Who's This? A heroic bloodsucker.
The facts: Created as a recurring/continuing feature in House of Mystery by J.M. DeMatteis and Tom Sutton, I... Vampire (named by editor Len Wein), ran from issue 290 (March 1981) to 319 (August 1983). It chronicled the struggle of ethical 16th-Century vampire Andrew Bennett, who hunts other vampires, in particular his former lover Mary, Queen of Blood. It ends with his final destruction, but that didn't stop DeMatteis from resurrecting him in his Dr. Fate series. His continued existence would allow him to play a role in such events as Day of vengeance and Reign in Hell, as well as taking part of Doctor Thirteen's "Team 13" (in "Architecture and Mortality"). One of the few New52 series that seem to have been a critical hit was its I... Vampire by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino. It ran 19 issues, also chronicling a war between Bennett and Mary, at once point forming a crossover with Justice League Dark (which Bennett would join). These versions of the characters were less "Dracula" and more "Twilight" in appearance.
How you could have heard of him: The Justice League Dark connection is possibly how a more casual reader would know the series. In 2019-2020, he was a cast member in the Gotham City Monsters mini-series, which seemed to enshrine the new version as the main version in the post-Rebirth DCU. In the apparently popular DC vs. Vampires, Mary is the leader of the vampires, but Bennett is killed after warning Batman.
Example story: House of Mystery #291 (April 1981) "Night of the Living Undead!" by J.M. DeMatteis and Tom Sutton
Night? Dawn? Make up your mind! Which Romero is this? But seriously, folks... Let's look at a chapter from I... Vampire Classic (as narrated by Bennett himself, or is Cain doing voices?). We're in Manhattan's "silent-as-tombs" side streets, going into an exclusive club called The Gates of Hell. It's strictly for the elites... the vampiric elites! (Same difference.)
Bennett is there, keeping a low profile, hoping to overhear some gossip... and he does! Something about a drug shipment to generate capital for "Project Interior" which makes him run out of the Gates of Hell to join his crew, Deborah Dancer and Dmitri Mishkin... Wait, is THIS what the serial is about? Bennett has helpers and he's stopping drug deals? Let's hope "Project Interior" is about vampires. Perhaps following small-time crook and sycophant to the vamps Emil Veldt will yield results.
I certainly can't fault the prose. The drug shipment never makes it to home base, because Bennett and team hijack it and beat on the homeless men hired to move the merchandise (well, Deborah mostly looks terrified).
Bennett's preternatural strength comes in handy, but I'm starting to feel like this strip is about a superhero who can turn into a bat. Where's the thirst? Bennett is super-triggered by what might be Comics-Coded pedo behavior and finally lashes out.
While the kid's father gets scared straight by a vampire attack, the gross Veldt turns into a bat and escapes. So he was a vampire, after all! After setting the drugs on fire, Bennett flies to Veldt's apartment and gets rid of the drugs there, too. Veldt, a slow-moving vampire lardass gets there later, thirsting for heroin. That's what happens when you feed on addicts. (I see what you did there, Mr. DeMatteis.) And withdrawal makes you stupid, real stupid:
Another vampire burned to cinders, and Bennett can go back to his coffin after a good night's work. Apparently, as mist, a vampire can avoid the effects of sunlight. Must have kept to the shadowy side of the building. Project Interior will keep for another night.
Making this a crime story took me by surprise, but there's no denying Bennett's narration makes it a horror story. I had hoped for something edgier, but that dang Comics Code won't let my youth be corrupted!
Who's Next? A brazen know-it-all.
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