In Canada, in the near future, there is a blood-transmitted virus that causes people to become vampires. Vampires still have rights, but society views them as second-class citizens. Currently, the debate rages over whether drugs that suppress vampires’ craving for blood is beneficial or harmful to the vampires that take it. This is the setting for Vampirates by Jones in Space, a webcomic about, as the title suggests, a modern pirate crew made up entirely of vampires. This comic achieves a good balance of whimsical humor and an engaging plot. The plot isn’t as dark as you would expect from a comic about vampires, but there are still some more serious themes along with a good measure of suspense, mystery, and good old-fashioned conspiracy theories. The characters are interesting, varied and easy for the audience to empathize with. As a bonus feature, they’re also good eye candy for all the ladies out there.
The art and overall comic shows a vast improvement over the course of the comic. The art at the beginning was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. At this point in the comic, one could easily see Jones getting a job as a professional artist. The quality of the title pages stays fairly consistent throughout the series. It’s clear that Jones puts a lot of effort into the title pages with simple but elegant art of the series’ characters.
One bothersome thing about the webpage is that one can’t access all of the features from the “latest page” page. The only way to get back to the main page is to delete part of the URL or hit your browser’s “back” button. Other than that, the features on the main page are good, though not spectacular. One cool feature that the webpage has that most other webcomics don’t is a tutorial for making your own webcomic using various image editing programs. Jones herself is fairly easy to get in contact with through e-mail, the Vampirates messageboard or the Vampires LiveJournal community.
The webcomic updates every Thursday and Sunday with guest comics every other day until the end of February. The comic is mainly aimed at older teens and young adults. Readers should be warned of violence, swearing, homosexuality and sexual content.
Rating: A-
