Personality Traits of the Comic Book Character: Joseph

After losing his mother who he was close to (and who spoiled and over-protected him ever since Gabriel went after him as a child), Joseph is  driven by the desire to be loved, and even admired. He wanted to be the center of attention, and often acted out against Cameron, a cop, by trying to become a juvenile delinquent. It was his cry for attention, and it led to depression and hate after he found out that Cameron was responsible for his mother Christina’s death.

Joseph was once a happy, helpful, big-hearted child who was for a brief time, close to Cameron. They almost had a genuine father-son relationship as Cameron was dedicated to protecting Joseph from Gabriel. Even though Cameron disappeared from Joseph’s life for a period of time while bringing Gabriel back to Heaven, Joseph still loved his stepfather and looked forward to him. That all changed after Christina’s death.

Although often wallowing in self-pity and anger at what he felt was Cameron’s betrayal,  Joseph is hardly disheartened by disappointments and setbacks. It only makes him more determined and headstrong.  But he also becomes overconfident, his ego gets the better of him when he reminds himself and others that he once killed Gabriel, although it was also by chance and now, Joseph can hardly even defend himself or wield a sword. He is still too untrained with his own powers.

Unfortunately, Christina’s death also caused some deep emotional and psychological damage to Joseph. He is unable to have a relationship with the opposite sex as he sees too much of his own mother in them. As a teenager, he could never look at a girl his age, or even have a physical relationship, without seeing the likeness of his own mother. So he is often alone and unable to develop feelings for anyone. He almost had an interest in a female vampire, Catharina, but she was killed by Jeromos. Even her saving his life did not cause Joseph to develop any feelings other than hate and desire for revenge. He remains often cold and unemotional.

Joseph also has a huge and fragile ego, and he gets hurt over the most trivial of things. But he wants so desperately to destroy Cameron that it blinds him with rage, and he often loses control of his own situation. His impatience leads to uncertainty and anxiety and he becomes unsure of himself. He is also extremely envious of Jeromos and he desperately wants power and to be better than who he sees as his enemies.But being the youngest of the Vampire Guardian Angels he hardly has any experience in weaponry, self-defense or leadership. He desires above all to have a father figure but can never get close enough to anyone to do so. And to the Vampire Guardian Angels, Joseph is just an annoying young adult, barely intimidating. However, they know Joseph is also widely feared because of his growing power of using light to destroy Angels, and he still is in danger of being destroyed by Gabriel and by the angels. And  he is still not at the point where he is respected.

Personality Traits of the Comic Book Character: Prince Jeromos

 

An energetic, adventurous and enthusiastic martial artist and expert swordsman, Prince Jeromos is a born leader who prefers to initiate and make things happen rather than sitting on the sidelines, which is why he became Janos’s right-hand man and heir and why he is now in charge of scientific experiments and is sort of the go-to “doctor” for the Vampire Guardian Angels. A natural commander and military leader,  he is extremely action-oriented, but also cool, calm and collected in the face of challenges. He is fearless and confident and often pushes his luck just for an adrenalin rush, as he is addicted to excitement as well, and the thought of war thrills him. No matter how difficult or challenging a situation may be, he will meet it head on, and he will defend what he has to the death. But he is also stubborn, arrogant and confrontational,  impulsive and impatient, and sometimes will not think a decision through thoroughly, or miss little details, but he is disciplined and rarely makes tactical mistakes.

Little is known of his personal past. All that is known about him is that he was once a self-sacrificing and martyred saint. When he resurrected, he had no intention of playing martyr for anyone, and developed a bloodlust and thirst for power. He can be ruthless and merciless, but is surprisingly considered to be a respected, fair and a good leader by his army, many of whom often defect from other angel armies (including King Janos's) to follow him, and they have become surprisingly loyal and dedicated. He has the type of personality where he gains everyone’s loyalty, even Gabriel’s. Towards the author, however, he is possessive, lustful, and controlling, but fortunately, not abusive.

In Issue 5 where he was introduced, Jeromos wore his hair long, but cut it in Issue 6.

Personality Traits of the Comic Book Character: Cameron

 

Former Detective Cameron was once intent on making the world a better place for all of mankind and once dedicated himself to helping humans, as what he believed the role of a Guardian Angel should be. That was why he chose the disguise of detective on Earth. He is creative when it comes to solving problems. He is an independent, intelligent thinker, often acting on his own and stubborn enough to override his former partner, Detective Kirkland, who was killed by Gabriel. Cameron felt that in order to save humans, he answered to no one, although at times he does agree to be a “team player” within his police force, which is also why he gets along with Detective Costa. He was eccentric, and more of a leader than a follower when doing his job as a supernatural cop. He believed that in order to find the bad guys, he should not have to conform to human rules. He was often a spur-of-the-moment thinker, fire first and ask questions later. He sometimes blindly goes into situations just to save people in danger—by putting himself in danger.

But he had a hard time forming personal feelings as he had to keep his hidden if he wanted to keep playing “hero”. He had a great fear of losing those he loved, especially to Gabriel, who became his lifelong enemy as Cameron was sent to stop, or even destroy, the rogue angel. He was terrified of commitment and is not afraid to disappear from those he loves, in order to protect them.

Cameron can be charming and outgoing, as he was with Joseph’s mother Christina when he first met her. However, he became emotionally withdrawn and hardened after he accidentally killed her while transforming into a Vampire Guardian Angel after he was bitten, and he would forever carry that pain and regret, constantly trying to seek forgiveness from her son Joseph, who he helped raise and became a stepfather to. But once he was continually rejected and almost killed by Joseph, he shed his hero persona and, like Gabriel, turned to hate to shield pain. He now feels it is useless and pointless to continue protecting those he loves when they turn against him, including humans. In a sense, he rebelled, just like Gabriel did. So he now chooses to please himself, just like all the other angels who  had to unconditionally slave away to protect humankind with no rewards. And now, it is all or nothing for him. He feels that he deserves the author because he has suffered so much and has endured so much physical damage, and only she can heal physically him, and that being evil is better than suffering.

Introducing Inker/Artist Andrew Huerta

Andrew Huerta

Andrew Huerta is the drawing instructor and inker for Lia Scott Price's Vampire Guardian Angels Issue 6 (Lia will be drawing the comic book series starting with Issue 6 and future issues onward). He will be assisting with the cover and line art, and he will be inking the pages for Vampire Guardian Angels^TM  Comic Book Issue 6.

Andrew Huerta is a freelance/comic book artist who has worked on many titles with publishers like IDW Publishing, Dynamite Entertainment and BOOM! Studios.

Visit Andrew Huerta tumblr page

Please contribute to Andrew Huerta Patreon Project for his own comic book series

Personality Traits of the Comic Book Character: Gabriel

 

Gabriel is a tortured soul, a lonely and angry child in an adult body. He can best be described as a vicious, unfeeling psychopath, but in reality he just wants to kill the pain and get rid of the “voices”—or prayers that he hears— that torture him nonstop. So he simply kills not for fun, but with purpose, although his anger and desire for revenge also causes him to “play” or “toy with” his victims cruelly before killing them. He is not to be underestimated. He approaches serial killing like an overachieving workaholic devoid of mercy. He has lost much of the power of speech and has become more of a mindless, wordless killing machine,  saying very little if any in very few words, seemingly incapable of any feelings, or the concept of right and wrong. He grew up with nothing but pain and suffering and violence and death. And that is all he has ever known.

Despite his animal-like mindset, Gabriel is ambitious, determined, smart,  and practical and determined to do one thing and do it well—serial killing.

It’s revenge and the aching pain of loneliness that drives him. When the “voices” come, it literally drives him insane and activates his impulse to kill. He hates his existence and his “job, and he hates being “chained” to his role. He does everything he can to rebel, and sees becoming a Vampire as a way out, so God cannot control him anymore since he has become evil, but it does not silence the prayers. Ironically, he does need the prayers to home in on his "food"--humans.

But he is in a way redeemable in that he has some remnant of feelings, and seems to have a soft spot for the author Ms Price, who he has seen in Jeromos’s monastery.  And he is drawn to her because he secretly wants stability and devotion he never had and never had a chance to experience  companionship. But it’s not love—it’s more about having something  that can “soothe” the anger inside him. He knows he needs her in a more practical manner though—to regenerate and heal, because he knows she has that power. But he takes some time to act on planning to take her, since some part of him is loyal to Jeromos for saving his life. So he does retain somewhat of a conscience.

But he is selfish too—he’s mainly concerned about his own future and security that is why he is a loner and creates his own marble army, which must be made of supernaturally-charged inanimate objects--statues--, and cannot be made up of Vampire Guardian Angels or humans because he does not trust them and he cannot relate to them. He’s something like a socially awkward, aloof serial killer, distant and not easily approachable or easy to reason with. He can play a great actor though, as he seduces only to kill and eat, with little words and a charming personality that humans can see as he hypnotizes them with his gaze. But that is the extent of his interactions. And he does not bother with any type of interaction with humans, vampires or angels. He is singularly focused on one thing: he will do anything to reach his goal of killing Joseph and Cameron, anyone who gets in his way, and getting rid of the praying voices in his head and the people who pray. He is completely obsessed with his goals.

And in the war between the Vampire Guardian Angels, surprisingly, despite being the most powerful of them all, he has absolutely no desire for power, no desire to be king, and just wants to be left alone. He just wants relief from all the pain and prayers, and will find any way to soothe himself and find relief from them, whether it's killing or anything else, which is also why he wants the author, that makes him feel better, even for a few moments.

He is remarkably resilient despite all the injuries he has sustained. He will weather any bad times just like he did as a child in his past life, and any setbacks with patience and perseverance. He takes risks such as coming down from Heaven without the portal because he is willing to risk it all to get his revenge. But there are times when does play it safe though—he plans, observes and evaluates what the cost of his action is, and if he can come out of it in one piece.

What is wrong with these Guardian Angels?

Everything. And not in a good way.

This is a comic book that questions the role of Guardian Angels, and turns them into something no one expects, and into something evil. The concept of Guardian Angels as evil vampires pushes the envelope in a “what if” situation.

The comic books force us to face the unthinkable. We always expect Guardian Angels to save, help and protect us. What we don’t expect is for them to commit acts like murder, violence, and other unexpected things. But in this comic book, they do.

The lesson here is that we do not know what Guardian Angels really are, and if they are even real. Pop culture insists they are, and this is where fiction and imagination comes in—to turn these “myths” into something else entirely. We as humans always rely on a higher power to save us, materialize and solve our problems. We put too much faith and reliance on the Supernatural. The problem is, we don’t know what entities we are summoning or praying to. It could be something dangerous, something that kills instead of helps us.

And my Guardian Angels are all sorts of wrong. They are complete psychopaths, sociopaths, rebels against their supposed assigned roles, and now, they are Vampires. And when you pray to one, they get angry. They get annoyed at our constant begging and whining to them. Now, they would rather put us out of our misery rather than help us, so now they can eat us as well as shut us up for good.

Dare to meet them?

A Message from my Assistant on Comic Book 6

My assistant Pazuzu the Cat is letting all of you know that we are working on Comic Book 6. Lots of work in the next few months in 2016 and the cover images should be done soon!