SR 1 PAGE FORTY-NINE

It’s extremely difficult to come up with a new take on vampires. Even putting a new visual spin on the ol’ sucky-sucks is tough. Don’t think “mouth opens wide enough to roll up the nose” was ever gonna set the world on fire, but I tried. Those goopy eyes are nice and upsetting, at least.

For some reason for many years I thought I didn’t like vampires. Not sure what the deal was. I think I had some kind of nervous virginal resistance to the “sexy” vampire trope that was popular when I was a teenager. But there are so many vampire things I love! Especially movies. Some of my favorites in no particular order:

FRIGHT NIGHT. Pure, goopy joy. Awesomely grotesque special effects and a stellar performance by Roddy McDowall as a hapless horror host. Very much my thing through and through.

NEAR DARK. Genuinely menacing. The gang of vampire outlaws in this one are some of the most memorable horror antagonists of all time.

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE. A perfect depiction of how agonizingly boring it would be to spend centuries as the coolest people on earth. Dark and funny, like one long, sarcastic joke. (If you like this one, PLEASE check out the rest of Jim Jarmusch’s work.)

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. The eeriest vampire movie ever made. If anyone ever tried to hurt these two sweet, sad, broken little kids, I’d rip their heads off my own damn self.

DRACULA A.D. 1972. A lot of people’s least-favorite Hammer Dracula film, but the painfully square depiction of 70’s London countercultural types is just catnip to me. Plus Peter Cushing has never been more awesome. (I’d kill for his wardrobe in this.)

THE LOST BOYS. I STILL BELIEVE!

Some other vampire faves: Nosferatu (both of ‘em), Blacula, Daughters of Darkness, Blade, Thirst, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, Subspecies II. The Hunger for pure atmosphere. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders or Ganja and Hess for those not opposed to a little artiness. Bit is a fun one with great trans representation. If you’re a Bela Lugosi fan (AND YOU BETTER BE), Return of the Vampire is head and shoulders above Dracula imo. Highly recommend the Interview with the Vampire TV series, too.

SR 1 PAGE FIFTY

This page has big “storyboard” energy. You can almost feel the camera trucking along with the pony and zooming in as the mouth widens for the CHOMP.

I’ve never been a pro board artist, but I did loads of boarding in art school and some of the techniques definitely bled into my comics. (I mean, how could they not?) I remember a comic publisher once criticized Serenity Rose for looking like it was done by a storyboard artist. “You can always tell,” he said, rolling his eyes. Like it was a bad thing!

I could never have hacked it as a pro board artist. Those people work way too much. I mean, I work on my comics way too much, but those things are mine. I’ll beat myself up all day every day for a personal passion project, but those 28-hour days churning out Disney’s Whatever Slops would be hard to commit to. 

Things have only gotten worse since I graduated, too. With the broad range of capabilities in Storyboard Pro, board artists are now being asked to basically forge entire episodes on their own. They’re practically animating these things. It’s kind of absurd?

Producers will say, “Well, the more we take care of here, the less we have to trust the overseas animation studio” Yeah, we know. Sixty years ago that was called “having an animation department.” Stop asking your board crew to be the animation department, you weird cheapskates!

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Finishing the last of the thumbnails for SHOCK CITY book two today! Also getting notes for the SHOCK CITY book two script soon, so time to bust out my special Doing Revisions Hat. It’s basically a Robin Hood hat, but with a giant feather representing a writer’s quill. Very classy. It also has built-in speakers that constantly whisper “It’s nothing personal. You are very good at art. Very, very good at art.”

You should all get one!

NEXT WEEK: SPIRALTONGUE!