Comic Book Vampires
Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 6:51 am
400 years ago, my vampiric kiss transformed the woman I loved into a soulless thing called Mary, Queen of Blood. Today, she seeks undead domination of the planet...while I seek to stop her before it is too late. I, Andrew Bennett... I...VAMPIRE!
That's how one of my favorite comic book series would always begin back in the eighties. It was initially a backup series in DC's flagship horror comic House of Mystery but it took off in popularity. Here's the basic breakdown from Wikipedia.
In 1591, after being turned into a vampire himself, Lord Andrew Bennett turned his lover, Mary Seward, into a vampire, and she became corrupted by the power. She took the name Mary, Queen of Blood and created a group of vampires called The Blood Red Moon bent on taking over the world. The series followed Bennett into the modern day as he tried to undo his mistake and take down Mary and The Blood Red Moon.
He was helped by his two companions Deborah Dancer, a beautiful young woman who Bennett saved from Mary at Woodstock (and who was also his girlfriend) and Dmitri Mishkin, a Russian man whom Bennett rescued from Mary (and his own mother, turned by Mary) when Mishkin was a child.
To try to keep his humanity, Bennett made a vow to only drink the blood of animals and bottled human blood (which created a subtext of alcoholism). In the original series, Bennett keeps his companions at arm's length, particularly Dancer. For a time he stays away from them altogether for fear of putting them in danger.
Storylines included Mishkin's quest to find and destroy the vampire who was his mother, Bennett's pursuit of Mary through time periods leading back to a time before either of them were vampires (motivated on Mary's part by a desire to escape a strange sickness killing vampires in the present), and finally an experimental 'cure' for vampirism which leads to the final confrontation between the surviving protagonists and Mary.
Later stories[edit]
Bennett has attempted suicide on several occasions to end his curse, and has also been brought back to life after each attempt due to a higher power, as seen in the 1988 run of Doctor Fate. During this run, we also see Andrew Bennett interact with the Lords of Chaos and Order to seek an end to time, which does occur due to the vampire's involvement but is later reversed. He also appeared in Day of Vengeance as a background character in the Oblivion Bar, which became Shadowpact's headquarters. He appears as a supporting character in Doctor Thirteen backup stories in the 2006 miniseries Tales of the Unexpected.
There's also a reimagining in the new 52.
Powers and abilities[edit]
Andrew Bennett has the powers of an Elder Vampire, as according to the DC Universe.[3] He can transform into mist, a bat, and a wolf,[4] and he has superior strength far beyond that of a mortal man. He is immortal and possesses the ability to turn others into vampires, a healing factor, and limited telepathy. His image cannot be seen, such as reflected in a mirror or captured on film.
However, he also has the weaknesses of a vampire. He is severely weakened by sunlight, losing most of his vampiric powers,[4] and he can be killed by silver, decapitation and/or a stake to the heart..
The point Of this thread is that I love comic book vampires and intend to lost as many as I can in detail. I placed it in Masque of the Red Death since almost all of them are set on earth but they can be translated very easily to Ravenloft. see you soon with more. If anyone else would like to share memories or opinions of comic book vampires on this thread, go ahead.
That's how one of my favorite comic book series would always begin back in the eighties. It was initially a backup series in DC's flagship horror comic House of Mystery but it took off in popularity. Here's the basic breakdown from Wikipedia.
In 1591, after being turned into a vampire himself, Lord Andrew Bennett turned his lover, Mary Seward, into a vampire, and she became corrupted by the power. She took the name Mary, Queen of Blood and created a group of vampires called The Blood Red Moon bent on taking over the world. The series followed Bennett into the modern day as he tried to undo his mistake and take down Mary and The Blood Red Moon.
He was helped by his two companions Deborah Dancer, a beautiful young woman who Bennett saved from Mary at Woodstock (and who was also his girlfriend) and Dmitri Mishkin, a Russian man whom Bennett rescued from Mary (and his own mother, turned by Mary) when Mishkin was a child.
To try to keep his humanity, Bennett made a vow to only drink the blood of animals and bottled human blood (which created a subtext of alcoholism). In the original series, Bennett keeps his companions at arm's length, particularly Dancer. For a time he stays away from them altogether for fear of putting them in danger.
Storylines included Mishkin's quest to find and destroy the vampire who was his mother, Bennett's pursuit of Mary through time periods leading back to a time before either of them were vampires (motivated on Mary's part by a desire to escape a strange sickness killing vampires in the present), and finally an experimental 'cure' for vampirism which leads to the final confrontation between the surviving protagonists and Mary.
Later stories[edit]
Bennett has attempted suicide on several occasions to end his curse, and has also been brought back to life after each attempt due to a higher power, as seen in the 1988 run of Doctor Fate. During this run, we also see Andrew Bennett interact with the Lords of Chaos and Order to seek an end to time, which does occur due to the vampire's involvement but is later reversed. He also appeared in Day of Vengeance as a background character in the Oblivion Bar, which became Shadowpact's headquarters. He appears as a supporting character in Doctor Thirteen backup stories in the 2006 miniseries Tales of the Unexpected.
There's also a reimagining in the new 52.
Powers and abilities[edit]
Andrew Bennett has the powers of an Elder Vampire, as according to the DC Universe.[3] He can transform into mist, a bat, and a wolf,[4] and he has superior strength far beyond that of a mortal man. He is immortal and possesses the ability to turn others into vampires, a healing factor, and limited telepathy. His image cannot be seen, such as reflected in a mirror or captured on film.
However, he also has the weaknesses of a vampire. He is severely weakened by sunlight, losing most of his vampiric powers,[4] and he can be killed by silver, decapitation and/or a stake to the heart..
The point Of this thread is that I love comic book vampires and intend to lost as many as I can in detail. I placed it in Masque of the Red Death since almost all of them are set on earth but they can be translated very easily to Ravenloft. see you soon with more. If anyone else would like to share memories or opinions of comic book vampires on this thread, go ahead.
