Writer: Frank Gogol
Artist: Criss Madd
Colorist: Shawna Madd
Letterer: Sean Rinehart
Publisher: Source Point Press

Two things stuck out to me when I first heard about No Heroine #1: punk and vampires. Just this past weekend, I had listened to a folklore podcast about American vampires and watched a documentary about punk music, so clearly someone was reading my mind. No Heroine #1 is about a recovering heroin addict who is searching for her friend. When Kayla learns he may have fallen in with drug-dealing vampires, she arms herself for war.

Frank Gogol has written this like “what if Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a normal kid into punk?” There’s no mystical chosen one. Just good old-fashioned vampire slaying, complete with wooden stakes and holy water — but with a punk twist. No Heroine #1 could have been just a one-shot, but instead, Gogol leaves the reader wondering what’s going to happen next to Kayla, when she will be able to go home, and what this world of vampires means for the rest of us.

I really like how Criss Madd drew these vampires. They aren’t sparkly, and they’re not attractive. They are full-on fanged creatures of the night. Similar to vampires in Buffy, they’re able to transform their facial features into normal human faces. Shawna Madd does a great job on the colors. Her sunsets are beautiful, and I really like her use of greyscale for flashbacks.

No Heroine #1 is a classic monster slaying comic with a punk flair. Also, it’s a wonder that drug dealing vampires haven’t made more appearances in pop culture since their acolytes do display addictive tendencies. And, of course, no vampire book would be complete without some light fun being made at the expense of the Twilight series.