Tales of the Night Watchman No. 8 review: War of the Naked Vampires
By Alex Widen
What happens in the aftermath of a Night Watchman adventure? Check it out with a clan of vampires!
Tales Of The Night Watchman No. 8
Writer: Alyssa Varner
Artist: Victoria Lau
Colorist: Vicky Leta
Cover Artist: Robin Ha
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Considering that the Brooklyn based So What? Press may be a perfect example of a truly “small press comic book publisher,” the current rate of Night Watchman content is impressive. Hot on the heels of a monthly Ghost Train strip in the Park Slope Reader, the eighth issue of the core ongoing series is due out in April. Furthermore, it marks a drastic change from typical issues. Firstly, it is the first issue to not feature the titular Night Watchman, or any of his cast at all! And secondly, it is the first issue to feature a creative team which doesn’t include one or both of the franchise’s original creators David Kelly and/or Lara Antal.
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Much like issue No. 7, this story is a sequel to one of the series’ previously released one-shots. In this case, it is 2013’s Tales Of The Night Watchman: The Night Collector. Written by Kelly and drawn by Molly Ostertag (Strong Female Protagonist, The Witch Boy), it centered around the regular cast stumbling onto a plot involving naked vampires at the Bronx Zoo! This issue takes place shortly thereafter, not long after the Night Watchman had slain the titular Night Collector!
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Snakes on a Plane, Meet Vampires in the Woods!
As was revealed, the Night Collector wasn’t the only vampire in the area. Rather, he was a leader of an entire clan of naked vampires — all of whom were women. Although the murders committed by the Night Collector had gained attention, it was the crush between the vampire Carissa and former zoo-worker Scooter which indirectly led to his downfall. Now the rest of Carissa’s clan has to decide what to do with themselves and how to figure out how to survive without their leader.
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Throughout the tale, as with many vampire stories, the “rules” of how these creatures operate quickly reveals itself. While this pays tribute to previous vampire stories (such as Dracula) in some details, there are more unique elements in others. In this world, only male vampires can transform others with their bite, and tend to use their talents to build harems of immortal ladies. In exchange, that leader — the Collector — hunts mortal prey and brings it back to all to feast upon.
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The loss of their leader slowly but steadily builds a schism among the vampire clan, who are based in a forest in “upper New York.” Carissa envisions her new beau Scooter as an appropriate replacement leader. Valeria, who like many of the women was originally an unwilling victim of the vampire’s bite, tires of being ruled by a Night Collector. Before the old leader can be buried underwater, Carissa arranges for him to “bite” Scooter and transform him into one of the undead.
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Alliances Are Formed and Love Blooms!
While Carissa takes Scooter aside and begins to train him in how to be a vampire, Valeria tries to straddle a fine line. Most of her clan, such as Lena, are used to the old ways of feasting on prey provided by a leader. Valeria, on the other hand, wants more for her immortal existence than subsistence survival. There also is an emptiness in her heart, likely due to her own repressed sexuality. Still others within her clan, such as Keri, seem to go along to get along.
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Yet before long, Valeria finds out that they’re hardly alone in the forest. Hunters have ventured into the woods to illegally hunt foxes. However, the foxes aren’t what they seem! Valeria quickly finds a small pack of were-foxes living among them, and quickly takes to their leader, Kit. A lost soul much like Valeria, the two supernatural ladies quickly bond in ways which stretch beyond friendship. An alliance is proposed, yet not all of the vampires agree to share their caves and fire.
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Meanwhile, it quickly becomes clear that Carissa’s designs for Scooter involve more than romance. Scooter may remain a smitten love-puppy, but to Carissa he quickly becomes a tool to gain power within her vampire clan. Still sticking to the old ways, Carissa plans to introduce Scooter as their new Night Collector, and relies on the fact that Valeria’s popularity is hardly universal. Carissa’s training of Scooter accelerates when it becomes clear she sees him as Valeria’s assassin!
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It Doesn’t Take Three Films to Get to the Good Stuff!
No forest could be large enough to contain such a conflict of alliances and personalities for long, and a vampire civil war ensues. It quickly comes down to Valeria, Kit, and their friends against Carissa, Scooter, and those they’ve brought to their side. What Scooter lacks in experience, he makes up for in tenacity. Yet when it is all said and done, at least two figures in this supernatural melodrama will be gone, and the rest will find that even the hearts of “monsters” can break.
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Alyssa Varner has the honor of being the first “outside” writer to work on this franchise. A Midwestern transplant to Brooklyn, she’s an illustrator and creator of her own series, Blown Away. Her challenge is twofold; firstly, to follow up on a comic story from 5 years ago in a way which suits its continuity without stifling her creativity. And secondly, it is to tell a story about vampires which doesn’t feel predictable, overplayed, stereotypical, or terribly derivative.
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Long before Twilight, vampires are about as close to “overdone” as many pop culture monsters can be! Frequent creatures of myth, they began to become commercial fictional fare in the early 19th century and haven’t stopped since. This is in part because they were long used as a metaphor for sensual things such as lust, love, and even rape (or incest). As this story hints, it’s a legend often told from a straight male perspective, regardless of the fact that all sexes and genders have grown fond of the legend’s many tropes.
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A Noteworthy Addition to Vampire Lore!
As such, this quickly becomes a story of change versus tradition, and how extremism in either one or the other can breed chaos. In addition, it also leads the reader along a path of seeing which “vampire traditions” it keeps and which it ignores. For example, these vampires can turn into bats, and the idea of the multiple “brides of Dracula” lives on with the notion of the Night Collector and “his” clan. Yet on the other hand, the story notes how much in common they have with the were-creatures, and that while the women may be naked, they are neither sultry nor succubus in nature.
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Art for this fifty page issue is handled by Victoria Lau. Another freelance illustrator, she has drawn for a variety of places, including Food Network. Her style works well within a universe visually begun by Lara Antal and that Ostertag contributed to. One might think a lack of clothing may make character designs harder, but Lau manages to give all of the cast distinctive personalities and traits visually. Her work is enhanced by Vicky Leta‘s glorious colors. From the glowing eyes to the hues of skin, it adds a lot of atmosphere and distinction to the work.
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Think of How Much They Save Every Winter!
The elephant in the room — or vampire at the zoo — is the nudity. It’s a visual choice Kelly and Ostertag made in 2013 and this sequel wholeheartedly embraces. It says a lot about American society that a story in which vampires tear into necks and kill people isn’t what may give most “mainstream” readers pause, but the fact that virtually everyone in the story is naked. Thankfully, neither Lau nor Varner depicts the cast in a way which seems salacious or crassly provocative. The cast of ladies (and one guy) are of various shapes, sizes, and colors. None are supermodels.
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From the perspective of the characters, being naked isn’t completely illogical. The vampires are immune to temperature extremes and are stronger and tougher than normal humans. The were-foxes change form, and either become furry animals for heat or would lose their clothes as humans. Not everyone is Bruce Banner, able to always manage to save a pair of pants. More to the point, the nakedness symbolizes the return to the wild nature of both tribes. Whether by birth or bite, both of them have become closer to nature than they wanted, apart from human society.
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There may be some readers for whom the nudity for one reason or another is a deal breaker. For some it may be “offensive,” while others may make false assumptions about its intent. And for those readers, it is their loss. This is a whopping fifty pages of story for eight dollars, which for most mainstream comics would be at least ten. And while it does take place within the world of Tales Of The Night Watchman, there is enough recapping and good storytelling for it to stand alone.
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Another Issue Readers Can Sink Their Teeth In!
In some ways, Tales Of The Night Watchman is a smaller version of what Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was in the early to mid-1980s. Formed by a publisher literally founded and run by two creators (who had day jobs and/or side gigs to pay bills), ultimately a decision had to be made regarding the rate of content. Antal’s work can only be rushed so much, and to be absent from the stage is to be forgotten. For several years the gap was filled with one-shots. As of last year, the decision was made to “skip” issue 6 until it was done and do more “core” issues with others.
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TMNT under Mirage Studios quickly found itself in a similar situation in the early to mid-1980s, albeit with much higher sales. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird could only produce, at best, six issues a year by 1985, their second year in print. By 1986 additional artists Michael Dooney, Ryan Brown, and Jim Lawson were aiding on art, and by 1988 those creators (and others) were producing their own issues of the main series (or its spin-off, Tales Of The TMNT). Yet this ultimately proved how flexible and viable the franchise was, that so many artists and writers could produce quality work within it.
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Next. The Think Coffee Crew Check out the Ghost Train!. dark
Tales Of The Night Watchman isn’t nearly as big yet, but is easily just as viable. Its premise of a handful of quirky coffee shop workers who double as supernatural mystery solvers is one elevator pitch away from a season run on Netflix or The CW (among others). “Sanctuary” proves that it doesn’t even need its central cast to produce a quality issue, based solely upon the ramifications of one of the cast’s adventures. It will remain to be seen if Charlie, Nora, and Serena will run into these vampires again. Available for pre-order, this issue will be a great way to celebrate Halloween in spring!