new franchises, vampires are once again at the forefront of the collective imagination of the public.
Ever since the publication of Dracula by Bram Stoker, there have been many variations of how vampires have been portrayed in modern fiction. While comic books are by no means the first medium to dally with the bloodsucker set, there are a prodigious amount of vampire stories in comics. Despite misguided attempts at combining the vampire concept with barely-clothed female protagonists back in the 1990's (Vampirella being the most prominent), there have been some very well-conceived and superbly written vampire comics.
I'm going to open up by saying that I won't be highlighting the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter comics in this article, not because I don't feel it's a good example of a vampire comic but because the stories are mainly adaptations of the Anita Blake novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. The characters I will be covering are either exclusively featured in comic books or (in the case of Dracula) original takes on existing characters.
*There are spoilers ahead in some of these examples. If you'd rather read the stories before reading these recaps, you might want to hold off on reading the rest of this story too closely.
Dracula, various comics
These stories are available in Essential Tomb of Dracula Vols. 1-4, Batman/Dracula: Red Rain, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vols. 1 & 2 and Planetary: Leaving the 20th Century.
There have been many different takes on the concept of the vampire since Bram Stoker introduced Dracula to the world. Not surprisingly, many of these stories have alternately retold and/or reinvented the origins of the old-school vampire himself.
The most enduring comic book version of Dracula was introduced in Marvel Comics in Tomb of Dracula by writer Gerry Conway. This iteration of the character had far-out powers outside of the normal enhanced strength & speed of a normal vampire, like the ability to generate electrical storms and control the minds of animals & other vampires. These powers served him well against foes like Blade, Spider-Man, Apocalypse and the X-Men.
Compared to Marvel, DC Comics has only briefly dabbled with the character. They used the vampire lord in an Elseworlds story that pitted him against Batman called Batman/Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman becomes a vampire and slays Dracula to take his place as the ruler of all vampires.
Alan Moore proved that the mere mention of Dracula evokes a certain presence through his portrayal of Mina Murray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Artist Kevin O'Neill's pencils blended effectively with Moore's writing to show how haunted Murray is by her encounter with the Count. Her very demeanor shows that dealing with the aftermath of Dracula's actions can be just as deadly as dealing with the man himself.
Warren Ellis, on the other hand, didn't mind using the Count to illustrate that there is always someone bigger & badder out there, as he did in Planetary. Elijah Snow discovered the existence of an "illuminati" type group consisting of Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, The Invisible Man and others. When he sought out Holmes to convince him to drop out of the conspiracy, Dracula appeared and attacked Snow, only to be flash-frozen and have his frozen crotch kicked out from under him.
Cassidy, Preacher
These stories are available in all 9 trade paperback volumes of Preacher.
Although Cassidy is not the main character of this Vertigo title, he nonetheless teaches readers the lesson that long life does not always bring about greater wisdom. Born in the year 1900, Proinsias (yes, that's his first name) Cassidy joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood at age 16 as they engaged in an armed insurrection in Dublin in 1916. He and his older brother escaped the ensuing offensive by the British Army only to be attacked by a vampire. He survived the attack, became a vampire himself and emigrated to the United States, where he ditched his first name and spent roughly two decades drinking in the same pub. Eventually, he borrowed the novel "Dracula" from a friend and finally grasped exactly what he had become.
Cassidy doesn't exactly resemble what you'd expect from a typical vampire. He doesn't have fangs, loves the taste of garlic and isn't permanently harmed by stakes or even beheading. He does have a hunger for blood (which can be sated by a blood-rare steak for the most part), and if he is caught in direct sunlight he'll "...go up like six tons of Semtex."
In between meeting notables like William S. Burroughs and Dylan Thomas, Cassidy turned out to be a real jerkstore. He did enough drugs over his extended life to give an overdose to a dozen men, used his super-strength to permanently injure more than one girlfriend and betrayed more than his fair share of friends. Despite all of these sins & shortcomings, he managed to get his act together for at least a little when he befriended Jesse Custer and aided him in his quest to find an errant God.
Morbius, The Amazing Spider Man
These stories are available in various Marvel comics, including The Amazing Spider-Man, Ghost Rider & Blade.
The character of Morbius differs slightly from most other vampires in that his origins are not supernatural. Scientist Michael Morbius had a rare blood disease that he was desperate to be rid of. He created what he thought would be a cure for his malady and used it on himself. It worked, but a side effect of the cure turned out to be much worse than the actual disease. His body underwent physical & chemical changes that gave him many of the attributes of a vampire, including pale skin, enlarged canine teeth, a need to avoid sunlight and a thirst for blood.
So what was the reason for having a character that had all of the characteristics of a typical vampire without the supernatural origins? Blame the now-defunct Comic Code Authority. Morbius was conceived before the CCA was relaxed enough to allow Marvel to use Dracula, and one of the stipulations of the original code limited the use of characters & stories with supernatural origins. So to get around this condition, Marvel simply created Morbius to be a vampire with biological origins instead of occult.
The Confessor, Astro City
This story is available in Astro City: Confession.
When young Brian Kinney moved to Astro City, he was looking for a more exciting life than living in a small town could afford him. He had no idea that his path would lead to him becoming the Altar Boy, sidekick to the mysterious Confessor. In true Batman-style, the Confessor schools Brian in martial arts, forensics & detective skills. Also like the Dark Knight, the Confessor manages feats like disappearing in an instant and scaring a confession out of a perp by simply staring into their eyes. But unlike Batman, these abilities are a fringe benefit of his being a vampire, a secret he has gone out of his way to conceal from the criminal underworld.
Having arrived in Astro City in 1869, the catholic priest that would become the Confessor was seduced by a woman that turned out to be a vampire. She fed on him and left him for dead, but he rose three days later. After living in isolation for a century, he took inspiration from the superheroes that were starting to make Astro City their home and took up his own crusade against crime. Despite the fact that he is a vampire, he has a cross emblem on his costume. The cross is painful for him to bear, but the pain serves as both a means of mortification for his original sin and as a focus to keep him from feeding on human blood. His vampiric nature was revealed during a covert alien invasion, and he sacrificed his life to reveal their ruse.
Alex Elder, Crimson
This story is available in Crimson: Loyalty & Loss.
Crimson is possibly one of the most unique vampire stories in any medium. It not only revels in the supernatural lore of vampires, but manages to weave dragons, angels and the story of Adam & Eve into the origin of vampirekind.
Before the creation of mankind, God created another race called the Grigori to have dominion over the Earth. But the Grigori were soulless and unwilling to worship God, so he created humankind and gave stewardship of Earth to them instead. One of the Grigori, Ekimus, found a human woman named Lisseth, who was created to be Adam's mate but was ultimately rejected in favor of Eve. The two mated, and their offspring would become the basis for the vampire race.
The main character of the story, Alex Elder, was on a life path not unlike the one described in the Suicidal Tendencies song "Institutionalized" before he and his friends were attacked by vampires in Central Park. Ekimus saved Alex from being killed with his friends, but not before he would become a vampire himself. Sensing something special in the neophyte, Ekimus, with the help of the manic Vampiro Joe, takes it upon himself to train Alex in the use of his abilities. Some of the abilities Alex has are unique to him, such as flight and firecasting. With an adversary like a vampire lord that is also a powerful U.S. senator, he'll need all the advantages he can get.
Marlowe and his followers, 30 Days of Night
This story is available in the graphic novel of the same name.
Anyone who has seen the movie "30 Days of Night" knows what the book is all about. For anyone that hasn't checked out either, it's about a group of vampires discovering that because of Alaska's proximity to the North Pole there is a time of year when the sun will set and not rise again for roughly a month. The vampires get wind of this and make a plan to cut off all escape routes & communications in the small town of Barrow, Alaska. They then proceed to go on a feeding frenzy that will be uninterrupted by having to seek shelter from the sun.
In this story, the vampires have been all but made extinct by centuries of conflict with humans. It is this fact that leads Vicente, the leader of the vampires, to go to Barrow and stop Marlowe's gang from their feeding. As with Cassidy from Preacher, none of the supernatural means of eliminating vamps will kill these vamps. Only a beheading, a beating from a fellow vampire or sunlight will take one out. One of the human protagonists, Eben, injects himself with a vial of vampire blood to become a vampire and manages to kill Vicente and save the remaining Barrow residents.
Let us know what you think!
Readers, you should know the drill by now. If there's any books or characters you think I left out of this article (and I know there are), leave us some feedback in the handy comment section below.
