VampireComics

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.

by Van Jensen -- Publishers Weekly, 11/24/2008 3:08:00 PM

For a sure sign of the horror genre's popularity—if not its creativity—one need look no further than the release of Saw V, the latest release in the formula-driven slasher film franchise, which took in $30 million on its first weekend. This pop-culture-wide trend has had just as big an impact on comics, where horror has enjoyed a resurgence thanks in part to the success of Steve Niles' 30 Days of Night—both the comics and the film—and Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead as well as similar books.

Indeed, readers can expect to see a wide variety of horror comics—from adaptations of classic horror writers like H.P. Lovecraft and sci-fi based horror both coming from Boom! Studios to revivals of classic 1950s and 1960s horror comics from Dark Horse and Papercutz. Horror comics based on the classic film actor Vincent Price (coming from Bluewater Comics) as well as classic J-horror and contemporary teen-targeted horror manga from Viz Media are anticipated. By most measures it seems to be a good time to publish scary comics.

Hey kids - remember the 1990s? Remember when everybody was dyeing their hair black and publishing mopey, pretentious "comics" with painted interiors and oh-so-dark themes, the better to express their eternal longing for a ride to the mall so they could shoplift something from Hot Topic? And if your comic had vampires - SEXY vampires - then you were definitely producing excellent work that proves once and for all comics aren't for kids! Because let's face it. Kids won't buy this crap. They're too smart.

Here we have ground zero of the "goth" comic revolution, "Cadence Of The Dirge", published by "Gothic Limited". This comic is, by the way, named after a song by New Orleans metal band Exhorder. Let's see, you got your scritchy scratchy Sienkiewicz painting style, you got your bats, you got your busty vampire woman, your other busty vampire woman, you got your leather jacketed crazy hair dude, I see some skulls there in the graveyard, and you gots your guy in the background that looks like an extra from "Fist Of The North Star". The only thing missing is Count Chocula and "Eddie" from the Munsters. All systems goth!

The time is nearly here! Mark your calendars: 9-10-09 is the Second Coming of Vampirella, the epic miniseries that will change the way you view Vampirella forever.

We spoke with Vampirella editor, Bon Alimagno about the comic.

The Big Bad Wolf: Can you tell us what the second coming of Vampirella will bring in terms of changes to the character?

Bon Alimagno: Maybe the best way to answer this question is describe how Vampirella is viewed by the rest of the world in The Second Coming: she's not real. She's a viral video, an internet meme, a fad that people tattoo on themselves and graffiti all over the place. That's obviously a tremendous change from her being a flesh and blood person. But... something's going on in this world where this concept seems to be taking on a life of its own. And people start discovering that maybe there really is a Vampirella out there and they go and try to find her. So the more things change the more they, in a way, stay the same. In the process readers explore what makes Vampirella such an enduring comic book character.

Within these pages dwells Vampirella—the comic book, that is. To be exact, reproductions of as many covers of comic books featuring her as we've been able to lay our hands on.

I say "we" because my wife and I love all things vampire. Sometimes I'm not so certain she likes Vampirella as much as I do. I can't imagine why not. Anyway, we've been collecting Vampirella for a long time now. With all the variant covers and foreign editions* around, it gets pretty hard to keep track of what we have and what we want. Add to that signed editions and... well, you can never have enough Vampirella.

Vampirella first appeared as a horror-story hostess in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969), continuing in that capacity through issue #8 (Nov. 1970) when she was "revamped" as a leading character.

Warren Publishing

Vampirella initially appeared in Warren Publishing's Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969) and lasted until issue #112 (1983). The title was a sister magazine of Warren's horror-comics magazines Creepy and Eerie. Like those magazines' respective mascots, Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie, Vampirella hosted anthological horror stories. Unlike the other two hosts, Vampirella would also star in her own story, which would headline each issue. Vampirella was initially edited by Bill Parente. It would later be edited by Archie Goodwin (issues #7-12, 34-5), Billy Graham (#13-16), Bill DuBay (#21-50, 87-95, 101-102) and Louise Jones (#51-86).

“Before Twilight. Before True Blood. Before Buffy. Before Blade,” said the press release, “there was Vampirella!”

Dynamite Entertainment has acquired the Vampirella property from Harris Publications, the company has announced. The character will join their comic book line-up that already includes Project Superpowers, The Boys, Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Army of Darkness, Red Sonja and numerous others.

Vampirella and its title character debuted in black and white magazine format in 1969 from Warren Publishing as a companion to Creepy and Eerie. With writers such as Archie Goodwin and many tales illustrated by artist Jose Gonzalez, the character was a hit.

Renowned fantasy artist Frank Frazetta illustrated the cover for Vampirella #1, the first of many top creators to work the series, which ran 112 issues and ended in 1983.

In 1988, Harris Publications acquired the property from publisher Jim Warren and published a one-shot magazine format issue, Vampirella #113.

In 1992, Vampirella relaunched in comic book format. Since then, in a variety of titles and formats, the character has seen work by creators such as Mark Millar, James Robinson, Jeph Loeb, Warren Ellis, Mike Mayhem, Joe Jusko, Joe Quesada, J. Scott Campbell, Michael Turner, Jae Lee, Adam Hughes, and Mark Texeira, among others.

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