Vampires are rising from their pop culture graves, and DC’s I...Vampire will be making a significant impact very soon.

RESURRECTING THE VAMPIRES

Back in the 1990s and into the 2000s, vampires were all the rage. Arguably, it started with Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series of novels. Those became a pop culture sensation once Tom Cruise turned the first book, Interview with the Vampire, into a less-than-stellar movie in 1994. Then, Marvel made its first real theatrical splash in 1998 with the first of three Blade movies.

Try as we might to forget, the 2000s brought Stephanie Myer’s Twilight Saga, and suddenly vampires were friendly and sparkly without fangs followed by HBO’s hit series, True Blood. Where was Blade when we really needed him?

As audiences grew tired of bloodsuckers, Robert Kirkman gave the world something fresh and different: zombies. Once The Walking Dead aired on AMC, vampires were out and zombies were in. From that craze spawned many creators looking to cash in with their own living dead ranging from teen romances with a zombie twist all the way to Marvel Zombies.

Everything runs in cycles, and it appears that the zombies’ time in the spotlight is expiring. By the looks of things, vampires will take their place (until werewolves or mummies get hot, I don’t know.)

I...VAMPIRE

Audiences will always love monsters, and there remains a soft spot for those enchanting vampires. After a decade on the shelf, the bloodsuckers are poised to regain their former status. Over at AMC, there is a Vampire Chronicles adaptation in the works, beginning with an Interview with the Vampire series. At the “House of Ideas,” Marvel famously announced its Blade reboot is in development, and the MCU’s vampires were teased in Disney+’s Loki. For that matter, there are numerous rumors that Marvel’s Dracula from the 1970s will make his MCU debut in either Blade or the Moon Knight Disney+ series. 

Not to be outdone, DC Comics has its resident vampire at the ready as well. Andrew Bennett, the title character in the cult classic series, I...Vampire. The word on the internet is that Bennett will be the central figure in a massive vampire crossover, DC Versus Vampires, from the comic world’s resident horror master, James Tynion IV. Once that epic begins, it will thrust Bennett into the limelight and have a direct impact on his key issues.

That could be just the beginning for Bennett. Over the years, he has been written into the Justice League Dark at times. With the JL Dark live-action series on the HBO Max slate, not to mention the Madame Xanadu show, there could be a place for Andrew Bennett in the DCEU. Since Marvel is gearing up for Blade, DC and WarnerMedia may want to beat them to the punch and introduce their own vampire mythology before the Daywalker reaches the MCU.

With that in mind, let’s analyze the market for Bennett’s first appearance, which will quickly become a very hot comic if DC capitalizes on the coming vampire craze.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY #290

Created in 1980, Bennett would make his debut in the pages of House of Mystery #290 as more or less a Dracula clone. In the decades that followed, Bennett would form his own identity separate from Dracula.

By and large, this is the main Andrew Bennett key that collectors and investors will be targeting. In fact, it is pretty much the only key. This has been a record-setting year for I...Vampire. In May, a 9.8 HOM #290 reached an all-time high of $600. While there have not been any graded sales in August, July saw a 9.6 earn $380 and a 9.6 land $225, both for new records. 

A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR I...VAMPIRE

The time is right for DC to incorporate Andrew Bennett and the I...Vampire mythos into the DCEU. As the films and streaming series move more toward the supernatural and mystic side of superherodom, it clears a direct path to Bennett and all the other vampires in the DC continuity. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even get a live-action vampire Batman.