I, Vampire

This is a review of I, Vampire, an early 1980’s DC back-up series which chronicles the adventures of Andrew Bennett, a 400-year-old vampire. This series – which has a beginning and an ending – features three writers/writing teams. I am not going to refer to any of them by name. The first writer – who co-created the character – lasts five issues, and doesn’t get a chance to leave a mark. The second writer jumps the shark, and leaves too much of a mark. IMO, the third writing team has the best take on the material, but their run doesn’t last long enough.

First, some background. Andrew Bennett is a vampire. He’s been pursuing his lover/enemy Mary for over 400 years. His origin story has an interesting twist: Bennett is a nobleman who goes out horseback riding and is attacked by a vampire. He kills the vampire, but becomes one himself while still retaining his humanity. I am unsure if that’s because he does not give consent, or because he killed the vampire who created him, but there you are.

 When Andrew’s lover Mary asks him to make her a vampire, he complies. Unfortunately, she becomes a traditional vampire who views humans as food items/prey. Maybe that’s because most vampires are evil, or perhaps Andrew didn’t know ‘his’ Mary as well as he thought. Andrew, racked with guilt, pursues her. Does he wants to end his ex-lover’s evil, or does he needs a panacea for an aimless existence? Maybe it’s a bizarre lovers’ game, which is how Mary seems to view it.

The vaccine storyline transforms I, Vampire from an uneven horror comic into something else. When a universal cancer vaccine is discovered, it endangers the existence of vampires everywhere because of the silver in the vaccine. The death of all vampires should be what Andrew wants, because he loathes vampires. Right? Andrew travels to Egypt in search of Mary, who is involved in a last-ditch effort to destroy the vaccine and save the vampires. Bennett’s former lover pretends to be ‘his’ Mary in order to gain his aid. You don’t think that Andrew, who has spent 400 years pursuing her, will be fooled? Do you? A little bit of background: in the past few issues, Mary and/or her minions have murdered four humans Andrew knew/had contact with/been friendly with.

Anyway, Andrew buys it. I could say ‘because reasons,’ but maybe he is that dumb. They travel through time with a pair of magic rings, because Mary wants to kill the mother of the guy who invented the vaccine. They meet Jack the Ripper, as one does. I did not read the last few issues of this storyline, instead opting to start anew with the third and last writing team, which is where this series finds its legs. Unfortunately, it’s too little too late, and the graphic novel comes to a rather abrupt conclusion. The last few issues have a nice twist that I didn’t see coming.

The best thing about I, Vampire is the atmospheric art, which is great for a horror comic. The artists do less well with fight scenes, which aren’t their forte. Unfortunately, they are asked to draw too many fight scenes, which highlights one of this title’s problems. I, Vampire is a hybrid between a horror comic and a superhero comic – Vertigo hadn’t come into existence yet – that doesn’t quite work.