Active Anime
The absolute last thing that goth-girl Raven and her vampire boyfriend, Alexander, need is another hitch in their night time only romance - but dark trouble hovers on the horizon when Raven and Alexander discover four freshly dug graves filled with empty coffins. When a crew of sketchy vampires takes up residence in Dullsville’s lonely graveyard, Alexander finds this motley bunch led by his very own blood-sucking cousin, Claude Sterling. Claude and his creepy crew can only spell out more problems for the pair, especially when raven finds them in daylight in the very last place she could ever imagine. The question that needs answering is what could Claude and his invaders be doing - or searching for - in Dullsville? With some help from the darkness, Raven and Alexander will hopefully be able to search the truth of this matter out, and get back to enjoying the peace of each other’s company - but not before they get to the bottom of these conflicts.

Vampire Kisses is somewhat surprising, because on the surface it looks like a lot of what we may have seen before when it comes to “vampire stuff,” but it’s actually kind of fun and different. Instead of being constantly gothic and relating to the darker side of vampire lore, Vampire Kisses throws in a number of twists revolving around romantic and awkward/humorous social situations. This series was actually first produced in an ongoing number of written novels (without the pretty pictures) by the same writer as for this manga creation. There are four separate novels to date, so the Vampire Kisses manga has a lot of material to work from for the future. Plus, if fans enjoy the manga, they have something more to look into with the novels - everyone wins! It really does have its funny moments, as well as still sticking with being a serious drama when those more serious parts pop up.

The art really stands out, especially for a North American creation. Everything is really clean and crisp, and it uses a lot of heavy contrast between black and white. It may not be everyone’s taste in style, but for those of us who appreciate the way it’s done, you’ll appreciate it a lot. Though the backgrounds and scenery are very good, it’s the characters that really stand out. Each has a unique way of dressing and most have some pretty cool outfits to show off throughout the book. Raven herself has an especially confident, non-conforming look that sets her aside from most of her high school peers. All is well presented in the art. Even the book’s cover is really attractive - done in dark toned water colour paints by the look of it. It’s a well rounded package that has the potential to do something really different with the romance/relationship genre. Certainly worth taking a look at to see if the art and story can draw you in with the first few pages!

Romance and horror mixed together is a strange mix, but Vampire Kisses knows just how to make it work - even for those that might not usually read a series like this. Just to round it off, the art is very attractive and adds a touch of fun - giving a sense of balance to a story not too creepy, but not too fluffy either.

~Scott Campbell, Active Anime
http://www.activeanime.com/html/content/view/1815/36/

BookLoons
Blood Relatives is a new installment of Ellen Schreiber's Vampire Kisses series, but in manga form. Even though I had not read any in the series, the manga was easy to get into thanks to the first couple of pages explaining the backstory.

Raven is the ultimate goth girl – she even has a real-life vampire as her boyfriend. Thanks to her boyfriend Alex, her life is almost everything she wants it to be (except she can never go on a daytime date to an amusement park like she dreams about in one scene). Still, her nights are spent on romantic dates with Alex, including a picnic in the local cemetery. There, the two discover recent graves missing headstones. The mystery deepens when Alex finds a toy that belongs to his half-vampire cousin Claude. Raven discovers that Claude and his posse have come to town to get blood vials left by Alex's grandmother. Unfortunately, they find her, and now want to use her to get to Alex. Could Raven's fantasy become a nightmare?

This first volume of Blood Relatives reads very fast. The story moves along at an almost breakneck pace, something that is often missing in Original English Language manga as American comic readers are used to moving the plot with dialogue instead of pictures. Schreiber's dialogue is just enough to explain what is happening and build the suspense and never overpowers rem's plot-moving panels. While uneven in places, rem's artwork captures the goth aspects of the series. She also has a knack for drawing American bishonens (beautiful boys) that will make many teenage fans swoon.

Goth manga fans will definitely enjoy Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives. The ending is a good cliffhanger, that will leave readers anxiously waiting for the next installment. It also creates an interest in the novel series, which might move some mainly manga-readers into a pictureless book.

~Ricki Marking-Camuto, BookLoons
http://www.bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.asp?bookid=8748

Comic Book Bin
Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives is the third manga series created from the joint publishing venture between American manga publisher, TOKYOPOP, and book publishing giant, HarperCollins. The other two are Warriors: The Last Warrior and Avalon: Coronation. Like these two title, Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives is based upon a popular “Young Adult” novel series, in this case, Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber. A side story to the main book series, Blood Relatives is written by Ellen Schreiber and adapted for comics by Diana McKeon Charkalis, with art by rem (aka Priscilla Hamby).

Vampire Kisses is set in the town of Dullsville where goth girl Raven Madison just doesn’t fit in with anyone or anywhere, especially at conservative Dullsville High. Raven gets her fondest wish when she meets teen vampire, Alexander Sterling. A sensitive artist, Alexander finds true love with Raven, but the duo can only date at night, obviously because Alexander can only come out at night.

Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives, Vol. 1 introduces another hitch in Raven and Alexander’s relationship. While spending a romantic night in Dullsville’s lonely graveyard, the couple discovers four freshly dug graves with empty coffins. Soon, Alexander learns that these are the nighttime homes of his cousin, Claude Sterling as his gang of punk vampires. Claude and his crew are half-breed vampires, which means they can live out in the sunlight, but they want to be pure bloods (who can’t live in the sunlight). Claude, who was always jealous of the pureblood Alexander, is back, and he’s looking to settle scores. When Raven gets caught in the middle of this feud, she finds herself on the precipice of betrayal.

[This book also includes an excerpt of the juvenile novel, Vampire Kisses 4: Dance with a Vampire by Ellen Schreiber.]

THE LOWDOWN: With its sweet-natured, easy-going teen romance and PG-13-rated horror, Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives is pitch-perfect as a sort of “Young Adult” graphic novel. Ellen Schreiber has basically put her book series in a nutshell, and Diana McKeon Charkalis has done a fine job scripting it into a graphic narrative.

The surprise star here is the artist, rem, a former winner of TOKYOPOP’s “Rising Stars of Manga” contest. She is an unexpectedly strong storyteller for her lack of experience, and her drawing skills are mature – not to mention the fact that she is much better than many veteran American artists when it comes to drawing black and white comics. rem is a star in the making. Now, she just needs audiences to be informed of her talent, but for right now, Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives will do the talking.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: This is a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” comic for the “Young Adult” reader, but anyone who likes dark fantasy comics may also like this.