Dhampire: Stillborn

I was looking at my bookcase last night for something to read and I felt in the mood for something that I haven't looked back on for a while and as I scanned the shelves I hit on a Vertigo one shot that was like a mini trade.

Dhampire: Stillborn

That came from 10 years ago in 1997. Written by Nancy A Collins who was better known for her novels "Sunglasses after Dark" and the spin off comic series Sonja Blue came this one off which I picked up when I was getting everything Vertigo.

It's about young Nicholas Gaunt, who all his life has been tormented by visions of blood and evil, driving him to sadistic and suicidal acts. But when he learns that these violent thoughts stem from an unnatural mingling of human and undead blood before his birth, he must confront his true nature as a half-vampire, or dhampire.

As you can see it's not your average superhero book but I I've always liked things that are more than that.

It's a great book for those tho are into the whole Vampire Mythos and the way it was written leaves you wanting more at the end and it also has the feeling that it could have continued.

Nicholas had spent most of his life with something bugging him and wanting to find out more about death. At 3 he was found by his mother dissecting a pet rabbit to see what was inside it. So from the word go you know there was something wrong with him.

He Goes through numerous suicide attempts and eventually gets put into a mental hospital to see if they could find out what all this was stemming from.

The book is a great read and I didn't remember much of it so I was wrapped in the way Nancy did the story.

Also the are looked as each page was painted and was done by Paul Lee Who first appeared in Dark Horse Presents #101 in September 1995 but would be better known by myself for December 1997s Hellblazer/The Books of Magic (1997) #1 - 'Book One: Ascent', January 1998s Hellblazer/The Books of Magic (1997) #2 - 'Book Two: Descent' and March 1998's The Dreaming (1996) and also he has most recently been seen doing the pencils for Conan - #36 "Silent to the Sea".

It has a rough look to it as if you could brush your fingers across the page and feel the paint and it suited the story perfectly.

If you can find this I'd grab it... Even tho it only took me one evening to read it will lurk on your mind and make you wish she had written more to go with it since the ending could have seen more spawn from it.

Hope you like my little review!