Tales of the Vampires #4

Timeline

Continuing from Issue 3

The Sitch and Thoughts

Sometimes the answer to a question is as plain as the nose on your face. Last review, I made some predictions about what was happening in the relationship between Roche and the Watcher children, and Whedon completely smoked me on them. Yet, as I read back over the review, I made a simple point in the first paragraph about Edna's fixation on Roche. The word fixation was the very key for the whole mystery. The source of that fixation is finally revealed and, like any good mystery, made you want to smack yourself in the head once you see the answer.

Lambs, starts Roche's story. Roche has been feeding the children his stories to the children and they follow like lambs. Edna once again interrupts. Happy to know that Edna will be his first victim when the time comes, Roche obliges another question from Edna, much to the displeasure of the other children. Edna's question? How did Roche become a beast?

Roche allows the children one last tale - his tale. The tale of a lowly man, a French shoe cobbler by trade, who was turned during a plague. Roche noticed only the shoes of his sire until he was pulled from his grave. As the other children begin to drop their heads, Roche explains that his sire was a giant of a man. He was bearded and had the power to mesmerize, a power known to only a few vampires.

Suddenly, just like Edna, the last puzzle piece falls in place for us. The tales are done. Even as Roger walks into Roche's grasp, we realize that Roche has mesmerized the children and potentially their watcher. They truly are lambs.

In classic Whedon misdirection, I was thrown off the path the whole way. Last issue, Roche wasn't loosening the bolts to get to the children. He was straining to bring the children and the Watcher to him. If you go back and read through the issues, the clues are all there, and they tickle at the back of the brain. Amazing. Two questions remain for me, which we'll find out in late April. First, why did the watchers bring the children into this situation? Were they mesmerized by Roche and forced to bring the children down? And second, what is the source of Edna's resistance to Roche? I can't wait for the last issue...

Credits

Joss Whedon - Story
Alex Sanchez - Pencils
Derek Fridolfs - Inks
Michelle Madsden - Colors
Annie Parkhouse - Letters

Dustbowl

Timeline

Western Kansas, 1933.

The Sitch and Thoughts

Dust Bowl, the longest tale in issue three, is another one of those stories that I don't know what to make of. Much like the Espenson-penned "Father" from issue three, the story seems like a somewhat academic examination of what would happen to a Vampire in a unique situation. In "Father", the study was about what would happen if a human were raised by a vampire.

In "Dust Bowl", it becomes an examination of what would happen to a vampire created during a time of hardship when no one was around to teach you how to be a vampire. What would it be like to experience an instinctive knowledge without "guidance" as it were? What about the issues that you didn't know about?

Dust Bowl opens up with young Joe Cooper trying to work a barren field that rain hasn't touched. He has a knowledge that he will always be what he is and everything is instinctive to him about this life. He knows that he will always be a rancher. He automatically thanks his Ma for the water she provides. Everything goes along well until a stranger is taken in by his mother in the middle of a dust storm.

Joe awakens the next morning to ask if the visitor is gone. Joe's ma asks him if he's thirsty and tell him that she is, her face vamped at this point. Jeff Parker's visuals fit the story well. The pictures are minimalist with strong lines to match the harshness of the dust bowl in the 30's. My particular favorite is his depiction of vampires through the darkening of the features of the face, eyes aglow in red.

Joe's ma attacks him. Instinctively, Joe drinks and awakens a vampire. Joe notices first that his ma is different. Then she speaks and confirms that they are different. Before she can get much else out, Joe again instinctively stakes her. Her dust mingles with that of the blowing dirt, lost forever.

Joe goes outside and realizes that the dust is making him thirsty. After drinking a cow, Joe stumbles inside and sees the answer to what has happened to him in a Dracula movie lobby card as well as the mirror above the wash basin. Not certain what to do, Joe goes to Sal's farm next door. On the way, the dust clears and Joe is surprised to find that he is bursting into smoke as he stumbles into Sal's place. Joe then tries to turn Sal to be like him. Not understanding the process, the young woman's body simply lies on the floor.

Joe tries to bury Sal, but burns himself on the cross he fashions above her grave. Joe instinctively feels that human blood alone will sate him, but isn't certain. With few people around, he puts a room out for rent. As visitors arrive, he shows them around the place, including the barn. To Joe, the only vampire life he knows follows his old instinct. To Joe, it's simply another form of ranching.

Much like Father, I was interested in this study of a being in a unique and somewhat isolated situation. It really does some off to be very academic at times. I also wasn't quite certain why Espenson used the exact writing style she did. The story was very matter-of-fact. Perhaps that's what she was trying to evoke, a sense from the Great Depression that everything was very matter-of-fact. Little else fit into the environment. The story held my interest but I didn't feel that there was as much to chew on as in other stories in the tales series.

Credits

Jane Espenson - Story
Jeff Parker - Art

Taking Care of Business

Timeline

San Gabriel, California - Current Day

The Sitch and Thoughts

Though I've not known what to think about a couple stories, this one is just hard to write about for me. This story is about a vampire from the 15th century who was formerly an inquisitor. He has become maddened over the centuries to believe that the atrocities done during the inquisition should be paid by clergy throughout the years. He thinks that he is an agent of God - until one night at a gas station in San Gabriel while buying candy.

He meets a priest who has bought candy and knows that this one has answers that he is looking for. The vampire decides that he will attack the priest but is also interested in what is unique. Intrigued he follows the priest, realizing that the priest's pulse has never quickened. He decides to tell the priest of his tales and why he is on his quest. Finally he asks who the priest is. The priest's response? He's god and that the vampire is a crazy, murderous, self-important SOB. The vampire, stunned by this revelation, bows down and the priest offers him a Gummi-worm.

He then tells the vamp that it's time to just walk out in the desert and lie down till the sun comes up. The vamp runs off to meet his fate as lights begin to gather around the priest's head. "Hollis? Hollis Avery!" comes a voice from the lights. The priest is actually Hollis Avery, escaped from his momma's house, off his meds and in a mail-order priest's suit. He tells the sheriff that he met a vampire and beat him. The sheriff notes that he's still as crazy as a june bug, to which Hollis replies that he's just the way God made him.

And what way was that? Crazy enough to take care of business, a task only he could accomplish.

Ben Edlund, the writer of "Taking Care of Business" is a later arrival to the Whedon-verse, having created his own universe before in the Tick, another short-lived Fox series and a much longer-running comic book. Before I hit the ending and realized what was happening, I actually had a hard time reading this story. The parts about the priest were a little too "the bad guy wins it" for me. I'm not Hollywood code but I like the good guy to win.


Much like the Tick though, Hollis is the bumbling, sometimes a little nuts, good guy. When I realized what he had done, I really enjoyed the story. The dialogue in this story as well as the excellent, twisted ending is just hilarious.

Credits

Ben Edlund and the Nick of Time Crew - Story and Pencils
Derek Fridolfs - Inks
Dave Nestelle - Colors
Annie Parkhouse - Letters

Cover

Ben Edlund - Art
Michelle Madsden - Colors

Excellent cover art by Edlund, actually very reminiscent of his artwork in
The Tick, but matured a bit more in terms of detail. Enjoyed the cover,
even if the character and the story creeped me out a little!

What's My Line?

I will work her mouth into an O of agony.
We could hold hands, I wouldn't mind...
I might just bite her myself.
We're lambs.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmega-sour gummi worms...
My friend, you've got to take the big five. You've been really amusing but
really...just walk out into the desert, lie down and wait for the sun.
'Kay? Think you can swing that?

Rating: 2.5 of 5 (A little sluggish at points, but amusing enough)

Only one more issue to go - see ya in 30!