‘Carmilla: The First Vampire’ Creators On Bringing The Iconic Story to 1990s New York City
Carmilla is one of the oldest pieces of vampire literature, predating even Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Since it was published in 1872, there have been countless adaptations of the tale across almost every medium you can imagine. And now, writer Amy Chu and Soo Lee are adding their graphic novel Carmilla: The First Vampire to the list. But it’s not just any adaptation. It’s unabashedly queer and takes place in the seediest parts of 1990s New York City.
In Carmilla: The First Vampire:
At the height of the Lunar New Year, an idealistic social worker turns detective when she discovers young, homeless LGBTQ+ women are being murdered and no one, especially the police, seems to care. A series of clues points her to Carmilla’s, a mysterious nightclub in the heart of her neighborhood, Chinatown. There she falls for the next likely target, landing her at the center of a real-life horror story—and face-to-face with illusions about herself, her life, and her hidden past.
Inspired by the gothic novel that started a genre, this queer vampire murder mystery is a mesmerizing tale of identity, obsession, and fateful family secrets.
We spoke with Chu and Lee about 90s New York, illustrating sex, and more.
Dread Central: Amy, what drew you to Carmilla, besides sexy, gay vampires older than Dracula?
Amy Chu: Yeah. I mean, that’s it, isn’t it? [laughs]
The things that resonate with me are usually underappreciated stories. I like things that deserve better, and sometimes it is that contemporary makeover that’s required, and that’s what I have fun doing. So this seemed great, and it’s the sexiest, darkest thing I’ve done.
DC: Soo, what was your relationship with Carmilla? Did you have any relationship with that or vampire horror in general before you came onto this project?
Soo Lee: I thought Carmilla was a fairly well-known vampire [story], but I didn’t realize how much it wasn’t. I guess if you knew, you knew, and there were a lot more people who didn’t know. So I was like, “Oh, yeah, I know Carmilla. I mean, she’s one of the most popular fictionalized characters to be made into a million remakes.” And I love vampire stuff. I love Anne Rice’s books. I used to go to the public library and sit in the corner reading books that I shouldn’t have when I was 13 years old. I was like the goth kid.
So it was immediate. Who doesn’t love vampire tropes? Who doesn’t love vampires? It was just perfect.
DC: Amy, I wanted to hear about your approach to modernizing this version of Carmilla. What was important to you about bringing these aspects of the story about queerness and Asian-American identity to the forefront?
AC: Wow. So this is interesting. Now I have to think about this because as with all things, it evolves. And so it’s not like I deliberately set out to write something that had all these aspects to it. You have to go with the source material, but also how to represent it; not just how to make it more interesting, but to make it resonate. So it’s not like I deliberately said I’m going to, and it wasn’t part of the pitch, by the way. It wasn’t a pitch to say Asian American queer Carmilla, it wasn’t any of that. It was definitely a story that evolved and became more Asian American because it seemed to work. That’s part of the story, but it’s not the only part of the story. I included gentrification because I feel like that was very relevant. But in the initial pitch, this was actually set in today’s time. I mean, I had to basically move it to the 90s because of cell phones, right?
DC: Oh, that’s true. Always the cell phones.
AC: Yeah. It felt right, too, because the nineties were definitely grittier. It made more sense. But Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter didn’t start off that way. It wasn’t pitched that way.
DC: That’s so cool how things evolve like that, though. That’s got to be cool to figure out the puzzle pieces coming together.
AC: Cool might be the wrong word for it. It’s really hard. [Laughs] It’s excruciating. It’s cool when you figure it out. But the process part is just like, why am I even doing this? This is the worst mistake I ever made in my career. All these things have nothing to do with Soo! It’s entirely me trying to figure out the script part where I’m going, “This makes no sense. This is awful. This is the worst thing I’ve ever done, and people are going to hate it.” And then you figure it out!
DC: So Soo, again, I’m not quite sure in terms of working together and collaborating, did you ever give suggestions in terms of story? Or did you stick to the art, the look, and the vibes of all the characters and the panels?
SL: It was mostly that.
AC: She did want more Korean representation, and I tried! [Laughs]
SL: I’m very happy about it, too. We don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m very happy about that aspect. But no, I mean, they trusted me to draw Carmilla: The First Vampire however I wanted to, and it’s like, that’s my side, right? I’m going to do that job. And I trusted Amy to write a really great story, and she did, and they trusted me to draw it out. And so that’s it for me.
AC: Yeah, that’s a huge job because she’s creating a universe, albeit a universe that sort of exists. If you see the script, I don’t give a lot of art direction. I know some writers are really like, “They have to have four fangs, and they have to be three-quarters of an inch.” I’m not that kind of writer. I’m just like, “Make it cool and sexy and dark.”
DC: Soo, I would love to hear about how you designed what Athena’s character looks like. I love her vibe, and I wanted to hear first where you started with her design.
SL: Most of the stuff that I drew is things that I know. I mean, I grew up in New York all my life, so I’ve seen it change. I’ve hung around with goths and people like this. I live in Flushing, and that’s Chinatown number one for me. So there are two Chinatowns in New York, and I live in the second one, pretty much, which is unique. I don’t think any other city in America has that. But this is how I grew up. I had friends who looked like Athena. I was pretty much Athena when I was a teen. I was a tomboy. And Amy, you wrote “tomboy”, right? Just punk. I know exactly what that looks like because that was me growing up. I know what these people look like because they were all my friends, and these are the people I hung around with. So it was just easy. I knew immediately what I wanted to draw.
AC: And I know tomboy is a weird term, but it is kind of right. It works for that era. I wouldn’t use it for today, but that’s what she was in 1996.
DC: Oh my God. Well, and so I’m always curious with artists, Soo, about illustrating sex scenes, because I love how sexy Carmilla: The First Vampire is. We don’t go full into sex scenes, but there are some really steamy moments. What is your approach to creating and writing sexy pages and panels?
SL: Well, it’s not a rated X book, right?
DC: Exactly.
SL: There’s not much I can do, right? I have to assume the sex, right? So then what do I have to do? I have to amp up certain things. Then it’s like, as a girl, what do I find sexy? There’s sexy with the way a guy sees it, and sexy with the way a woman sees it. It’s not just T&A shots, and it’s like, “Oh, that’s sexy.” It’s showing this part of the body, showing this part of the body in this angle. You know what I mean?
Whenever I draw a sensual scene, it’s always how I think fits in my vision. I mean, I am the artist, so it’s like, what is sexy to me? Again, it is limited, so it’s not like I can show graphic things. So the way I draw it is a little bit more abstract. I’m trying to put it in a way where I guess if you were in a sensual moment, it’s not like picturesque completely detailed scenes. It’s all muddy. And that’s why I do a lot of closeups, a lot of fast pace, just hazy and abstract. It’s like if you were watching a movie and it’s just flashes of very interesting body shots or moments.
I want the readers to also feel like they’re seeing snippets, but because their mind is all over the place at that moment. Because I can’t show graphic scenes, I figured the colors would show you. So it’s like, “Boom, here are the colors to show you what’s happening” as well. So you get the vibe and the messy weird snippets.
DC: Well, I love your use of color in this. The colors are so rich, it gives me Hammer horror vibes. I love the way that the richness of the color shifts when they’re together, or when Athena is in the domain of a vampire versus maybe a little less vibrant in the “real” world. I love the way that color usage goes throughout.
SL: Thank you. I mean, movies do that too, right? It’s like an ambiance scene. You’re setting the stage for what you should be feeling immediately. So pretty much it’s like, “Oh, this scene or this chapter is the red scene, the blue scene, or the yellow scene.” The first thing you see is color and then how it feels, right? So then I want to make sure people are getting the feeling first.
The first two volumes of Carmilla are out now!
Categorized:Interviews
