10 Indie Vampire Comics You Need To Read | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

These 10 indies comics put a unique twist on the typical vampire story.

Some of the best vampire stories around have come from comics. From the vampire hunter Blade to Morbius the Living Vampire, these stories have inspired fans the world over and become the influence for major Hollywood Blockbusters.

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Of course, the most innovative comics do not come from the Big Two (Marvel and DC) but exist in their own universes. Some of these are popular existing franchises that turned into amazing comics stories. Others are completely original series unlike anything else. But all of them are well worth reading.

Set in a dystopian cyberpunk future where vampires and humans live side-by-side, Bleed Them Dry follows a human cop named Harper Halloway as she investigates a spree of killings committed by a serial killer (or, as the comic calls the killer, a vampire slayer).

Harpers partner is the vampire Atticus Black. When it turns out that Black is responsible for relentlessly preying on people, he uses his influence to blame it on Harper, turning her into a fugitive and the only one who can protect her is the slayer.

This comic frames Dracula in his historical context. The real Dracula was the son of a powerful medieval monarch named Vlad II Dracul who ruled over the country of Wallachia (now part of Romania).

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In this series, Vlad and his younger brother Radu struggle to survive as prisoners of the Ottoman Empire. But when they stumble upon a vampire in a cave, everything changes, and their lives go spinning out of control in this series that blends Late Medieval history with gothic terror.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has actually had two different comics. The first one was printed by Dark Horse and continued the story of the show, breaking it down into Seasons 8, 9, and 10. The second and more recent series updates the characters from the original shows high school years by putting it in modern times, where smartphones, LGBTQ+ acceptance, and digital living are the norm.

Both of these comics are excellent, though they are quite different from one another in their style and their narrative. Fans of the original TV show will probably prefer the Dark Horse series, but that does not mean people should overlook the new ones.

While Tokyo Ghoulis a major manga series that has received massive acclaim and a multi-season-long anime adaptation, it is still not one of the Big Two of American comics and so is considered an indie series for the purpose of this list.

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This fantastic comic is a dark urban fantasy set in an alternate version of modern-day Tokyo where vampiresknown as Ghoulslive in the shadows of the human world, feeding on blood (and coffee) when not preying on one another.

This long-running series is actually a webcomic written and drawn by Kel McDonald (who often referred to herself as Kellhound while working on the series). The protagonist, Danny Gunn, is a magic user blood bonded to a vampire, Setha pact that keeps Danny from aging.

Despite being a prince to the fictional country of Terra, Danny has given up his claim to the throne and works as a teacher at an all-boys school. While Danny is an unpretentious regular guy, the vampire Seth who he is bonded to is a smooth-talking sociopath who terrifies the rest of the bloodsucking community and is rumored to have been banished from Hell after his successful coup.

The old Vampire: The Masquerade roleplaying game has a huge cult following. It has undergone a few different reinventions over the years and was adapted into the popular computer game Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

The recent comic Vampire: The Masquerade: Winters Teeth is a masterpiece that blends urban fantasy, feudal politics, and classic horror. The main story follows Cecily Bane, a Brujah enforcer in Saint Paul, trying to prevent a war from breaking out with a rival vampire court. A second story The Anarch Tales explores a group of vampires living outside the protection of the court.

Vampires only come out at night. But what happens when they attack an Alaskan town in the far north, where the winter months create a month-long winter? That is the premise of 30 Days of Night.

The disease that spreads vampirism is not just contracted through the bite, but even through a simple scrape. But the same winter chill that allows the vampires never to face the sun also weakens their supernatural senses, allowing humans to hide, even as the sheriff of the Alaskan town takes a desperate step to protect his people.

The character of Vampirella is essentially a vampire superhero who uses her supernatural abilities in a horror setting. She has undergone numerous incarnations over the years and had some of the greatest writers in the comics industry write her.

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She is the daughter of Adams first wife, Lilith, and she has allied herself with Dracula to stop a rabid cult. With blind vampire hunters and ancient sorcerers among its main cast, this series is a great exploration of how ancient occult beings can still impact the modern world.

Archie Comics have been a major staple of Americana, and over the past decade, they have come back in a big way. The success of the Riverdale TV seriesand the Netflix Sabrina seriesare proof of this.

In fact, Sabrina is just one of the many amazing horror comics produced by Archie. Among them is Vampironica, a story featuring Veronica as a vampire cheerleader. She received numerous comics of her own and had a tie-in with another horror title, the werewolf series Jughead: The Hunger.

No list of great vampire comics would be complete without the inclusion of this manga from write and artist Kohta Hirano. The manga stars Alucard, a vampire who uses his dark magic (and two massive pistols) to war with the supernatural threats that challenge the English government.

A mixture of horror supernatural horror and epic action make this comic stand out. In many ways, it feels a lot like a Japanese version of Hellboy, but Hellsing is still very much its own thing, and there is nothing else quite like it.

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Theo Kogod is a freelance writer. While working as an English teacher in Japan, he helped found the magazine 3 Feet Left as its Resident Writer. Since then, he's written for various online publications, including CBR, Screen Rant, and The Comics Vault. His published fiction includes the prose superhero story "Typical Heroes" released by Diabolical Plots and the sci-fi story "Antediluvian" in the anthology A Flash of Silver-Green. He currently lives in North Carolina with his spouse, two adorable cats, and an ever-growing book-hoard.

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10 Indie Vampire Comics You Need To Read | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources