Tripwire’s Contributing Writer On JC Vaughn’s Vampire Triad

Heroes fight monsters all the time in comics, hunting them down in the pages allowed.  But sometimes, the monsters fight (and bite) back.

Not since the late author Anne Rice cornered the market with her “Lestat Saga” on the New York Times Bestseller Lists has a creator added this much energy, enthusiasm, and creativity to “nosferatu” tales.  He’s already turned a new page on blood-soaked noir with his previous Vampire, PA and Al Capone, Vampire (look to buy his ashcan on Kickstarter now).  And it looks like he’s not stopping.

First off, there is what readers will discover inside the covers of American Mythology Productions, Captain Action Enterprises, and Well-Defined Productions’ co-presentation of Captain Action vs. Al Capone, Vampire.  Not only does this landmark comic release pit the immortal version of “Scarface” – one of the most notorious gangsters in history – against the all-new 21st century, four-color version of the “Original Super-Hero Action Figure,”  but also celebrates the history of both at the same time.

Introducing a new archetypal villain named Professor Fang, today’s Captain Action follows the 1966 comic book version created by super-hero comics wunderkind James Shooter (which also gave the celebrated creator his first artist credit since he provided layouts to the first artist of DC Comics’ five-issue CA series, the legendary Wallace “Wally” Wood), as well as a Moonstone Books revamp.

Now working for a secret organisation against a race of foes terrestrial and otherwise, Captain Action e property, he is against the heavy here – Al Capone, Vampire. Born Alphonse Gabriel Capone in New York City to Italian immigrants, he is probably America’s most famous criminal and was born in January of 1899.

Where comics by writer / creator J.C Vaughn stray from reality is that the famed businessman gangster was bitten by a vampire instead of dying from a cardiac arrest after a stroke in 1947.   Attempting to take over Chicago’s underworld decades after his “death,” his war on the city’s criminal gangs and other vampire clans finds him facing vampire hunter Dean Marklin and his team from Pittsburgh which is introduced in the pages of Vampire, PA.

If Marklin can’t stop Capone, is Captain Action up to the task?  Readers of this comic book crossover have much to discuss on social media.

Then let’s get to his second project in the works. Dead Inspector reads like an NBC Universal Kolchak the Night Stalker dark mystery tale from ’73 until it doesn’t.  It then becomes an X-Files-esque story for all to enjoy.

You see, there has been for more than a century murdered women in and around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, region.  Are these unsolvable cold cases or one conspiratorial serial killing?

And who will try to stop it?

That’s where Detective David Metcalf comes in; the driven cop who doesn’t cop out – even when he is transformed into a nosferatu.

Behind this crime noir in the strongest sense is writer / creator J. C. Vaughn, who has dreamed up comics featuring hard-action, high-concept stories featuring DC Comics’ Blue Beetle (all three of them), Billy Tucci’s Shi, and his own vampyr version of Al Capone, for decades.

Then, there is Giancarlo Caracuzzo, whose provocative line work reminds me of crime comics artist Michael Lark – who was gifted with an engaging art style that brought life to DC Comics and Vertigo’s Gotham Central, Scene of the Crime, Terminal City and The Invisibles, to name a few.  As for Caracuzzo, his work has conjured the look and style of Night of the Living Dead, Stargate Universe, and, in a sense, Al Capone, Vampire, to great acclaim.

Together, these creators have stirred together a combustible mix of crime noir and slow burn.  But, and you will read this for yourself, the mix ends up being explosive in making a comic book yarn that will stand the test of time.

Finally, there is Al Capone, Vampire: Vampire Wars.  Not much is being revealed about this secretive project on the dark horizon, but just know that enemies are in their corners, and all coroners are on high alert.

As for all of Mr. Vaughn’s vampire comics, all hell is set to break loose. 

Most assured.