I thought this was an adaptation of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla, but it is actually a sequel of sorts in which LeFanu's story actually appears in book form while Carmilla appears in person.

Athena Lo is a social worker in 1996 in New York City, and she starts digging into the disappearances and deaths of young women who have come through her office seeking help. She's convinced Club Carmilla and its mysterious owner must be somehow involved, and while investigating she becomes entangled with the club's coat-check girl, Violet, much to the annoyance of Athena's girlfriend. Athena's grandfather, a Chinese American man who teaches tai chi in the park, pops in and out to offer help and advice.

The art is fine, but the writing suffers from an obvious plot and some herky-jerky and forced turns. I am intrigued enough by the characters though that I plan to check out the next volume due in July 2024. ( )

DNF 60%

I adore the original novel and the idea of even more explicit lesbians and vampires sounded great on paper, but I just found this interminably boring with absolutely nothing happening. This can work with prose that can contain a voice and style that can make describing paint dry beautiful, but that much harder to do in a comic, especially with artwork that is occasionally gorgeous, but for the most part seems extremely workpersonlike.

I truly wanted to love this and I usually can brute force my way through graphic novels I'm not having good time with, but I just can't. ( )

A modern retelling of the Gothic novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, a vampire story that predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 26 years, Amy Chu and Soo Lee's Carmilla: The First Vampire brings the story into 20th century NYC, and layers in aspects of Chinese myth and folklore. I have not read Carmilla, so I cannot comment on the faithfulness of this story to the original, but I did enjoy this for what it is: a queer murder mystery that is folded into a dark horror tale that is folded into a Sapphic love story.

Social worker Athena takes it on herself to investigate a series of murders of LGBTQ+ women, all occurring around the Chinatown nightclub Carmilla's. When she befriends the next likely victim of the killer, she finds herself not only falling for the mysterious Violet, but also finds that she's more tied to the mysterious Carmilla than she could ever believe.

Ending on something of a cliffhanger, I'll definitely be picking up the next installment. Amy Chu's writing is solid, and Soo Lee's art is perfectly dark and atmospheric. I found I enjoyed this a little more than I thought I would, to be honest, and it's piqued my interest in reading the original Carmilla to see how they compare. Recommended!

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