Vampires

by Various (Contributor), Mathieu Lauffray (Illustrator), Mike Mignola (Author, Illustrator)

They own the darkness, feeding on the blood of the innocent, sleeping in the earth away from the killing sunlight. The children of the grave. The undead. Vampires. A legend as compelling and disquieting today as in its primal origins, vampire lore continues to influence and inspire the creative vision of writers and artists around the globe. Featuring an international lineup of some of comics' greatest talents, including Bryan Talbot, Philippe Caza, Benoit Springer, David Lloyd, Mike Mignola, Tommy Lee Edwards, Richard Marazano, Gary Gianni, Yoann and Sfar, and others.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Vampires, Graphic Novels

48 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 2001

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of short vampire stories. A very quick read.

[Anibal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection tries to give the reader different perspectives of the vampire through the eyes of some of the greatest illustrators and storytellers. The potential was truly huge but, unfortunately, the few allotted pages for the development of each story limit most of them in a castrating way.

The art is frequently top notch, just like the cover from Mathieu Lauffray, the Victorian elderly vampire from Mignola, the blood goddess portrayed by Patrick Pion or the absolutely fabulous vampire sorceress by Alex Alice among several other great pieces of vampire art. The weak links are the small stories, although some manage to be interesting or very amusing like "A Vampire in New York" by Yoann and Sfar, most are two dimensional, confusing or fail to "capture" the attention of the reader (although the art is quite good in most cases and the authors truly try to have a surprise or two - an epic effort for such small stories, but in my humble opinion...they fail).

It is a pretty book, but it could be great. If you are looking for an art book on Vampires or want to see how masters try to tell a story sometimes spanning generations in very few pages, this is the book for you. If you want developed characters and the exploration of the different facets of the Vampire in myth throughout the ages till the present time, go play the storytelling game Vampire the Masquerade or Vampire the Requiem. I came looking for vampire portraits and found sketches.

[Kranna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy this very much he was short comics about vampires

[Owen Pishna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t feeling most of these stories but Marriage and Un Vampire A New York were both absolute perfect stories in their own ways so I had to at least give the whole book a 4/5

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of a swizz really as it says "Mike Mignola" on the cover and is how I came to discover this book but Mignola's contribution is a single wordless page of a drawing of a vampire. Out of 48 pages. There are quite a few of these 1 page contributions in between 4 page comics about a vampire doing something.

Bryan Talbot's 4 page strip is by far the best. Not just gory as hell but an interesting final page which, in my opinion, could easily be a series unto itself so long as Talbot writes/draws it. Also Joann Sfar's comic is ok, an amusing pastiche of "Batman" meeting a vampire.

Overall though I'd say this is quite missable as a read. Some interesting bits and pieces but hardly a good anthology on vampires and very slight.