Just in case anyone isn't familiar with it: this comic is read in the Japanese manga format, from right to left.
This is a gothic novel AU that somehow started when I kept thinking about white-haired Sam Bridges and his motorized coffin.
In this AU, Sam is a hybrid of a vampire and a succubus. Cliff is the vampire parent, Lisa is the succubus parent, and both of them are currently... absent (mostly because I haven't figured them out yet).
Being a hybrid is highly unstable. In theory, Sam has two different ways of feeding, and traditional vampire weaknesses (sunlight, running water, blood hunger, etc.) are much less severe. Unfortunately, the succubus side comes with a rather inconvenient trait: his sex can switch completely at random, entirely outside of his control. The vampire side isn't much kinder either—when he's hungry, he becomes so weak that even an ordinary human could probably beat him in a fight.
Deadman fills the role of Frankenstein's creature. The alchemist who created him disappeared long ago, and he grew up (if that even counts as growing up) almost entirely through self-education, with nobody around to guide him. He occasionally mingles with ordinary people, but spends most of his time conducting research.
He looks heavy and slow, but is actually incredibly strong and much faster than he appears.
This comic takes place shortly after Sam crawls out of his crypt, starving, exhausted, and looking for someone—anyone—to feed from, only to be very unfortunately captured instead.
Honestly, this isn't that different from his life at Bridges.
Becoming a vampire apparently wasn't enough to save him from being studied.
The entire reason this AU exists is because I wanted an excuse for gender-related transformation shenanigans and other questionable ideas. In other words, I built an entire world just to justify one very specific trope.
I also wanted to see whether my understanding of comics has changed at all, and whether I could get a little closer to the kind of manga I imagine in my head. The answer seems to be "a little, but not by much," so I'll stop here for now and try again another time.
Also, I've been missing the Red Samurai lately, so next time I might find a way to throw him into this AU too.
