Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Crowd sourcing: Varney the Vampire


This is a crowd-sourcing project that I am rather excited about – indeed I have pledged to the project myself.

The idea of taking Rymer’s Varney the Vampire, making him real, making him pigged-off that Stoker stole his thunder and thus he should be the famous one (not Dracula) is great fun. The kickstarter page has a video that will introduce the concept, and as I hope you will watch the video, I will say that Scott Massino, the author, isn’t quite accurate when he says Varney (in Rymer's work) can shapeshift. In the book his running gait is described as almost wolf-like at one point, but he hasn’t actually changed shape, and one victim dreams that she is attacked by a wolf and wakes up to see the human Varney. There is no actual shapeshifting.

That said, the original book is so full of inconsistencies that it almost seems appropriate that new abilities are added – the Varney purist in me does hope that the regenerative powers of the moon are maintained. The art looks fabulous, the story wickedly fun and I urge you to take a look at the project. The kickstarter page is here.

EDIT: Having just posted the above, Scott Massino has let me know that there is a referral system and so if you pledge then make the comment "Andy Boylan sent me" in the pledge's comments section. I am also adding the kickstarter video below and would ask you to note that the book is a Rated M Horror-Comedy for Thrillbent for print, drawn by DC artist Scott Kolins..


2 comments:

Kuudere-Kun said...

I hope they don't conform him to modern Lore like is repeatedly done to Carmilla.

Varney should have none of the weaknesses we're used to, anything can "kill" him, but he's always revived by The Moon.

Taliesin_ttlg said...

absolutely Jared - though I could also live with a couple of miraculous escapes ala Penny Dreadfuls ;)