Life Sucks -- Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria & Warren Pleece
Dave is stuck working the night shift at a crappy local convenience store, he's in love with a gorgeous Goth girl who doesn't know he exists, and he's constantly taking crap from Wes, an annoying-yet-vicious surfer.
Oh, and he's a vampire. He refuses to kill people, so not only is he living on stale blood bank blood, but he isn't able to use the traditional vampire powers. No traveling via mist for our Dave. Nope, he's stuck riding his bike. He was turned by Lord Radu, the owner of the convenience store, so he has to do his bidding. And now Wes -- who is also a vampire, but a much more powerful one, as he has no problem whatsoever with killing people -- has taken an interest in the girl Dave's crushing on. So, yeah. Life Sucks.
Lots and lots of fun. It's basically Clerks with vampires -- Dave is Dante, his friend Jerome (who a huge smartass and who has no problem whatsoever with locking up the copy shop he works at to wander over and hang out with Dave) is Randal and there's a biker vampire who gives sage advice just like Silent Bob.
It's well-written, funny and smart, it's easy to believe that Dave and Carl (his mortal roommate) have been friends forever, and the squabbling/ribbing between Dave and Carl and Jerome rings true. David's vampire master, Lord Radu, looks a whole lot like Ian McShane as Al Swearengen, which was also fun. Some of the panels were very dark and hard to make out, but my review copy is in black and white and it's going to be published in color, so I'm sure that won't be an issue in the finished copies.
I'm always a sucker for the Real Vampires Check Out the Goth Scene and Giggle At It setup, and there's plenty of that here -- it made me laugh out loud quite a few times. "Nice cape." Hee hee.
I meant to just page through this one. Instead I was up an additional 3 hours reading it voraciously. The best vampire novels are the ones that turn out to be metaphors.
Posted by: Fuse #8 | 16 January 2008 at 10:58 PM
It was so well done -- I'm going to watch for it in May, because I'd really like to see it in color.
Posted by: Leila | 17 January 2008 at 05:56 AM
Sounds a little like Christopher Moore's _Bloodsucking Fiends_ and its sequel _You Suck: a Love Story_, just more teen-oriented.
Posted by: OKP | 17 January 2008 at 09:09 AM
I've been meaning to read those for FOREVER. Thanks for reminding me.
Posted by: Leila | 17 January 2008 at 09:14 AM
This was very clever. Any vampire story that has a twist to it is better than the standard lore.
Posted by: Ms. Yingling | 06 March 2009 at 05:20 AM