October’s Monsters

Blood and vampires go together like October and, well, vampires.Although I don’t understand manga, I do know it’s extremely popular, and a friend has been lending me the volumes of Hellsing by Kouta Hirano.In the past couple of weeks I’ve read numbers 4 and 5.Hellsing sets up a world where the Catholic church destroys vampires, as does the English, Protestant organization Hellsing Organization.The latter, however, has as its secret weapon the vampire Alucard who, in nearly every number, gets dismembered in some bloody way before pulling himself back together to overcome the enemy.In the latest issues I’ve read the Catholics and Protestants have to cooperate against the threat of neo-Nazis (and this was before Trump was elected), who also employ werewolves.(It’s October, remember.)

Having been pondering the vampires of Maine, I decided to read the next in my own generation’s vampire hero, Barnabas Collins.I’ve been reading the Dark Shadows series by Marilyn Ross to try to find a lost piece of my childhood.There was a scene in one of these poorly written Gothic novels that made a strong impression on me that I finally re-encountered in Barnabas, Quentin and the Nightmare Assassin.Interestingly, in this installment Barnabas, the gentleman vampire, is cured of his curse while traveling back in time with Carolyn Stoddard.The story doesn’t explain how some of the characters from the twentieth century appear a hundred years earlier, but it does bring an early encounter of the vampire against the werewolf—an idea monster fans know from its many iterations such as Hellsing or, famously, Underworld.

You might think vampires and werewolves would get along.In both the Dark Shadows and Hellsing universes the personalities of both come through clearly.Both monsters have deep origins in folklore and people have believed in them since ancient times.Just because they’re not human, however, is no reason to suppose they’ll get along with each other.As soon as Universal discovered that monsters translated well to film the idea began to develop that monster versus monster would be a great spectacle.We had vampires and werewolves clashing on cheap budgets with fog machines.A new orthodoxy was created that the undead just don’t get along.It’s a idea that continued into the relatively bloodless Dark Shadows series, and on into the violent and gleefully bespattered Hellsing.And since it’s October nobody should be surprised.