Vampire: The Maquerade #2 // Review
“Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire.” Okay: so the old tagline for The Lost Boys has a point, but it’s not always so easy. You might find yourself abandoned. You might find yourself hunted. These concerns and further exploration of Minneapolis/St. Paul in the World of Darkness await in the second issue of Vault Comics’ official adaptation of Vampire: The Masquerade. Writer Tim Seeley and artist Devmalya Pramanik continue the story of a young vampire being taught about the nature of her undeath. As Tini and Blake Howard continue their exploration into life on the fringes as an impoverished, working-class vampire in another installment drawn by Nathan Gooden.
Cecily Bain has taken abandoned, new vampire Alejandra Deluna to a little soiree being hosted by an ancient Irish painter. There are politics involved that Alejandra can’t hope to comprehend the complex social matters, but her new extended family is the least of her concerns. She’s hungry, and she doesn’t want to eat. Meanwhile, 44-year-old “thin blood” Colleen is stranded in a car that won’t move with a couple of her friends from the margins of vampire society. The car’s broken down. Sunrise isn’t far off, but that’s not a huge concern when hunters show-up looking to exterminate them.
Seeley’s story picks-up a bit as Alejandra has to deal with the basics of vampire life. Evidently, she needs fresh blood. She’s vomited-up what she’d been fed earlier, and now Cecily’s got to help her and teach her a lesson at the same time. It’s dark, complex drama that is a definite improvement over Seeley’s opening chapter last month. The Howards’ story of Colleen delves as little bit more into the pasts of a couple of the characters as an everyday breakdown turns into something horrifying for a group of characters more commonly found in the villain role. It’s a novel turnaround in a very endearing story that Tini and Blake are bringing to the page.
Pramanik makes good use of varying personalities in a chapter that is driven by drama. The Irish painter has a dark beauty that feels suitably dominant while also coming across with a cold emotional warmth. It’s a nuanced portrayal. Pramanik’s rendering of Alejandra speaks to a valiant innocence. There’s a dark radiance about the rain-soaked night that finds Alejandra making her first kill. In the Howards’ story, Gooden continues to draw the reader into sympathy with the afflicted in a deep fatigue that makes the hunters’ attack all the more emotionally affecting. The horror flooding through Colleen is heartbreaking.
Aside from being a solidly entertaining comic book, Vault’s Vampire: The Masquerade continues to serve as an impressive package for a sourcebook. The info at the end of the issue features deep background on Minneapolis/St. Paul, in the World of Darkness that even features a springboard paragraph for a campaign where players might find themselves playing the late recording artist Prince who now has to face life in a world that thinks he’s dead. Clever throwaway ideas like that add depth to the second outing of the series at issue’s end.
