Booknote: Vamps

Elaine Lee, Vamps. New York: Vertigo Comics, 1994. ISBN: 1-56389-220-0.

Genre: graphic novels and comics
Subgenre: horror, vampires, road trips, motorcycles
Format: trade paperback
Source: I bought this one at Half Price Books 

This is the story of five Harley riding female vampires on a road trip from North Carolina to New York. As the story opens, they have killed their sire, a big sin for any vampire, and they are now discovering their new life of freedom. Or so they think. Led by Howler, Screech, Whipsnake, Skeeter, and Mink, are hot and alluring, feeding on the men they find along the way. However, Howler still has a part of the past tugging at her, a child that the courts took away unjustly, and she wants her revenge. Will her quest for vengeance ruin their new found freedom?

The volume collects the six issues of this comic book series. The volume also includes a small cover gallery, and an afterword by the author where she puts the comic in context. In the afterword, she writes how she got all kinds of mail and e-mail from readers. Some of it was positive; others were negative. Some folks loved the empowered, strong female vampires who took life in their hands. Some saw them as feminist heroes. Some hated them as feminist man haters. I will let readers decide how to label the comic if they must. While the comic does have the potential to turn into a feminist preaching piece, almost like a Thelma and Louise stereotype without the tragic ending of that film, in the end, I think it is a pretty good vampire tale from the point of view of newly liberated vampire brides. You do not get to see that point of view everyday, so the author is certainly exploring new ground, and she does so in a comic that combines good elements of traditional vampire lore with horror. These ladies are not cuddly or emo vampires; they are blood thirsty women hitting the road and feeding along the way leaving a trail of destruction.

Therein lie some of the issues I had with the comic, which is why I do not rate it higher. The ladies are very sloppy as vampires. In killing their sire, they do not fully kill him. Let's be honest, a good bonfire would have taken care of the bastard for good. The guy gets buried instead, albeit with his body parts spread in different graves, but you know he will come back somehow, and he does. Then they leave just enough clues for cops and a very dogged P.I. to come after them. Now this issue could be a good thing in conveying that the ladies are relatively new vampires and still learning the ropes, but even that, well, over time, their common sense does not get any better other than they figure out they maybe should not feed on other bikers and mechanics because those guys can be helpful. And then there was the plot where the P.I.'s assistant was the twin sister of Howler, and they sisters share some bond, and sister will be the one who will eventually care for the child when they find it, dumping the P.I. she allegedly loved before Howler showed up. It had a touch of contrivance and soap opera. Like the author needed something to make the somewhat happy ending for the child work and still allow Howler to go free as someone else could care for her child. In the end, until Howler is able to let go of her human past, the vamps are not truly free. It is when she finally settles her affairs that they are able to ride on once and for all.

Overall, this is a pretty decent vampire tale and comic. It draws on some traditional elements of vampire myth, and it makes for a good horror piece. The comic has a good pace, and the art is done very well for its time. This is a comic of the 1990s, and it shows a bit of age in the art, but it is still good overall. If you are looking for a decent vampire tale, and you want something different from the usual, this is one to pick up. I have noted my issues with it, but I still think it is worth reading

For libraries, this would be a comic for adults. The comic does feature violence, which is a given in the genre, but it also features various sexual situations. If a library already has a good selection of horror comics, this would fit in nicely.

In the end, I liked it, but the issues I outlined kept me from liking it more. I am still glad I bought it as it was a good read overall.

3 out of 5 stars.


This book qualifies for the following 2015 Reading Challenges:

Booknote: The Names

Peter Milligan, et.al., The Names. New York: Vertigo, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-4012-5243-4.

Genre: graphic novels and comics
Subgenre: noir, mystery, crime, conspiracies
Format: e-book galley
Source: NetGalley

The Names is, on the surface, a cabal of financiers, politicians, and other powerful figures. It turns out they are more sinister and use various means to control finance around the world. Kevin Walker is a member of this capitalist-criminal conspiracy. When he is found dead, Katya, his young wife refuses to believe it was a suicide. Joining Philip, his son who is also a high level math genius, she decides to find the truth no matter where it leads. The thing is The Names is experiencing infighting, and both sides want Philip, who they see as a key to countering the algorithms they use to control the markets, algorithms that have now gained a life of their own.

This is an excellent noir style thriller. If you like mysteries and thrillers, this is for you. If you enjoy stories about conspiracies, this is for you as well. Katya will have to keep her wits and use her martial arts skills to stay alive as she digs deeper. The story draws you in right away. I could not put this down once I started. As more layers are revealed, you just keep reading to see where it all leads. The comic blends suspense, thrills, action, and conspiracy seamlessly.

This volume collects the 9 issues series. It is great for libraries, but keep in mind it is an adult title. It is suggested for mature readers. This is a title I would add to my personal collection.

5 out of 5 stars.

Titles with similar appeal:

• The 100 Bullets series. 
• The X-Files, due to some of the conspiracy elements. 
• Wanted, the comic, not so much the film. 

This book qualifies for the following 2015 Reading Challenges:

Booknote: Bodies

Si Spencer, et.al., Bodies. New York: DC Comics, 2015. ISBN: 9781401252755.

From the book's description:

"VERTIGO brings you a graphic novel with four detectives, four time periods, and four dead bodies - all set in London. Edmond Hillinghead is an 1890s overachiever who’s trying to solve a murder no one cares about while hiding his own secret. Karl Whiteman is our dashing 1940s adventurer with a shocking past. Shahara Hasan is 2014’s kickass female Detective Sergeant, who walks the line between religion and power. And Maplewood, an amnesiac from post-apocalyptic 2050, brings a haunting perspective to it all.

Si Spencer (HELLBLAZER: CITY OF DEMONS, THE VINYL UNDERGROUND) executes a centuries-spanning murder mystery like nothing you’ve ever seen before, with four sensational artists illustrating a six-page chapter in each issue: Dean Ormston, Phil Winslade, Meghan Hetrick and Tula Lotay.

Collects BODIES #1-8, the complete miniseries."

Genre: graphic novels and comics
Subgenre: murder mystery, paranormal
Format: e-book galley
Source: Provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This is one that I really wanted to like. It had it all: an intriguing premise with the four detectives trying to solve murders that seemed linked over time, great art done by various artists, and it seemed reminiscent of works by authors like Alan Moore, and great use of Jewish, Kabbalah, and other lores. It even had a strong female detective who also happens to be Muslim. This should have been great. It just felt short on the delivery.

The story starts out in good solid manner. The author develops the mystery in one story, then it jumps around from one time period to the next. The setting is in London in the following time periods: 1890, 1940, 2014 (present day), and 2050. Each time period is carefully presented and depicted. The artists pay great attention to detail, capturing the essence of a time period, including the uglier elements. In addition, the detectives are pretty compelling characters that we want to follow. In addition to our Muslim female detective (in 2014), we also get the Victorian detective who is involved in some secret society (and so happens to be gay, though back then, it was seen as a perversion); the 1940s detective is trying to solve the case, but he is also a corrupt cop involved with local rackets, and the future era detective suffers from some form of amnesia. To be honest, it is with that future timeline that things seem to fall apart in what could have been a good tale.

For one, we do not totally get what exactly happens in the future to cause her amnesia. There is something about a pulse wave, an experiment, and her mother may have been involved in it, but it is left up in the air. That thread is not tied down. So when you come from following the tale from the other three time periods, you are just not sure what the deal is. Second, as I got closer to the end, there is a feeling the author just did not quite know where to go, and it ended up in some new age kind of ending that sort of left me unsatisfied and with a few more questions than I started with. After following all the threads, when I got to the end of the comic I was asking myself, "what the hell was that about? It ends here?" And this is not the good kind of open end neither. It just plops the ending and the book is done. It was a real letdown.

Oh, and another minor issue if you are reading this on an e-reader. The publisher decided to put all the filler material such as variant covers and sketches at the start of the book. So you go about 20 pages in before the actual comic starts. Now, in print, you just flip through the pages and ignore it. In an e-book comic without a hyperlinked table of contents, it can get annoying having to flip page after page of art they want to show off in order to get to the story. That certainly did help me like the volume any better, and I honestly hope in the final draft they do fix that and put that stuff where it belongs: in the back of the book. 

In the end, it was an OK work. The only reason I do not rate it lower is because I did like the attention to detail in the older time periods and the good art. However, the plot leaves a lot to be desired and is overall confusing. This is not one I would recommend. If you must read it, borrow it.

2 out of 5 stars (barely).

This book qualifies for the following 2015 Reading Challenges: