VAMPIRE DOLL, VOLUME 1

TOKYOPOP

CARTOONIST: Erika Kari

TRANSLATION: Yoohae Yang

ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Patricia Duffield

ISBN: 1598165184; soft cover; Horror/Comedy; Teen-Age 13+

202 pp., B&W, $9.99

Guilt-na-Zan was a vampire aristocrat; he was the bad mamma jamma who ruled the night in Europe.  However, 100 years ago, his nemesis, the exorcist Kyoeisai Yotobari used magic to seal Guilt-na-Zan in a crucifix known as the Black Cross.  Cut to present day, and Yotobari’s ancestor, Kyoji Yotobari, has released Guilt-na-Zen’s from the Black Cross.  Kjoyi is also an exorcist, but he’s also a collector and maker of pretty things, especially dolls.  Kjoyi traps Guilt-na-Zan in the figure of a life-size wax doll.  Guilt-na-Zan’s once mighty powers, which allowed him to control the beasts of the earth and call thunder from the sky, have been reduced to summoning flowers and sweets such as candy and cakes.

Oh, the indignity.  Kyoji uses his control over Guilt-na-Zen to bully him/her into being his maid, but all is not bad.  Kyoji’s sweet sister, Tonae, likes the vampire doll, and all it takes is a tiny amount of her blood to allow Kyoji to regain his true form – at least for ten minutes or so.  Guilt-na-Zen forms a grudging partnership with Kyoji and acts as the young, flighty exorcist’s conscience.  It’ll take their partnership to deal with such characters as Kyoji’s bungling twin brother, Kyoichi (who calls himself “Night Veil”), Kyoichi’s servant, Vincent, and a demon named Dune, who sucks the wickedness out of boys…

Erika Kari’s Goth-inspired manga, Vampire Doll, is a hoot and a half.  The story tends to meander, but I’m amazed Kari can take characters dressed in over-the-top Goth costumes and gear and other horror fiction denizens and then, turn that into a delightful slapstick comedy.  She’s even managed to turn Goth and horror into domestic comedy, and her heavily textured art has that worried-over look that many American comic book readers like.  This should win over the Goth comix crowd.

7 of 10