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October is fast drawing to a close. There's a chill wind in the air. . .a wolf howls at the moon. A silent, bloodthirsty predator stalks the shadows. . .the vampire smells blood in the air and smiles.
*Record scratch - Freeze frame*
Wait. . .wait. Hold up. Where are the vampires at? There's no vampires. THERE'S NOT A SINGLE VAMPIRE! What kind of second-rate Halloween festival is THIS? No vampires. Pfff!
It's just not Halloween without vampires. Here's some vampires.
VAMPS #1
DC/Vertigo (1994)
COVER: Brian Bolland
THE COVER:
Now THERE'S an awesome Halloween cover! The great Brian Bolland delivers again! The vampire girls front and center are cool, but what REALLY makes this cover for me is the one in the background, fangs bared, looking feral and VERY deadly. There's not one single thing I don't like about this cover!
Let's get inside!
THE STORY:
Freedom
SCRIPT: Elaine Lee
PENCILS: William Simpson
INKS: William Simpson
We begin our tale with a late night motorcycle ride. Five beautiful women directing five bikers deep into the woods. They've picked the men up at a nearby bar, promising them a party they won't forget.
But when they reach their destination, there's no party. . .only death! A bloodthirsty creature that looks like a man leaps out of the shadows and attacks. As the women look on, feeling the gnawing hunger inside, their vampire Lord greedily drains the blood from the victims his "brides" have brought him.
When the bloody feast is done, the vampire called Dave lies bloated and helpless. It's then that his five brides attack! They'd been planning this for a while. . .waiting for their moment. That moment was now!
As Dave howls in protest, unable to fight back in his sedated, bloated condition, the women chain him to the bikes and then tear his limbs from his body! A stake through the heart completes Dave's brutal death. The five brides are free!
In the aftermath of Dave's death, the former brides sate their hunger with the one remaining live biker. They steal the gang's clothes and bikes, and head out onto the highway, intending to put as much distance between themselves and the vampire who had made them his slaves as possible.
Later, as the former brides enjoy their newfound freedom riding the open road, we're finally introduced to them: Skeeter, Screech, Mink, Whipsnake, and the narrator of the story, Howler.
Later that night, Mink seduces and enslaves a truck driver. They ride through the day hidden in the back of his truck safe from the sun among the meat in the trailer. When they awake at sunset, they feed on the trucker, except for Howler, who agrees to stand watch over the rest when they are blood-drunk and helpless. They don't want to repeat Dave's mistake. . .
With the trucker dead and Howler still needing to feed, the five vampires head to a nearby roadside bar, where Skeeter distracts the rest of the room while Howler seduces her chosen prey and leaves with him, unnoticed by his friends . . .
After preventing Skeeter from brazenly feeding on a man in the parking lot of the bar, the rest of them head out to find Howler. She's in the middle of feeding on her prey when they find her, blood-drunk and almost feral. They protect her as she protected them as they go to find a place to rest during the day. . .
As they search for a resting place, Howler thinks back on how she ended up in this situation and we get a short flashback to her time among the living. The State removed her children from her custody because in desperation she had turned to prostitution. All she wanted to do after that was to die.
That was when Dave came into the picture, offering her the chance to gain the power to get even with everyone who had ever hurt her. She took the offer, but it turned out Dave was full of crap and just wanted another bride slave to hunt for him.
EPILOGUE:
The vampires find a graveyard and burrow into the ground, hiding from the sun during the day.
While they rest, we switch scenes to the highway, where the police have discovered the abandoned semi-truck the vampires had ridden in the day before. What they've found inside has prompted the Sheriff to bring in a special investigator.
Even though he THINKS he's seen it all, he's still shocked by the carnage in the trailer. . .the unlucky truck driver torn to pieces during the vampire feeding frenzy.
To be continued. . .
THE REVIEW:
Okay. . .NOW we have vampires. A little bit of an unusual vampire story, focused on the "brides" that usually linger in the background of most vampire tales. I like that this story puts what are normally secondary characters front and center. It's an interesting and unusual take on a well-worn story path.
This is the first issue of a six issue series, and I only have this first issue. But it IS a first issue, so I'm going to give it the tried-and-trued Longbox Junk two question treatment. That's where I ask just TWO questions about a first issue: First. . .does it introduce the characters and their situation in a new reader-friendly way? Second. . .does it make me want to read more?
For introductions. . .it does okay. In this first issue, the main characters are just sort of sketched out. We get a little bit of background on the narrator, but everyone else is just sort of there for the ride. We DO know that the main characters are all vampires and former slaves of another vampire. The story tells us that the old stake through the heart and having to hide from the sun are definitely parts of the lore.
It's a somewhat weak yes for the first question, but I guess I'll still give it a yes. I have the feeling that more information is forthcoming in the other issues, and this is probably a story better read as a whole.
For the second question. . .does this make me want to read more? That one is a definite yes. I've actually had this issue for years. I bought it long ago just for the cover, but this is the first time I've ever read it. The twist on the standard vampire story, focusing on the background "brides" is good enough that I'd really like to track down more issues of this to find out where it's going.
On the art side of things, it's. . .okay. The artist tells the story, but doesn't really try to go any farther than he needs to. There's some pretty cool moments scattered here and there through the issue, but that's all they are. . .small moments. The art isn't bad, it's just in total service to the story.
CONCLUSION
This is a vampire story that tries to step outside the box. I liked it a lot and want to try and find some more issues of it. I've never seen any other than this first issue in the bargain bins (they must have printed a lot of them, because I see this issue fairly often), so I may have to dig through some regular back issue bins and pay a few more bucks.
The bad part about it is that, even though I enjoyed this first issue, I don't know what the quality of the story as a whole moving forward is. I've read plenty of short series that completely go off the rails a couple of issues in. So I guess I can recommend THIS issue, for an interesting little taste of a different kind of vampire story, and for that GREAT Brian Bolland cover. As for the rest of the story? *shrugs*
Like I said above, I see this issue fairly often in the bargain bin, but haven't spotted any others. There are two sequels, "Hollywood and Vein" and "Pumpkin Time". I see issues from all three series being sold online pretty cheaply, if that's how you like to get your comics. I also see that all three series have been collected in a fairly pricy combined edition that I think I might be interested in buying a copy of.
Overall, if you're a fan of vampire stories and are looking for something a little different, then Vamps looks like a good read, based off of this first issue.
Up Next. . .
It's getting close, but the midnight hour hasn't tolled just yet!
MORE Longbox Junk Halloween fun coming up.
