The first issue of TALES OF THE VAMPIRES.
© Dark Horse Comics

Mania Grade: A-
Issue: 1
Artists: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, Cameron Stewart, Paul Lee, Alex Sanchez, Derek Fridolfs
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $2.99

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TALES OF THE VAMPIRES #1

When those with the potential to become Watchers are very young, they're brought before an ancient captive vampire to learn something about the creatures they'll be sworn to destroy. Just as they themselves and the Slayers they will one day train, each vampire has his or her own story, and each leads a complex life - or in this case, death.

As fascinating as stories about the lives of the Slayers are, Joss Whedon knows as well as we do that the vampires themselves are often far, far more interesting, and this series is based on that premise. There's no Buffy, Kendra, or Faith here - there's only the complicated beings they're in the business of destroying, beings who have just as much vested interest in staying alive as the Slayers and Watchers have in making sure they're dusted. In "The Problem With Vampires," we get to see how an unnamed Drusilla's love for an unnamed Spike keeps her sane as a human tortures her, and how Spike's love for her makes him search for her regardless of the risk. And in "Stacy," we're privy to the thoughts of a young geek girl, an outsider who finds out where she belongs when she becomes one of the monsters. Both stories bring into sharper relief a truth that any long-time viewer of BUFFY or ANGEL already knows: that the monsters are just as three-dimensional as the heroes.

One of the greatest strengths of TALES OF THE VAMPIRES is that it doesn't require a degree in Buffy-omics to fully appreciate the emotional impact of these stories. It helps no end for the reader to be familiar with Spike and Drusilla's on-screen personas, of course, but Drew Goddard has crafted the sort of piece that anyone can sink his teeth into (no pun intended). Instead of feeling regretful that Drusilla's human torturer doesn't succeed in putting down a dangerous killer, we feel jubilant that Spike makes it in sufficient time to his true love's...er, life. The same goes for Joss Whedon's tale of the fangirl-gone-vamp - we should be feeling some sort of pang at seeing a likeable girl turned into the sort of creature who can take a bite out of her former best friend without an ounce of remorse, and yet by the end we're sharing in her joy at being able to look at the stars with eyes that have never seen so clearly before. If this series continues to be able to deliver this kind of reversal, then it should have a very long life ahead, indeed.

It'll owe a great deal of that longevity to the talented artists that Whedon and company have assembled to illustrate their tales. The only real letdown is the framing story as illustrated by Alex Sanchez and Derek Fridolfs - the human characters are fine, but the master vampire who ostensibly narrates the tales that follow is just a tad too demonic, and such a visual representation to a great degree runs counter to the "thesis" of the title. But Paul Lee's artwork on the Spike and Dru piece is just about perfect, particularly as Lee doesn't slavishly follow the look of the characters as we know them from on-screen; and Cameron Stewart's artwork on "Stacy" combines the eponymous title character's fantastic worldview with the realities of her equally fantastic afterlife. Think of a vampire title drawn by Gilbert Hernandez of LOVE AND ROCKETS, in color, and you'll have a good idea of what to expect. Dark Horse may not know what to do with Buffy herself now that her own series has ended, but if they're smart, they'll give TALES OF THE VAMPIRES just as much attention and promotion as they did the series that spawned it.