Although it was critically acclaimed for its unique vision of a world destroyed by vampires, the Impaler comic book series by writer William Harms was left unfinished last year after only three issues.
But now, all six issues of the first volume have been completed and are being collected in trade in October, with a new ongoing Impaler series to begin later this year.
"If you want the entire first story arc, this new trade will be the only place you can get those," Harms said. "Then the new Impaler series starts in December with a new #1 issue from Top Cow."
Impaler explores what would happen if vampires destroyed the
world. "It started out answering the question: 'What if vampires were
real?' And the answer I came up with is, if they wanted to, they could
conquer the world. And that's exactly what happens," Harms said.
Fighting against those vampires is Vlad the Impaler, adding a layer of
intrigue to the story and a new twist on traditional vampire lore.
"Vlad the Impaler is a historical figure and is largely believed to be
the inspiration for Dracula," the writers said. "He's appeared in a lot
of vampire fiction, but usually as a vampire. Well, in this, he's a
vampire hunter."
Harms said he did a lot of research on Vlad the Impaler and his real
life as a Romanian ruler. "He's a pretty fascinating character, so I
tried to pull in as much historical reference as I could to help flesh
him out as a character," he said.
One example is Vlad's membership in the Order of the Dragon, a group of
knights and aristocrats who had sworn to uphold the teachings of and
protect the Catholic Church. "He was really a member of that
organization, so that's incorporated into the story. In fact, in the
trade, he has the emblem on him when he's drawn. And in the cover to
the trade, which is drawn by Jean Paul Leon, the emblem is pretty
prominent on there," Harms said. "So I'm just trying to include those
little historical references whenever I can, to try to ground the story
and make it less overly fantastic."
The other main character in the comic is a retiring New York City
homicide detective named Victor Dailey, whose wife died from breast
cancer. When the story begins, Detective Dailey is finalizing his
retirement so he can move to Florida to live with his brother.
Unfortunately, before that can happen, vampires show up and destroy New
York.
"He's really the heart of the story. The kind of struggles that he goes
through in some ways mirror the kind of struggles I've gone through in
my life, dealing with cancer. My dad died of cancer, my wife had
cancer, so in a weird kind of way, those things informed the way he was
formed as a character and kind of speak to his vulnerabilities and his
strength," Harms said. "The guy's really been through the ringer. And
as the story progresses and as people read, he really turns into the
hero of the story by overcoming those pretty substantial odds."
The series was hailed by critics because of its realistic look at the
devastation brought about by vampires as they begin to destroy the
world. "One of the things that really interests me is thinking, if this
was real, how would somebody react to it? That's something that drives
the style of the story. For example, in the first three issues, when
people start vanishing in New York City, it's almost more of a police
procedural kind of thing. The detectives have some evidence that it
might be vampires, but they're more interested in looking at it from a
crime point of view. They don't freak out and go, 'Oh no! There are
vampires running around!' It's more about them trying to get to the
bottom of it."
But along with the story being grounded in reality, the vampires are
plenty scary. "The vampires are kind of a shadow creature -- a mix
between shadow and flesh," Harms said. "The only thing that can harm
them when they're in their shadow form is things made of pure iron,
which is what Vlad's sword is made from. That's why he's able to combat
them pretty effectively, because as they shift, it doesn't really
matter to him; he can still hack them up."
Impaler's vampires are also unique because they don't adhere to
the traditional rules used in previous vampire stories, such as cloves
of garlic or holy water hurting them.
"I wanted more of a hard edge. So the rules are, if you shoot them in
the head, they die. So the crosses and holy water -- none of that stuff
means a thing to them," Harms explained. "And they can move around in
the daytime as long as they're not in the sun. So the great thing from
that, from a dramatic point of view, is that it could be broad daylight
out, but if you go down into the subways of New York City, there are
going to be 2,000 vampires down there waiting for you. It's not like
there's ever going to be a safe time when they're going to be in their
coffins or anything like that. It doesn't work that way."
The new series, which begins in December, will feature art by British
artist Matt Timson, and will launch with a new #1 issue so that new
fans can come on board.
"The first issue was written in a way that would accomplish two
things," Harms said. "One is it picks up immediately where the trade
ends. But at the same time, I structured it in a way so that if someone
hasn't read the trade, they can still understand what's going on. I
worked really hard with the guys at Top Cow so that if someone new
picks it up, they won't be totally lost."
The series, which was previously published by Image (which also
publishes Top Cow’s titles), disappointed fans by stopping after three
issues, but Harms feels confident that the new ongoing series will be
around for a long time.
"Doing a book through Image is awesome in a lot of ways, but it's also
hard because you have to do a lot of the work yourself. So it's really
great to be at Top Cow now where all I have to do is write it," Harms
said. "And hopefully, the kind of support systems they have in terms of
reaching out to the fans and retailers will keep it around for several
years."
Check back this weekend to read the full first issue of the original Impaler series for free here on Newsarama.
