The Vampire of the Lost Highway - COMIC REVIEW

Would you believe that I’ve only just recently read my first comic book? Aside from reading the comic strips in the Funnies section of the Sunday newspaper, I’d never read comics. It’s not like I’ve never been around them. We even have a small comic store in my town and I have a few loved ones who grew up reading comic books. I didn’t have anything against comic books; it was just a media type I didn’t think I’d really get into.
 
Author Don Everett Smith Jr. recently asked me to read some horror comics he wrote, and I’m so glad he did. I love supporting authors by reading and reviewing their works. My first thought was that I was “unqualified” to review comic books because I’d never read one before. But that would have been a lousy excuse, to say “no” to trying something new and writing up my honest thoughts about it.
 
Enough about me - let’s talk about the first-ever comic book issue I read, The Vampire of the Lost Highway, “RESURRECTION #1.”
 
The story begins with a note from the Narrator who has been looking for the legendary Vampire of the Lost Highway. He/she came across a story about a stellar female pilot named Esther Dare, who may have encountered this vampire when her bi-plane was about to crash. She did not include this tale in her autobiography at the recommendation of her editor. So this issue details that lost story.
 
Esther is flying one night when her plane started having major technical failures. As she learns the gravity of the failures, she looks to a photo of her sister, Myrtle. Myrtle has Down’s syndrome and also cancer, and Esther has always taken care of her sister. Esther wants so much to survive this crash and return to her, but circumstances are very bleak. As she furiously tries to control the plane she implores to the gods or anyone who will listen to save her. Suddenly, a winged man comes down through the clouds and lands on one of the plane’s wings. The easy solution would be for her to abandon her aircraft and fly down to safety with him - but the plane was left to her by her father and is her livelihood.
 
Can Esther AND the plane be saved by this mysterious man?
 
This was such an incredible story and had all the elements of a good hero story - a character who needs help, a hero who tries to make things right, and a glimpse into the sorrowful pasts of both characters that make them who they are today. Very moving.
 
The only thing I didn’t like about the comic was that the graphics were so busy, it was hard for me to read the story and really take in what was going on. The artwork contains some major talent but while trying to my mind into the story, I had a hard time drawing out what was really happening. If the amount of detail had been scaled back for more of the frames, it might have been a smoother read for me.
 
I would say a little bit of the same for the letters. I had somewhat of a hard time reading the words for the vampire. It was in a really cool old-fashioned script but combined with the busy graphics it was hard to read.
 
The second story in this book is The Candle Man, “Part of Me.” This story introduces the Candle Man, a character seen throughout a few more stories. The Candle Man was thought to be just folklore, a story about a trapper in the 1700s who was caught up in a blizzard. The legend is that to keep himself alive, he takes pieces from the living to replace that which is dying inside himself. So when he needs a heart, he takes the heart and puts it inside him. All the while carrying a candle to light his way.
 
The human characters in this story have stolen some money that they felt was “rightfully” theirs, and the Candle Man has decided that perhaps some of their body pieces are “rightfully” his.
 
The story sets a great precedent for the Candle Man. It sets up the character nicely to be featured in all sorts of story lines. It’s cool that while he sounds like a gross, scary thing that people are afraid of, perhaps he is a sort of vigilante who targets bad guys to take from. There’s also that cool element of a legendary character whose existence would normally not be possible, but at the same time might be plausible enough that some people are freaked out by him. It’s like the Candle Man could be the type of scary legend parents use to get their kids to behave. If I had kids, I’d tell them to not be crooks or assholes or else the Candle Man will harvest them for parts.
 
Compared the the first story in the book, I’d say the graphics are a bit more favorable to me. They’re less busy so it was easier for me to follow the storyline and really get into it. They were still a bit busy for my taste, but it didn’t detract too much from the story.
 
I’m very glad to have read this book. Don has a great knack for storytelling and he’s paired his story with talented artists and letterers to create a good first experience for a comic newbie like me. It encouraged me to learn more about comic books as a genre and I have a great appreciation for the teamwork and dedicated needed to create a visually captivating form of storytelling.
 
Overall 4 out of 5 stars.
​Kimberly Wolkens 

 Full credits:
Story & Script - Don Everett Smith Jr.
Pencils & Ink & Cover - Kurt Belcher
Letters - Silas Dixon (“Vampire”) and Tomas Marijanovic (“Candle Man”)
Cover Colors - Steve Lisefske
Art Consultation - Rusty Gillligan
 
Owned by Pinion Comics and Don Everett Smith Jr.
www.pinioncomics.com
https://ww.facebook.com/PinionComics/
 
This comic can be purchased here