Review of Jacy Nova & Nick Nova - Vampress Girls: City of the Lost Souls (Graphic Novel)

In the fourteenth century, during the time of the Black Death plague in Europe, a deal is struck. The secrets contained in the Vampress Code were written down in a locked book, one that required two keys to be opened. One key was given to the High Priestess of the Vampire Clan (the good guys in the book) and the other to the High Priest of the Demon Clan (the Bad Guys).

Not a totally original premise, but one that held a certain amount of promise. Nothing came of it though. The action soon moves forward in time to early twenty-first century California, but the promised epic battle between the supernatural forces of good and evil doesn't materialise. What we have is two girl-group pop bands, made up of American high school girls (one from each tribe) spending their time bickering at each other, going clubbing and being sick. It's all very superficial.

Despite the simplistic art style and the speech bubbles dialogue being very prosaic, this could have been a great story. It isn't though. Despite all the available richness of the vampire and demon mythologies, seven-centuries of history and modern culture against which the authors/artists set their tale, they have produced one of the most lightweight and crass books I have ever read. In its way it's a really impressive feat.

How you can mix vampires and demons, seven hundred years of history and glitzy, Rock 'n' Roll world of the early twenty-first century, and end up with something this vapid is mind-blowing.

In fact the only challenging thing you'll find in these pages is identifying the various characters. Eight of the main characters are high-school age girls dressed as rock-chicks, and without colour to the artwork to give you assistance it is difficult to tell these girls apart.

It's difficult to think of a single good thing to say about this. Oh, here's one - it doesn't take too long to finish.