Requiem Chevalier Vampire

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Requiem Chevalier Vampire (French for Vampire Knight Requiem) is a Franco-British comic, published by Nickel Editions. It is translated in English and published by Heavy Metal in the USA. It is also translated in German and published in Germany by Kult Editions as Requiem Der Vampirritter.

The story is writen by Pat Mills (best known for his work on Sláine, Charley's War and ABC Warriors) and the pictures are drawn by Olivier Ledroit (early volumes of the Black Moon Chronicles).

The comic is characterised by its extreme violence and each issue is more daring and is darker than the previous one, sadomasochism is well common in this comic and there are several scenes of violent sex. There is a lot of humour in this comic, although it is full of cynicism. About one edition is released a year, a total of 12 issues is expected. Because of the financial weaknesses of Nickel issues had to be released every 8 months at first, with Requiem's successes more time is given to the artists to work.

Contents

[edit] History

To break into the French comic market was Pat Mills' dream[1] - in order to do so he established his own comics editor in France, as Nickel Editions, with his associates Thomas Mundi and Olivier Ledroit. Mundi had previously founded the editor Zenda Editions. Mills and Ledroit had previously worked together on Sha.

Requiem Chevalier Vampire was Nickel's first edited comics and found a comfortable success in France. Because Nickel Editions was founded for Requiem it was financialy very fragile. Nickel did not even have a website for quite some times and employed no one but Mills, Ledroit and Mundi. Ledroit was doing all the blueprints himself with his wife when Mundi was in charge of the commercial distribution of the issues. Roughly 30 000 units of each issues were published, allowing Nickel not only to survive but to enlarge, getting its own offices and internet website. More artists were recruited by Nickel such as Adrian Smith and Franck Tacito. [2]

[edit] Storyline

The story is set in a world called Résurrection that appears to be hell. In Résurrection people are re-incarnated into monsters according to the sins of their life. The lowest ranks are formed by zombies whilst vampires form the elite of the society and the ruling class. The more one was cruel in his life, the better he is rewarded on Résurrection. There is therefore, no concept of justice in "Requiem Chevalier Vampire". Résurrection has a similar shape as our earth does, but everything appears to be the opposite than on earth. Land has replaced the oceans while seas of perpetual fire occupies our known continents. People do not get older but are rejuvenating until they become foetus and ultimately are forgotten, their memory follows the same cycle and is "lost" as people get younger. In order to avoid madness and total loss of their mind in this process Résurrection's residents are addicted to a drug based on black opium. People do not land on Résurrection in the same order than they died, Requiem died before Otto and Claudia but landed on Résurrection after them.

The hero is a German soldier during World War II named Heinrich Augsburg who is killed on the eastern front facing the Soviet Army. He is sent to Résurrection after his death and is attacked by a mob of robbers. During the confrontation he meets a vampire who calls himself Otto von Todt and befriends him. Otto reveals he is a vampire and explains that now Heinrich is became a vampire too. As story progresses, the hero discovers the world of Résurrection, its peoples and politics. He is however only interested in retrieving a woman he loved during his lifetime and he knows by the name of Rebecca.

[edit] Races and factions

  • Vampires: the vampires are the ruling class of Résurrection. They were the most cruel men and women during their lifetime. Examples of vampire Requiem comes to meet are: the Baron Samedi, Nero, Attila the Hun, Maximilien Robespierre, Aleister Crowley (named Black Sabbat) and Caligula. There are even more dangerous vampires, who are forced into an eternal coma by the others because of the danger they represent, such is the case of Adolf Hitler.
  • Ghouls: they were human who could have potentially have done as much harm as the vampires did as human, however ghouls were convinced they are acting for the greater good. They became robbers and pirates on Résurrection and are in regular conflict with the vampires. Many of them are former nuns. They do not live in a particular state but in a flying city called Aerophagia.
  • Lémures are innocent victims who were the human victims vampires killed during their lifetime. The only way they have to flee Résurrection is to "expirate" (kill) the vampire responsible for their presence on Résurrection. They are types of ghosts that haunt vampires and torment what remains of their soul. To fight the vampires they took control of other species present like werewolves and centaurs.
  • Werewolves are the dead members of the inquisition. They look like human priests but they can become oversized werewolves. They are one of the very few species that can prove as strong as vampires do. Despite their huge powers they are mere scavengers and the lemures found a way to control them.
  • The Archaeologists are the only faction on Résurrection to control human technology. They were scientists who designed disastrous weapons during their lifetime. They look like mummies and need to wear a skin to leave their sarcophagus, in order to do so they often flay members of other races alive and wear their skins as clothes.
  • Zombies form the majority of Résurrection's population. They are common people who did little harm around them and form the lowest rank of societies. Vampires feed on them and archaeologist often wear their skins.


[edit] Characters

[edit] Vampires

  • Requiem is the main character of the comics. He was a nazi soldier fighting on the eastern front and was killed by a Soviet soldier. After a two years long training he became a vampire knight on Résurrection, however he cannot forget his destructive relationship with Rebecca, a jewish woman he felt in love with. Requiem becomes involved in a major plot against Dracula.
  • Dracula is the only vampire on Résurrection that was a vampire on earth too. Originaly a Prince of Wallachia known as Vlad the Impaler he survived his death by becoming a vampire. After his destruction on earth he became the leader of the vampires on Résurrection. He does not rejuvenate like the others character and can grant others this gift.
  • Otto was a nazi soldier too whose faith in the reich was flawless, he survived world war II and fled to Southern America. There he was found by nazi hunters and killed by Rebecca's twin sister. As a vampire of hell he is the one who find the newly arrived Requiem and introduces him to the laws of Résurrection. He is found to be responsible of Rebecca's death and only desires to torment her even more in hell.
  • Lady Claudia: She is a major character who is developed in her own line of comics. On earth she was the guardian of a gate to hell and performed human sacrifices. One of the sacrifice failed and the victim could espace the ritual, Claudia was personnally punished by the forces of hell and died of spontaneous combustion after the missed sacrifice. She became a most wicked vampire on Résurrection spending much of her time in sadomasochist sexual rituals.
  • Thurim was a teutonic knight who died during the Battle of the Ice against orthodox Russians. As a teutonic knight Thurim deviated from his original religious fanatism and used faith as a pretext for his personnal interest. He fought with the holy hammer Thurim he stole from the Ark of the Covenant, by striking the ice with his hammer he broke the frozen lake and died drowning in the frozen waters. In hell he became one of the most powerful vampire and dared to oppose Dracula himself. Dracula punished him to eternal suffering but Thurim espaced the sentence by planning his own reincarnation.
  • Black Sabbath: The reincarnation of Aleister Crowley is the chairman of the infernal bank. He sets the interest rates on blood or innocent victims and control the inflation. He is directly commanded by Dracula, he is however a major character of the plot aiming to overthrow Dracula.
  • Aiwass is a most curious character. Presented as a vampire she prefers using the physical appearance of a mandrill. She was a priest in the ancient egyptian world, there she knew Aleister Crowley in one of his previous incarnation. In hell she is the voice of "the queen of the dead souls", the goddess of war and vengeance. She is the head of the plot against Dracula. Aiwass is not her real name and her true identity and physical appearance is unknown.

[edit] Others

  • Sean was living with Claudia on earth. He did not know of Claudia's duty as guardian of the gate to hell. When he discovered Claudia's dual identity he tried to stop her but she killed him. He became a Lémure on Résurrection and wants to avenge himself from Claudia.
  • Rebecca was Requiem's romantic love on earth. After his death Requiem idealised Rebecca, their relationship was however far from simple. Requiem stronly believed in nazi ideals and Rebecca was jewish. Their relationship eventualy became more violent and turned into a love-hate relation. She was killed by Otto who was in turn killed by Rebecca's sister.
  • Tomás de Torquemada is the most powerful werewolf of Résurrection. Notorious leader of the Spanish Inquisition he is first under Lemurian control but is then captured by the vampires and used by them.
  • Archi-Hierophante is the supreme head of the archelogists. He masters advanced weapons and is a fearsome ruler. His identity on earth remains unknown but he was a specialist of human vivisection.
  • Mitra is the obese matriarch of the ghouls. She was a corrupted police officer in her life. As a ghoul her only goal is to remove the vampires from power and establish ghouls as the new ruling class.
  • Mother Terror was a nun leading the "sisters of the eternal silence". She imprisoned to death many members of her order. As a ghoul she leads the pirate fleet. She commands the Queen Anne's Revenge she took after expiring the vampire Blackbeard.
  • Venus replaces Mother Terror at the head of the ghouls' fleet. She was the most notorious feminist of the XXIIIth century, advocation systematic sterilisation of all males for the greater good.

[edit] Publications

The French-language volumes are all published by Nickel Editions:

  1. "Resurrection" (November 2000, ISBN 2914420048)
  2. "Danse Macabre" (September 2001, ISBN 2914420013)
  3. "Dracula" (May 2002, ISBN 2914420021)
  4. "Le Bal des Vampires" (November 2003, ISBN 2914420056)
  5. "Dragon Blitz" (November 2004, ISBN 2914420080)
  6. "Hellfire Club" (November 2005, ISBN 2914420129)
  7. "Le Couvent des soeurs de sang" (February 2007, ISBN 2914420196)
  8. "La Reine des Ames Mortes" (forthcoming)

[edit] English-language translations

The series is being translated into English and published in Heavy Metal [3]

  1. "Resurrection" (Volume 27 number 1, March 2003)
  2. "Gruesome Dance" (Volume 28 number 1, March 2004)
  3. "Dracula" (Volume 28 number 6, January 2005)
  4. "The Vampires Dance" (Volume 30 number 2, May, 2006)
  5. "Dragon Blitz" (Volume 31 number 2, May, 2007)
  6. "Hellfire Club" (May 2008)

[edit] Claudia Chevalier Vampire

Claudia Chevalier Vampire is a different story featuring Lady Claudia. It takes place in the same world as "Requiem Chevalier Vampire" and adds new characters to the story. Pat Mills writes the story while pictures are drawn by Franck Tacito. It is translated in German and published in Germany by Kult Editions as Claudia Der Vampirritter.

[edit] Publications

  1. "La Porte des Enfers" (46 pages, December 2004, ISBN 2914420072)
  2. "Femmes Violentes" (46 pages, December 2006, ISBN 2914420188)
  3. "Opium rouge" (48 pages, November 2007, ISBN 978-2-914420-22-8)

[edit] Awards

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ French Connections: Pat Mills Interview
  2. ^ ActuSF: Olivier Ledroit Interview
  3. ^ Heavy Metal magazine listings

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews