There is a good chance that one of the best series on television right now is one that you’re not watching: AMC’s The Vampire Lestat, The series, technically the third season of the network’s Interview With the Vampire, sits at an impressive 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and is, if the discourse on social media is any indicator, one of the most-discussed series and adaptations in a long time. The series, picks up with its take on Anne Rice’s second book in her The Vampire Chronicles series also entitled The Vampire Lestat and sees the titular Lestat de Lioncourt have his say after Louis’ account of things in Interview—and, of course, sees Lestat pursue fame as a rock star and just maybe spark a genocide in the process.
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But while the AMC television series—both The Vampire Lestat and Interview With the Vampire—make for excellent television, they aren’t the only adaptations of Rice’s vampire stories. While everyone knows about the 1994 Interview With the Vampire movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, and some recall the 2002 movie Queen of the Damned starring Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah, and even a few others know about the 2005/2006 Broadway musical Lestat with music by Elton John (yes, that Elton John), most people don’t realize that there were series of comics based on the books as well.
The 1990s Were All About Anne Rice’s Vampires in Comics
While it’s not unusual today for certain popular IP to get comic book adaptations—we see it somewhat frequently with video games and franchises such as Alien and Predator—back in the 1990s it was a little less common and even less common when the IP being adapted was a book series, but in 1990, Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles made the jump from one kind of page to another. Innovation Comics, a company that mainly published adaptation and tie-in series for existing properties as well as adaptations of novels and such, debuted The Vampire Lestat #1 in 1990. The book was the first of twelve overall issues adapting Rice’s novel of the same name with all of the issues collected in 1991 as The Vampire Lestat: The Graphic Novel. That series joined by The Vampire Companion, a three-issue series running from 1990 to 1992, The Queen of the Damned, an adaptation of Rice’s third Vampire Chronicles novel which ran for eleven issues between 1991 and 1993 (a twelfth issue in that series remains unpublished, and Interview With the Vampire, which had a twelve-issue run between 1991 and 1993. There is also the trade paperback for The Master of Rampling Gate, a vampire novella written by Rice that is separate from her Vampire Chronicles.
The Innovation Comics are fascinating adaptations. Rice herself collaborated with the creative teams for each one. The Vampire Lestat in particular was written by Faye Perozich and featured art by Joseph Lieaneaus Phillips and Daerick Gross while both Interview and Queen of the Damned were written by a combination of Perozich and Cynthy J. Wood. John Bolton provided cover art for each issue. The books are visually stunning and also very engaging reads. There is something about the comic book format that makes Rice’s story engaging in a completely different way and allows for some of the more nuanced elements of the novels to shine.
The comics, particularly The Vampire Lestat comic, is especially interesting to look at now with a television adaptation of the same story available. AMC’s take on the story is a significant departure from the novel in many ways, though there are core themes and elements that remain, particularly the idea of Lestat as a rockstar. Looking at how another form of media interpreted that concept, even if more than 30 years ago at this point, is an interesting way to see how one story can be seen in many different ways. It also makes for a great bridge of sorts for fans of the television series who struggle to get into Rice’s novels which can be a little dense. While the issues are now long out of print and can be a bit difficult to find, they are well worth the hunt for any fan.
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