My Rating
“Blood Of Innocence”
One hundred sixty miles east of Phoenix, Arizona, a family of four has just pulled into the dark parking lot of a lonely Route 93 gas station. The sounds of two young children complaining can be heard from the backseat of the suburbanites’ station wagon. They’re hungry. They have to pee. They’re tired of being trapped in the car.
A nearby group of men dressed in biker leathers begins to cackle as they overhear the kids carrying on. Hunger? What did those little brats know about true hunger?
As the father shuts off the headlights and reaches for the driver-side door, six grotesque white faces suddenly peer through the vehicle’s windows. The mother lets out a blood-curdling scream as the men contort their mouths into unnaturally wide grins.
Fangs!
Those animalistic teeth drip with the kind of thick saliva normally seen hanging from the jaws of a rabid dog. An uncontrollable wail rises from the children as the monsters begin assaulting the station wagon with fists and hooked claws where human fingernails once grew.
In a panic, the father slams down on the column shifter and throws the vehicle into drive. Adrenaline surges through his body as he floors the accelerator, sending two of the creatures flying over the hood. A split second later, the bikers’ limp bodies slam into the sandy ground like discarded rag dolls beneath the moonlit Arizona sky.
The remaining creatures peel away from the sides as the station wagon rockets out of the parking lot in full flight of terror. The father grips the steering wheel and pushes the old family wagon for everything it has.
They made it.
Or so he thinks.
A few moments later, he glances into the rear-view mirror and sees three of those things chasing after them on foot.
And they’re keeping up.
The Next Day
Thursday afternoon, Bly Pharis and her girlfriends have just left the grounds of McClintock High when a strange man approaches them from the sidewalk near Main Street. He’s dressed in what looks like some over-the-top Dracula costume, which would normally set off a few alarm bells. Then again, it’s Halloween. Half the people wandering around town are dressed like monsters, serial killers, or something equally ridiculous.
Bly thinks nothing more of it until the stranger approaches the girls and asks if she would like to pose for a picture with Dracula as part of a “charity event” taking place at the nearby Halloween Festival.
The man and his weird-looking assistant immediately put all three girls into defensive mode.
Creeper much?
Bly reluctantly agrees to pose for the photograph, while her loyal friends quickly excuse themselves from her side.
Typical.
After the small Asian cameraman snaps off a few shots, Bly walks away to catch up with the others. Something about the encounter still bothers her. She turns briefly to look over one shoulder.
The Dracula wannabe and his assistant are gone.
Not walking away. Not disappearing into a nearby store. Gone.
Why are so many weirdos suddenly interested in an adopted teenage girl living in the boring suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona? Who just offed the homicidal vampire biker gang at a rest stop along the cold desert highway? Are the recent murders of two archaeologists somehow connected to the mysterious New York cult known as the Clave?
And what the hell does any of this have to do with Bly Pharis?
Collect the series to find out!
Vampire Lore
- Vampires possess the ability to manipulate the elements, including rain, thunder, wind, and snow.
- In this issue, one vampire creates a small tornado of dust and sand in the Arizona desert.
- Vampires can apparently survive being engulfed in flames, although the resulting injuries require some serious recovery time.
- Supernatural speed is also part of the package. These bloodsuckers can chase down a speeding automobile on foot, which makes running away a pretty lousy survival strategy.
Reviewer Notes
Until about two months ago, I had no idea this DC character even existed. Then I spotted a couple issues of Scarlett at a local comic book convention, and the covers immediately caught my attention. Something about them reminded me of another obscure DC horror series I have always enjoyed: Scare Tactics.
Released a few years after Scarlett, Scare Tactics arrived on the punk-rock scene with its own unusual take on the classic Universal-style monsters. The band consisted entirely of creatures on the run from R-Complex, a shadowy arm of the American government that wasn’t exactly interested in peaceful coexistence. Writer Len Kaminski used the series to flesh out vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures living within the larger DC Universe.
That connection is one of the reasons Scarlett immediately interested me. I have no idea whether Tom Joyner and Keith Wilson’s work here has any direct relationship to what eventually appeared in Scare Tactics, but I would love to discover some connective tissue between the two series. Forgotten corners of a comic-book universe are often more interesting than the main highway anyway.
Review
While doing some research on Scarlett, I came across several articles and reviews claiming the series preceded Buffy the Vampire Slayer by four years. Technically, that comparison only works if we’re talking about the television series. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had already arrived in theaters in 1992 with Kristy Swanson in the title role, a year before Scarlett hit comic-book shelves.
There are certainly similarities between the two concepts. Both revolve around a teenage girl becoming entangled in a hidden world of vampires, supernatural forces, and ancient mysteries while trying to maintain some semblance of a normal life. Whether Scarlett actually borrowed anything from Buffy is another matter entirely. Without something from the creators confirming an influence, I’m not ready to make that leap.
Other Thoughts
Besides, Scarlett has plenty of weirdness all its own.
This forty-eight-page introduction throws a hell of a lot at the reader. We have vampire bikers prowling the Arizona desert, mysterious strangers following Bly, murdered archaeologists, an organization called the Clave, questions surrounding Bly’s adoption, and several storylines unfolding simultaneously. Normally, cramming this much material into a first issue would worry me, but here it works. There is enough information to get me interested without explaining away every mystery before the series even gets started.
The Arizona setting also gives Scarlett a different flavor from the usual gothic vampire story. There are no crumbling Transylvanian castles or fog-covered Victorian cemeteries here. These vampires hunt beneath neon lights, along desert highways, and through suburban America. It feels like someone dumped a traditional vampire story into an early-’90s teen movie and then sprinkled a little The Lost Boys over the top.
The artwork is unmistakably of its time, and I mean that as a compliment. The clothes, hairstyles, facial expressions, and overall presentation scream early 1990s DC Comics. Pair that with writing that feels more Pretty in Pink than Interview with the Vampire, and you have exactly the kind of forgotten horror comic I love digging out of the back-issue bins.
I went into Scarlett knowing almost nothing about the character. Forty-eight pages later, I want to know who Bly Pharis really is, what the Clave wants with her, and just how deep this vampire conspiracy goes.
That’s exactly what a first issue is supposed to do.
I’m giving Scarlett #1 five out of five stars.
If you’re interested in obscure DC horror, early-’90s supernatural comics, or just want something different from the company’s usual capes and cowls, definitely check this one out.
Now I need to find the rest of the damn series.