Patrik the Vampire - Bree Paulsen - ★★★★.¼
AUTHOR: Bree Paulsen
GENRE: Graphic Novel
PUBLICATION DATE: N.A.
RATING: 4.25 stars.
In a Nutshell: A loveable webcomic about a (now) friendly vampire and his attempts at fitting in the human world. Gruesome and/or sad at times, but mostly heartwarming. Free for all to read on the author’s site, but it is incomplete and there’s not much hope of its getting an ending anytime soon.
Plot Preview:
The fact that Patrik is a vampire often comes in the way of his making friends. But he hasn't stopped trying. While he does have his demons (mostly figurative, but one actual), he is still an amiable fellow who enjoys helping others. If only they could see beyond his fangs and his compulsive need for blood!
The story comes to us mostly from Patrik's third-person perspective from various timelines, one of which is contemporary.
I am not one for vampire stories, whether horror or comic. But I have wanted to try this webcomic ever since I read this author’s ‘Garlic and the Vampire’ graphic novel series, which also features an amazing vampire.
In many ways, this is a typical vampire story. There are scenes of murder, vampire bites, fear, humans being “turned” into vampires… But the story goes much beyond the typical tropes, and even avoids the sillier ones such as vampires turning into bats or sleeping in coffins. As we see Patrik’s life story in multiple centuries, we see various aspects to his “ordinary life” that wouldn’t be present in a typical Nosferatu tale.
The multiple timelines are a masterstroke. Seeing Patrik in 1929 as well as 2012 means we get to see similarities and differences in his behaviour after the gap of a century. The contemporary timeline was especially fun because it felt so odd to see a vampire visiting a cafe so casually. There are also other timelines, but these are far and few between, and serve only to provide a further background to Patrik’s past life when needed.
Don’t let the tomfoolery let you forget that you are reading a vampire story. The content gets very dark on a few pages. There are also many scenes that could be emotionally upsetting. But all this is to be expected if a vampire story has to feel realistic. (“Vampire story - feel realistic” – Hah!)
Patrik is one heck of a character. He is funny, caring, and helpful, but he also suffers from nightmares and guilt because of his past. You can actually feel his loneliness in the initial pages. I found it very interesting that he was fairly open about being a vampire, and most of those who knew about it were accepting of his identity… well… to whatever extent it was possible to be accepting without being 100% trusting.
The other characters are also amazing. Becky from the 2012 was my favourite. Just a teenage/young adult, she is still the coolest of Patrik’s acquaintances, and probably the only one who accepts his friendship without any hesitation, doubt, or selfish requirement. I simply loved her, though I did want to shake her at times for her naivete. Patrik’s neighbours from the 1929 timeline, Lara and her grandmother, are sketched more realistically, with grandma being the typical loveable granny and Lara being sceptical of Patrik’s every word and action. Other than these key characters, we have Cyril the demon (who is so unlike a demon in appearance that his identity came as a shock to me!) and Fifi the Persian cat (loved her equation – or lack thereof – with Patrik.)
The graphics are adorable and enjoyable, if you are used to the author’s quirky illustrative style. The various timelines are sketches in a subtly different colour tone. The 1929 timeline is somewhat dullish in colour, like an old Eastman colour movie, where the 2012 storyline comes in hues as bright and peppy as Becky. The speech bubbles come with varied background colours that give a cue of who is speaking. There’s also an interesting way of depicting the conversations that are in Romanian. The whole graphic experience is very reader-friendly.
The only hurdle in a greater enjoyment of this book is that it is incomplete. The author had invested more than eight years in the making of this weekly webcomic, and towards the last couple of years, she began losing the joy of adding to Patrik’s story. As of today, this book remains on an “indefinite hiatus”. It must be very tough to give up on a character because of whom her art became well-known, but I do understand how eight years of drawing the same characters can become tedious. To be frank, the extensive duration shows in the plot development, as it can be quite random at times. This isn't strictly a negative as it gives the webcomic a more episodic feel, but it indicates that the comic was started without an endpoint in mind.
Fingers crossed that the author will complete Patrik’s story someday, but either way, I am grateful that she invested so many years into creating this memorable, one-of-a-kind comic.
If you are interested in reading this atypical vampire story and don’t mind an incomplete experience, you can read this webcomic for free on the author’s site using the below link:
Don’t be unnerved by the 473 pages count. It goes by quite quickly.
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