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In the mid 90's Elaine Lee created a vampire series for Vertigo. It was a bit unusual for a vampire series as it wasn't particularly dark and it featured an all female group of vampire biker chicks roaming around and raising hell. It spanned two six issues mini-series and one three issue series and was received a mixed reaction. It got a lot of hate from many male readers and was accussed as being an anti-man rant and such. Still, I enjoyed it at the time and picked up the TPB of the first series. It took me a few years, but eventually I managed to snag the subsequent two series as well.

It's almost a bit of a guilty pleasure since.. well.. sexy biker vampire chicks.. need I say more?

Possible Spoilers









The group of vamps consists of five females. Howler, a red head from the midwest, Skeeter, a red head from the south, Whipsnake, a latina from New York, Screech, a chinese snotty art type from San Francisco, and Minx a blonde from.. err.. I'm not sure, but she wanted to be an actress and spent a lot of time in Hollywood.

The first series introduces us to the group and starts off with them killing off the vampire that turned them and currently controls them. They literally tear him apart and bury his remains in five different graves. From there they hit the road and rarely look back.

The original series heavily consists of the group trying to find their way in the world. While we don't know how long they spent in the thrall of Dave, the vampire that turned them all, it's suggested that it's at least 20 years, if not more. They travel from town to town, picking up guys, having their way with them then.. well, sucking them dry and leaving them for the cops to find out. Howler seems to become their defacto leader for whatever reason, and at first it seems that she's just leading them around at random, but we eventually find out that she's tying up some loose ends from her time as a human. Tracking down the child she had mere months before she was turned, killing those who took him from her in the process.

That really becomes the central thrust of the first mini-series. Most of the other vamps each get some time and sort of develop. Whipsnake and Skeeter get the most time in the book next to Howler, with Whipsnake actually taking over for a short period of time and replacing Howler as the narrator of the book. Mink and Screech kind of get shafted and we learn very little about them in this first series.

If the cast wasn't big enough with those five, we also get a human detective who's following the trail of bodies that the girls leave behind. It's a lot of balls for Elaine Lee to keep in the air and she does an ok job at it. Eventually the seperate plots all come to head as the detective, Howler, who splits off for the group for a short time, the rest of the Vamps, and a resurrected Dave all converge on the house where Howler's kid is at. The ending is a bit.. it's odd. The women are pretty merciless and have little to no pity for anyone who gets in their way and.. well, they pretty much get away scott free.

The art's not too bad. William Simpson is the artist on all three series and you can see him improving over time. The first series really suffers from bad coloring though. But the covers are really lovely.

Another thing that really jumps out is just how dirty the blood drinking bits are. They're accompanied by internal narration from the vamps which tend to sound like bad porn scripts or something. Lots of "Ugh, yes.. yes baby, give it to me hot and warm and pulsing.. yes. get me over that peak, get me over that peak.." stuff.

The second series Hollywood & Vein makes up for the lack of characterization with Screech and Mink as they take center stage in these six issues. Howler and Whipsnake really take a bit of a back seat, but Skeeter manages to get a good amount of screen time.

As the series starts off we find out that Mink managed to talk them into going to Hollywood so they could investigate a movie that seems to be based around their exploits, and so she can land the leading role. It turns out that one of Skeeters victims from the first series didn't quite die, but didn't quite turn either. Unfortunately he's also an obnoxious peroxide blonde surfer dude who I absolutely can't stand. Ah well. The plot thickens as it turns out that one of Screech's old flames is heavily involved with the financing of the movie, and it all ties into the disappearance of vampire poet too boot.

It's a bit hit or miss with me. I enjoy the bits with Screech and I liked finding more out about her history and past, but Mink... blech. She's too boring and gets far too much time in the series. On top of that Skeeter's featured fairly heavily as it turns out that she was the first of the girls to be turned by Dave.

Elaine also adds to the cast by introducing the vampire poet, his vampire lover (who happens to be the vampire that turned Dave) and a weird vampire groupie girl named Maggot who can see all sorts of things that not even the vamps can see. Also the blonde guy, Rhys who wrote the movie they're out their to investigate, and Screechs ex. It's a big story with too many seperate threads that don't really all come together in a satisfying way. It does end in the death of one vamp, Maggot becoming the only human in the main cast, and the revelation that Screech is hiding a whole lot of things from the other girls.

Pumpkin Time is the final installment in the series as of this writing, and it's a short three issue story that really expands on the vamp-verse.

It's nearing Halloween so the vamps decide to attend a yearly biker ride from San Francisco up into Northern California, little do they know that they're about to go from the hunters to the hunted as several characters from their past turn up with some major changes. Rhys returns, as does the detective from the first series, and we get our first glimpse of a larger vampire society that the girls have been ignorant about for their entire existence.. most of them at least.

It turns out that Dave never really taught them anything about being a vampire. He gave them the bare minimium needed to survive so he'd have more control of them, as a result they're completely unaware that their actions have attracted the wrong kind of attention from a regional vampire council. The council dispatches several assassins to take out the vamp girls, specifically Skeeter. Meanwhile Rhys, who has since become heavily involved in the vampire community, sends out the detective from the first series to aid the girls. What results is essentially a three issue chase/fight sequence, most of which takes place in a redwood forrest.

We're not quite sure as to why the council singles out Skeeter, though it seems that it might be due to the face that she's aware of them and the greater vampire society while the rest of the crew are completely in the dark about it. This is a continuation of the subplot from the end of Hollywood & Vein, the idea that Skeeter knows things and isn't telling for whatever reason. The girls manage to survive and.. well, that's it. There are hints that they're going to confront Skeeter about the whole mess, but as of now there hasn't been a follow up series soo.. nothing.

Overall Vamps is an ok series that has a weird Thelma and Lousie tone throughout most of it. The role reversal of the female vampires running around, playing and using handsome men and then tossing them into the gutter is kind of interesting, and it's easy to see why a male audience might not take it very well. Apparently some men get antsy at the idea of sexually forward women who view them in the same light that many men view women. Who knew?

I think the fact that Hollywood & Vein was very hit or miss pretty much doomed the series, and I was pretty surprised when I say Pumpkin Time on the shelves almost two years later.

Sadly only the original mini-series is available in a TPB, so digging around in the back issues is needed to find Hollywood & Vein and Pumpkin Time.

Interestingly enough, Elaine Lee hasn't really done many comics since Vamps. She did Brainbanx for the ill fated Helix line, and she wrote Saint Sinner for the Clive Barker comics line waaaay back when, but since then she's pretty much dropped off the face of the earth. Odd.

Anyway, here's a link to a gallery of the covers for all three series

KatyBerry: Vamps Cover Gallery