Following the breakthrough success of the DC/zombie series DCeased (opens in new tab) which pitted DC’s iconic superheroes against zombies, another horror undead monster type is facing off against those heroes in DC vs. Vampires (opens in new tab). The 12-issue DC vs. Vampire series pits the Justice League against a secret vampire army that is preparing to conquer Earth – and somehow, I, Vampire’s Andrew Bennett is involved.
Here is a five-page preview of the debut issue:
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(opens in new tab)
“The story starts with Andrew Bennett, wrapped in blankets, trying to get into the Hall of Justice at high noon with a terrifying message that there is a new vampire leader on Earth and what he’s plotting will mean the end of human domination of the planet,” Tynion wrote in his newsletter (opens in new tab), describing the pages in the preview.
The two stories don’t share a continuity, and although it follows the success of DCeased and on the surface a similar formula, Tynion plotted out his take on a “horror apocalypse” from an opposite angle.
“By the end of the first issue of DCeased, an intense Zombie Apocalypse was already ripping through the world and the people in it,” Tynion continues. “But I liked the idea that we might be a slow burn apocalypse… A conspiracy growing in the shadows of the DC Universe, that escalates slowly and terrifyingly issue by issue until the world is unrecognizable.”
Tynion wrote the full outline for DC vs. Vampires, but finding himself unable to write it in the immediate future due to his other commitments he said he and editor Ben Abernathy recruited writer Matthew Rosenberg and his Hawkeye: Freefall artist, Otto Schmidt.
“This is an ‘anything can happen’ take on a vampire coup,” Rosenberg wrote in his newsletter (opens in new tab). “The vampires have infiltrated some of the most powerful corners of the DC universe. No one is safe and everyone is a suspect.”
The primary DC vs. Vampire #1 cover is illustrated by Otto Schmidt, with a vast array of variant covers planned from the likes of Francesco Mattina (four covers), Ejikure (two covers, one which glows in the dark), Jorge Molina (glow in the dark), Dan Watkins (two versions), Felipe Massaferra (two versions), Marco Turini (three covers), Tula Lotay (a Royal Comics exclusive), Yoshitaka Amano (a Things from Another World exclusive), Daniel Warren Johnson/Eric Spicer, and Kael Ngu (two covers, both a joint Frankie’s Comics/Golden Apple Comics exclusive). Check them out here:
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DC vs. Vampires #1 variant covers
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DC vs. Vampires #1 (of 12) goes on sale on October 26.
In the mood for horror? Check out our best horror comics to get in the Halloween spirit.