GRAPHIC

A misanthropic widower turns into a super-vampire in Renken’s horror/fantasy novel.

As the story opens, an unnamed, middle-aged narrator has just buried his wife who died after a long and painful bout with cancer. He’s sad and angry in his grief, and after giving the cold shoulder to other mourners at the funeral, he drunkenly stumbles to the home of his best (and only) friend, a wealthy shut-in named Bernie, who’s just purchased a very expensive vial of blood. The narrator, annoyed by his friend’s gullibility, takes the vial and impulsively drinks it down in one gulp. It’s only afterward that he learns from Bernie what a mistake he’s made: He’s just ingested vampire blood. The narrator laughs at this revelation until he transforms into a vampire himself: “There were muscles everywhere. And muscles making love to those muscles. Most surprising of all, there was a washboard stomach. What I think is called an eight-pack….Actually, that was only the second most surprising thing. The most surprising thing was…that there was no penis.” The man soon learns he’s become part of an ancient fraternity of immortal creatures pledged to rid the world of child killers. But is the troubled man up to the task? Despite the title, the book is not a graphic novel but a prose one, albeit one festooned with red-and-black ink drawings and occasional comic-book-style typefaces. The voice is self-aware and offers readers a hefty dose of Deadpool-style irreverence, and it will appeal to fans of that arch storytelling tone. At one point, for instance, the narrator takes a moment away from the opening scene—a rainy graveside service—to prepare readers for how often he’ll be saying the F-word over the course of his tale: “I’m gonna use that word a lot. Like about 432 times a lot. So you’ve been warned. But back to the scene already in progress.” The humor is sophomoric and profane, as well; a typical joke is that Bernie loves talking about performing fellatio. Its ideal audience will likely be those who love dark comic-horror tales.

A violent, sardonic superhero tale of transformative grief.