I saw the cover art and read the summary and I thought a group of vampires in a horror comic sounded great. I was underwhelmed, which really made me sad. I wanted to be drawn in and really get hooked on this comic, but I felt the story was just, Okay. The artwork is great with the action and gore really well done. The colors are eye catching and the blood is bright, as it should be in a vampire story.

The beginning was really gripping with the robbery and the FBI agent trying to prove that The Vain exist. Somewhere around the middle, I grew bored. The plot felt stalled and slow and I lost interest. I'm almost ashamed to say, I didn't even finish the novel. However, I'm still rating it well enough because I know some vampire fans who would be excited to pick up the graphic novel.

This book is an eARC I'm reviewing for Netgalley :-( and sadly it didn't work for me.
I picked it up for several reasons - vampires, graphic novel, catchy cover art...

This plot starts out super engrossing like it'll draw you in. A group of rogue vampires are killing people and sucking them dry in the early 1900's. The detectives cannot fathom why blood banks are being robbed or why bodies are piling up in such mutilated states. Alas! The plot quickly derailed into undercover spies in the WWII to the Cuban streets where revolution was brewing, further to modern day Las Vegas and the drug dens... I just couldn't keep a track of what the story was trying to say. There was too much going on with the messaging - women's empowerment, lesbian vampires, mental health awareness, drug addiction...

Also, while I don't read a lot of graphic novels, I cannot critique the art which looked decent to me. It was the dialogue/text that seemed to move in parallel - one voice of the police detective, the others of the characters in the vignettes. This parallel narration threw me off quite a bit and made for a very jumpy reading experience. I had to constantly keep in mind who was now narrating.

All in all, I was disappointed with this one due to mismatch of expectations. Would say one can skip this.

Based on the reviews I've seen most persons who have reviewed this graphic novel doesn't like it that much. I on the other hand loved it. The style of the panels and the artwork was stunning. I enjoyed the story. I must admit the ending wasn't that much exciting but I still enjoyed it. I loved that the author added diverse characters that didn't feel like it was forced in there. The lqbt element, waiting to see the 2 vampires kiss at the end was great.

To sound like one of those reviews on the cover of a book: this is an absolute banger of a book!

I am Team Vain through and through.

*Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for providing a digital arc copy of this book*

"The Vain" has a very interesting premise, an engaging beginning, but in the end, it failed to properly "take off" for me. The characters felt flat, with no dept or even very distinct personalities. The scenes felt too brief and choppy, with little chance for the reader to experience them. I liked the art style and the colours, the change in the environments and clothing as the decades go by, however, most of the characters weren't all that distinct among each other in this aspect either. There is some diversity present, both in skin colour and sexuality, which is something positive (however, I cannot attest to how well this diversity is presented, as I don't personally identify with any of these representations). Sadly, "The Vain" didn't live up to my expectations and the potential I think the concept has. The pages weren't enough to explore all the themes contained in the story and I would have really liked to have some more background on the vampire quartet. It felt like just snippets of something bigger!

Overall, I did expect and wanted more from "The Vain", nevertheless, I do still recommend for anyone who enjoys vampires, "law chasing crime" sort of action and is looking for a fast pace read!

I cannot express how much I loved the idea of blood bank robbing vampires and I did not thing it could get any better. It did. The vampires wanted to kill Nazis and that was just pure perfection. The artwork really made the story better. The title was clever. It was unique and I want to read more.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Not a bad, but a little simplistic and predictable. And definitely influenced by Scott Snyder's American Vampire. Entertaining and a quick read.

Interesting art style and an intense storyline, I really enjoyed reading this and have friends I know will love this noir-esque vampy graphic novel! Highly recommend!

So the premise for this was designed for me, truly. Unfortunately, story within fell flat for me due to seemingly long spread of time covered with in the short amount of page-length. Additionally, the art-style was not for me enough to effect my enjoyment.

My favorite part of this graphic novel was the art - I think it was so well done. It was just bloody enough without being excessive. I also liked the diversity of the core 4 members of The Vain. I really love having more PoC as supernatural creatures in a way that's not othering or harnessing the White lead's story.

Everything else, unfortunately, fell short - too much was packed into such a short book that it felt so rushed and overwhelming. The plot moved at a weird rate and the time changes were too abrupt.

Unfortunately, I was unimpressed on all counts - the story and the art. The cover is intriguing, but the panel art is rather inconsistent, and all characters look pretty much the same feature-wise. The book itself is short and moves quickly - too quickly, without any time to develop characters or relationships, or delve into plot points and motivations.

(There may be light spoilers in this review, so proceed at your own risk.)

The story is simple, maybe too simple - a quartet of vampires moving through America, from the 1940s to the 2020s, and an FBI agent obsessed with finding them. The agent plotline is pretty formulaic, although I did like the slight twist of The Vain having worked with the very office that concealed their existence from Franklin and the lies that led to his downward spiral.

The vampires themselves we don't know anything about. Who are they, what are their histories, when were they born and how were they made? Are there other vampires out there? How did they come to be the foursome we meet in the 1940s? No backstory is given, which makes it difficult to care about them. Their actions are inconsistent - at first, they only steal blood from blood banks, but later go on to drink directly from people, and they don't seem to have an aversion to killing (mostly bad guys). Are they ethical vampires or aren't they?

A major plot point is the Vain's struggle to acclimate and adapt as the world changes around them. I thought it was an interesting take that was handled somewhat illogically - the mistakes they made seemed to be for the sake of the plot. For example, if you're a centuries-old vampire, wouldn't you learn to cover your tracks so humans don't catch on? These folks just left drained bodies in their wake, like... of course you're going to get caught. They just weren't very smart, and it seemed like their intelligence was sacrificed in favor of moving the story where the author wanted it to go.

The art itself wasn't very compelling either. Some panels looked good, and in some, faces were awkward and there were many instances where it seemed like the illustrator didn't have a great grasp of human anatomy. Still much better than I could draw, but I'm not drawing graphic novels for a living. The art overall felt rushed and unfinished - facial features were drawn with more care to detail while bodies and backgrounds were in broad strokes that seemed more like sketches. Perhaps that's just the artist's style, but I didn't care for it.

The cast <i>is</i> diverse, but in a way that felt tokenistic. (Is that even a word? I'm going with it.) Despite the variety of racial representation, it's meaningless when their backgrounds, histories, and cultures don't play into the story at all. Any of the characters could have been any race, interchangeable, and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story. I appreciate the inclusion of diversity, as it <i>is</i> important, but it could have been handled better.

Overall, I would only recommend this graphic novel to folks who are really into vampire lore and enjoy pulp, and are looking for a quick, although not particularly gratifying, read.

'The Vain' by Eliot Rahal with art by Emily Pearson is a vampire graphic novel that takes place over the last 80 years.

When a blood bank is robbed and only the blood is stolen, the story appeals to a young FBI agent named Felix Franklin. The four vampires find themselves fighting for the allies, then struggling to hide in an increasingly technological world. The book follows their violent story and the life of a man chasing a crazy theory.

There are some good ideas here, but they don't gel for me. There is a lot going on and I found it hard to care for these characters. The art lacks fluidity and the figures seem awkwardly stiff.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Beautiful. Phenomenal. Amazing. This solidifies that I will read anything by Eliot Rahal. A unique take on vampires surviving through history. This was a gripping journey of a vampire foursome trying to get by and enjoy life where they can. The artwork was outstanding and gruesome in all the best ways. I can’t wait to see that this author writes next!

Book Review for The Vain
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

I personally didn't enjoy this at all. I didn't understand somethings that happened due to the art style, the characters were all pretty similar. Also, I couldn't understand whether The Vain were on the "good" side or with the Nazi's. I didn't like the art style, and the characters were bland and I didn't connect with nor like any of them. I didn't even understand the plot nor the purpose of the story. Overall, not the comic for me.

REALLY LOVE IT! IT'S REALLY, REALLY DARK BUT SUPER ROMANTIC! Can't wait to read Eliot Rahal's next work!!!

The Vain by Eliot Rahal is a quirky supernatural thriller that borders pulp fiction novellas of days gone by. From gangster era crime to world war II spies, our main characters travel the globe but keep their darkest secrets to themselves.

In Chicago, circa 1941, a blood bank is robbed. But there is no money taken, only a supply of blood. A young FBI agent begins to piece together a series of like minded robberies happening across the nation. He becomes convinced, with war coming, that enemies of the United States are trying to weaken the country by destroying its blood supply. But the truth is something much stranger.

The four robbers are crossing the country without a care. They have no desire to destroy the country and the blood for them serves a much greater purpose. These four are vampires and the FBI agent is becoming a nuisance. So they come up with an ingenious plan. To work as spies in service of the US Government and join the War effort. With free license to kill and drink the blood of all the Nazis they want. They call themselves the Vain.

The artwork is good but the story itself just doesn't grab ahold. Surprising because the premise alone seems interesting. But for me the Vain just falls flat.

Alright, I got to admit, I’m not really a fan of horror. And I think, people who like horror would like this graphic novel more than I did. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I found the story confusing sometimes due to change of scenery and time. Apart from that, it was intriguing but not enough to make me read this in one go. This may be due to the lack of character development I think. That’s why I liked the beginning but the more I read, the less interested I was.
The drawings were really nice to look at, especially thanks to the colours, but it also worked in making me confused. I sometimes wonder who was who when it came to secondary characters.
I still recommend this graphic novel but to adults who like horror.
3/5

I was gifted an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley from the publisher Oni Press in exchange for an honest review.

The Vain is an effortlessly stylish tale of four charismatic vampires hunted throughout history by the one human they (foolishly) left alive. Gorgeously illustrated by Emily Pearson and Fred C. Stresing this graphic novel is vibrant, fun and a whirlwind ride delving into the difficulties of adapting to a modern world. I found it so refreshing and interesting that we got to see our vampires go from being able to do whatever they wanted undocumented in the 1920s, 30s and even 40s to realising that the rising human technologies actually posed a very real threat to their very existence. It was a theme that was smart to explore, although I felt that due to the nature of the structure, it could have been pushed further. The structure of the book is solid, skipping time periods works in a lot of stories like this but I didn't feel it did any favours where character development was concerned.

The was a really good core of characters to be explored here but I felt that they all ended up coming across very flat, due to the limited space they had to grow. Especially characters like Fanny and Marquis suffered in the shadow of their counterparts Lost and North who at least had some semblance of growth and change throughout the story. This also didn't let us delve into the interpersonal relationships between the vampires, which was the main appeal to me. Whilst I appreciate the story is supposed to be more focused on Felix and his journey that leads him to hunting our four vampires across the decades, I felt such focus on him was a disservice for the other characters and ultimately, harmed his development too. As a reader, I felt impatient to get back to the vampires whenever we were with Felix for too long. Saying that however, this story would not have held together without him and the strong focus on his revenge plot.

I still thoroughly enjoyed reading The Vain and think it's a smart, incredibly aesthetically pleasing, fresh take on the vampire sub-genre. I see it is listed a 'volume 1' which does make me wonder if this work was just setting up the universe to divulge further in future volumes, and I very much hope so. It would be a good idea, I believe, to go back to some of those sections of volume 1 and expand upon them. I would love to see more bank heists the four carried out, their origin stories, their times separated and having their own adventures. There is a lot of material here, that I hope the creators pick up on. I will certainly be keeping my eye out.

Despite the issues I had with it, I'm going with 4 stars for this one mostly due to the concept alone, and of course the absolutely stunning illustration. I hope if it is the first in a continuing universe of works, that the issues here are ironed out but regardless, a very enjoyable read I would recommend for fans of alternative graphic novels who love vampires and a good revenge story.

Generic Vampire stories are a dime a dozen these days. If you don’t just have a weird version of Bram Stroker’s Dracula, but this time he’s in SPACE or something, you have the other side of the coin that alters them beyond recognition, perhaps into teenage sparkly pretty boys – and it all sucks for the most part. For me to get into a modern Vampire story, it has to be something different (but keeping with the lore), and this volume by Eliot Rahal fits the bill. Spanning more than 40 years, The Vain tells the story of a group of Vampiric survivors – changing with the times to stay alive at any means necessary. If that includes enlisting in the military to kill Nazis, or starting a vampire drug cult in the 70s, if that's what it takes that’s what they do.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this at first. At times, some of the art in the book was somewhat simplistic, but as the story goes on, it improves drastically. The dialogue is also kind of janky in spots, but overall the script is pretty good, and you honestly can’t beat the setting. Vampires living through the Cold-War is something I’m pretty certain I’ve never seen before. As it went on, I was interested to see how The Vain (their WWII Codename) dealt with the zeitgeist of whatever decade they had made it to. The book didn’t overstay its welcome, and had a logical ending that made sense.

I haven’t read much by Oni Press, although I have seen them at Comicon in the past. Once Covid-19 dies down I will have to do a deeper dive on their library if conventions ever come back, I’d love to see if the quality of this book continues on.