Film to Print: Comic Coverage – Fright Night #1 (Review)

Written by: Joe Gentile

Artist: Lenin Delsol

The first issue of Fright Night is really just half of the story we saw on film. Charley grows suspicious of his neighbor and soon learns that he is indeed a vampire. Enter Amy and Evil Ed, Charley’s buddies who eventually convince horror host Peter Vincent to join them in administering a test; they want to know if Jerry is a vampire, so they come equipped with holy water, crucifixes, all sorts of stuff. But Jerry passes each test… until Peter Vincent notices that Jerry casts no reflection.

We’re off and running from there, and the book speeds toward the conclusion, the moment in which Jerry traps Ed in a dead end alley and convinces him that immortality and immeasurable power sounds a lot more promising than being the butt of every joke strewn about high school. The final page shows Ed’s descent into a dark realm.

Joe Gentile does an awesome job of transferring the script. He gets the details nailed down quite properly. And Lenin Delsol, who handles the art also does a fine job, gifting Jerry an attractive face, giving Jerry’s body guard the adequate size and intimidation factor. And then you’ve got our antagonists, which are quite well illustrated. We didn’t get a wealth of vampire transformation scenes in this issue, but the second issue all but guarantees true insanity.

I don’t know how easy it is to track these books down anymore (the series launched in print nearly 30 years ago) but if you can find this run (I believe there are 25 issues in total), don’t hesitate to pull your wallet out. This is a stellar investment that promises a leisurely stroll down Nostalgia Lane.

Rating: 4.5/5