Vampire Free Style # 1 and 2

Posted: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Vampire Free Style # 1 and 2 Creator(s): Jenika Ioffreda
Publishers: Neptune Factory (Self Published)
From: UK
Price: £2.50(UK)

Someone has gone missing. Her friend longs to see her again but has no clues as to what has happened to her. He should be able to track something done, seeing as he dabbles in magic and has an aunt and sister who also share his skill, but to no avail. Into his life wanders a stray black cat. He gives it a home, but the cat seems to know things about the young man and his family. She also attracts the attention of Edward, an elegant man about town who knows his share of magic and senses that the cat is more than she appears...

Strongly influenced by manga storytelling techniques and graphic design, this book has a very professional quality about it. The artwork is engaging in its detail and charm. There's some great use of greyscale here as well as interesting detailing. The Goth inspired look of many of the characters is smartly done without any titillation. And the central character of the cat Micia is soooo cute!! The book uses the techniques that many will recognise from manga such as the mix of very cartonish drawings for humorous actions and more developed work for the majority of the story. In much manga this mix becomes confusing and diverts from the plot, but Jenika avoids this by keeping the plot central.

The pacing on display in these two books suggests that Jenika has a long saga in mind that involves an interesting array of characters. There’s a lot to keep the reader engaged in the mix of humour, mystery and magic. I'd planned just to review issue one this evening, by once I'd finished I just had to go find where I'd left issue two and read it straight away.

In a Word: Enchanting.



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