Author notes

Strip I: Vampire Diary

J_Scarbrough

on June 22, 2022

This was the pilot strip for VAMPIRE GIRL, originally published December 8, 2011 on Smack Jeeves. I wasn't entirely sure just how to get the story started, so I ended up just having Levana kick things off by writing about it in a diary of hers.

VAMPIRE GIRL has a rather peculiar Genesis: it was Halloween 2011, and Comcast/xfinity's Sounds of the Season Music Choice channel was playing, fittingly, Halloween music; some of their song selections I had heard before under different circumstances, such as themes from such movies as JAWS, GHOSTBUSTERS, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and others, or nonsensical novelty songs, such as "Monster Mash," "Purple People Eater," and "Witch Doctor." However, some tracks were new to my ears, such as Warren Zevon's "Welewolves of London," but the one song that got stuck in my head was Jonathan Richman's rockabilly-esque "Vampire Girl."

This song had become so etched and seared into my mind, that I had to find some sort of a creative relief, so I ended up doodling and sketching vampire girls, until I hit upon a design I liked enough that it became the character of Levana. From there, I had decided to build a story around here, and got to thinking about how tough it must be to be a vampire, as there are so many things that we mortals take for granted that would be rather fatal to vampires, such as how she can only travel at night because sunlight can kill her, or how restrictive her diet is because garlic and such can kill her . . . in short, but a vampire would suck!

So, that not only became her story, but also provided the comic with its tagline: "She lives a life of irony." VAMPIRE GIRL was my first regular, ongoing comic in years.