VAMPIRO ROCKABILLY APOCALYPSE #1 / Script by MICHAEL KINGSTON / Art by EL TERRORIFICO DR. NAPALM / Letters by JACOB BASCLE / Cover by RAFAEL GALLUR/ Published by MASSIVE PUBLISHING

For five years, music vlogger Everitt Holden has been hunting a legend across Texas. A guitar player called Vampiro, who has never recorded an album, never advertised a performance, and never been interviewed or photographed. Yet Vampiro is still spoken of by those who know as the greatest guitar player of all time.

Blowing most of his meager savings gets Everitt admission into an exclusive event where Vampiro is playing. It also gains him admission into a world he never dreamed of. A world of demonic influencers, gun-totting nuns, and angelic muscle cars. This is the world of Vampiro, who, with the aid of his luchadora sidekick Estrella Nocturna, fights to save mankind from the forces of evil when he isn’t rocking.

Vampiro Rockabilly Apocalypse is an odd comic. There are a number of obvious influences on its story, ranging from the folklore of the American Southwest to the culture of Mexican wrestling. The final product, as scripted by Michael Kingston and illustrated by El Terrorifico Dr. Napalm, comes off like the storyboards for an unproduced Robert Rodriguez movie.

Your mileage may vary as to how awesome this is, but for a Texan boy like me whose favorite indie comic is Halloween Man, it’s a little slice of heaven. My only complaint is that some of the panel proportions seem a bit off, but I believe this is a stylistic choice that allows the art to emulate a 3-D movie. There are many bits where the action seems ready to jump off the page.

If you only read one comic about a demon-slaying, hard-rocking vampire this year, it should be Vampiro Rockabilly Apocalypse. In fairness, I’m unaware of there being any other comics about a demon-slaying, hard-rocking vampire. But if there were another one, I doubt it would be this good.

Vampiro Rockabilly Apocalypse #1 releases on October 16, 2024.