Vamps: The Complete Collection – review

Art: William Simpson

Story: Elaine Lee

First published: 2019 (collection)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Every nasty thought, evil impulse, or catty remark I ever choked down in my thirty-plus years has put on flesh, hopped on a Harley, and come alive in these pages...-ELAINE LEE

Meet Howler, Screech, Whipsnake, Skeeter and Mink--five dangerously alluring female vampires thundering down America's highways on Harleys, drunk on freedom and high on octane. After killing their male master, the Vamps set out on the open road in search of a new life. But Howler, their leader, is driven by a demon from her past...one that she must vanquish before she can truly enjoy the pleasure of an undead existence.

From Elaine Lee and William Simpson comes VAMPS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, presenting VAMPS #1-6 and the never before collected VAMPS: HOLLYWOOD & VEIN #1-6 and VAMPS: PUMPKIN TIME #1-3, along with an introduction and afterword by Elaine Lee and extensive bonus material.

The review: I looked at a more recent vampire comic project by William Simpson entitled VMT but this was his first foray (as artist) into vampire storytelling and was mentioned to me by Leila when informing me of the release of VMT. I hadn’t read Vamps but the series, which started back in 1994, is now handily available in this collection of all the series.

killing Dave

As it starts, we meet five vampire women, all turned by a vampire named Dave. Dave holds his five brides in thrall, forcing them to hunt and feed him (no sex, however, vampire males has erectile disfunction it is later suggested). The last meal they bring him consists of bikers and, whilst he is bloated and blood drunk, they attack him, quarter him (using the Harleys) and stake him, burying the parts separately. They then go on a cross-country blood-bender, though one (Howler) has unspoken ulterior motives for the direction they take.

Howler had her child forcibly taken from her and trafficked when human and she is looking for him. Not that she can take care of a child in her vampire condition. However, she is a twin and Jenny is being drawn to her sister, through feelings, dreams and visions. Jenny has hooked up with a PI named Gallagher who is looing into the death of a trucker (one of the victims).

The first lore to really mention is that quartering and staking isn’t sure fire when it comes to killing a vampire. Parts of Dave’s body are found and, as soon as the stake is pulled, he manages to get back up and at ‘em (one arm is still buried and he manages to locate it and draw it from the earth to him). Fire and sunlight seem way surer ways of disposing of the undead. Vampires have a tie to their maker and Dave uses this to try and track down the Vamps. Vampires do not cast reflections (the comic inconsistently shows clothes not appearing or appearing in the mirror, there is a moment when a Vamp forces a wraith like reflection through sheer will) or show up on film, they can be warded by any symbol the person has faith in (as it is the faith that is important).

The vampire origin in this is really interesting. There is a tale of a pregnancy where the child did not emerge after nine months, staying in the womb for at least 12 months, subsisting on his mother’s blood until he ate her from the inside out. On bursting out of his mother’s body, he latched to her sister’s neck. She pulled him off, broke his neck and drank his blood. This made a symbiotic vampire infant and mother – she drinking from victims and he drinking from her breast. Another interesting concept was a modern evolution where a victim is left to die but resuscitated and given blood by the ambulance services, essentially creating a half vampire (and suggesting it is simply blood and not vampire blood that is important). These half-vampires can spontaneously fully turn later, with strong emotion being cited as a catalyst.

Late into the series we discover there is a vampire society, one that will give new vampires 25-years to control their murder sprees and act more subtly. Fail to do so and a death sentence is announced. The comics started quite basically, with five vampire women on a murderous spree and then added in more and more nuance as the various runs went on – building character that wasn’t necessarily there to begin with. That’s not to say the opening was poor, it was great fun but the added depth (and characterisation) enables some level of longevity to the stories. Great fun, 8 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK