History ComicBook / Crimson

* MsFanservice: Scarlet X is a [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench French]] [[HeroesWantRedheads redheaded]] ActionGirl who wears [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scarlet_x.jpg a rather revealing combat suit]].

''Crimson'' is a 1998 UrbanFantasy comic book written by Bryan Augustyn and drawn by Humberto Ramos, revolving around a problematic teenager named Alex Elder. After running away from home to a party late at night with his friends, he is attacked by the vampire gang known as the Jelly Bats. While his friends are murdered by the gang, Alex is saved by Ekimus, the last of an ancient race pre-dating humanity, although he is bitten and turned into a vampire by the gang leader Rose. Coming to terms with his newfound existence, Alex is drawn to a supernatural world and a millennia-long conflict between good and evil. Alex is believed to be TheChosenOne having powers beyond that of a normal vampire and he is fated to bring an end to vampirekind. He will face many obstacles and will be assisted by a colorful cast of allies of different backgrounds to achieve his goal.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: D'Orense claims that he is a direct descendant to [[FamousAncestor Bernard of Clairvaux]], the PatronSaint of the UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar. Except Bernard was a celibate monk who had famously jumped into cold water to resist lustful temptations, and he couldn't have possibly fathered any offspring which would result in subsequent descendants and if he did, that would have been something really shameful for the Templars to admit, much less take pride in it.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: After becoming a vampire, Alex is forced to abandon his family who believes he had died. [[spoiler:At the end of the comic, he makes a point he will return to them once he is cured of his vampirism]].

** Lisseth has an AbsoluteCleavage and acts very seductive towards the teen aged Alex, making it very creepy.

* TwoferTokenMinority: [[TheLancer Joe]] is a [[BadassNative Native]]-Mexican [[RaisedCatholic Catholic]] [[ReligiousVampire vampire]].

* BaldWoman: Zophiel.

* TwoferTokenMinority: [[TheLancer Joe]] is a [[BadassNative Native]]-[[MixedAncestry Mexican]] [[RaisedCatholic Catholic]] [[ReligiousVampire vampire]].

* StuffedInTheFridge: Alex's sweetheart Julie at the start of the comic is brutally murdered by the vampire gang who turned him.

''Crimson'' is 1998 UrbanFantasy comic book written by Bryan Augustyn and drawn by Humberto Ramos, revolving around a problematic teenager named Alex Elder. After running away from home to a party late at night with his friends, he is attacked by the vampire gang known as the Jelly Bats. While his friends are murdered by the gang, Alex is saved by Ekimus, the last of an ancient race pre-dating humanity, although he is bitten and turned into a vampire by the gang leader Rose. Coming with terms of his newfound, Alex is drawn to a supernatural world and a millennia-long conflict between good and evil. Alex is believed to be TheChosenOne having powers beyond that of a normal vampire and he is fated to bring an end to vampirekind. He will face many obstacles and will be assisted by a colorful cast of allies of different backgrounds to achieve his goal.

* AffablyEvil: {{Satan}} himself believe it or not. In his first proper appearance in Issue 7, he is a smooth-talking, easy-going ManOfWealthAndTaste who ends up being ''nicer'' to Alex than the ''bloody angels''. With that said, he is still very much evil (See GreaterScopeVillain entry) and looks forward to fight against Michael again in the end times.

* AncientConspiracy: There is a supernatural world with several secret organizations keeping under watch including UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar. While the specifics are not given, its implied they have been involved with the [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheColdWar Cuban missile crisis]].

* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: [[spoiler:The series ends with the [[TheLancer Joe]] being revealed to have told the events to a friend in a bar.]]

* TheAtoner: Ekimus belonged to race that sided with Lucifer during the War in Heaven and was completely exterminated leaving him TheLastOfHisKind as well as creating the vampire race with Lisseth. He seeks to redeem himself by mentoring Alex in prevent the upcoming apocalypse.

* BatmanGambit: The Lisseth's master plan comes to fruition due to this trope. To elaborate: [[spoiler: Ekimus is told to visit Tartarus and find Sapha, king of the dragons, who was imprisoned alongside Lisseth and knew a way to defeat her. Ekimus is instructed to find a scroll that was supposed to destroy her, but it ends up freeing him from his prison and unleashing all other dragons upon the world. Its revealed Sapha was Lisseth's minion all along.]]

** {{Satan}} is depicted like this in a flashback. When Ekimus was tired fighting for Hell, he asked if he could return to Earth and live among mortals to atone. Satan gracefully heeded his request and wished him good fortune.

** GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:The final pages reveal that Joe was recounting everything that transpired in the series to a drinking buddy who interrupts him in the part where Alex found the HolyGrail and made himself human again. What makes this confusing is that said friend doesn't buy his story is real and that vampires, demons and monsters don't exist, despite the fact the catastrophic event that happened around the world such as dragons nearly wiping out mankind proves that supernatural beings exist and they nearly brought the apocalypse, or more obviously, the fact Joe clearly looks like a vampire with sharp fangs and yellow eyes. Even that is made ambiguous, since they both walk out of the bar during daytime with Joe suffering no damaging effects. They even pass by a homeless man that looks like Van Fleet even though he died during the final battle, which Joe briefly pauses to comment on. These things make it unclear whether or not the story was made up or if it really happened.]]

** Alex is a special vampire, specifically the first and the last of his kind, and he is chronicled to save the world from upcoming apocalypse. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he is the latest in a long line of "Chosen Ones" trained by Ekimus to destroy vampirekind, of which Victor originally belonged to]].

* ChurchMilitant: The Templars are the real-life order turned into a religious armed force devoted to hunt monsters.
* CorruptPolitician: Van Fleet. It can't get anymore corrupt than a VampireMonarch working as a US Senator secretly in league with the Mother of All Vampires to release darkness upon the world. It gets even worse when he reveals aspirations to become [[PresidentEvil president]].

* CreatureHunterOrganization: More than one with the ChurchMilitant Knights Templar and the Order of the Red Hood, an family-based clan descended from werewolf hunters.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Possibly subverted. [[spoiler:Alex loses both girls he is interested since Zophie sacrifices herself to save him and Scarlet joins a convent when he embarks on a quest for the Holy Grail. However, its strongly implied that she is waiting for him to return as a human so they can be together.]]

* EldritchAbomination: Sapha is a borderline case. A creature that is neither divine or demonic that not even the angels themselves could kill during the war and they had to lock him up on Tartarus. [[spoiler:While the heroes manage to injure him, they never came close of killing it. It took banishing Sapha at to the void to defeat him]].

* FallenHero: Its revealed that [[spoiler:Van Fleet used to be a "chosen one" just like Alex before he became Lisseth's ally]].

** Ekimus being subjected to GoGoEnslavement. The fact he is a monstrous inhuman that couldn't possibly be described as attractive in any level makes this far from titillating.

-->''Believe me, Alex... I do like you and your family... [[IfIWantedYouDead Or I'd have finished you a long time ago]].''

* GodNeedsPrayersBadly: The reason why humans are most favored by the Creator is because his existence is sustained by their collective belief and worship, in contrast to supernatural monsters such as vampires, werewolves, dragons and etc, who are unable to "sustain" him. This is one of the reasons why God shunned the Grigori in the first place and made them susceptible to the Devil's influence.. This turns into a plot-point when [[spoiler:the BigBad's plan to destroy reality starts with [[KillAllHumans wiping out humanity]], which would weaken God enough for her to [[KillTheGod destroy him herself]]]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: {{Satan}}, naturally. He is far bigger and far more dangerous than [[BigBad Lisseth]] and all tragedies such as the War in Heaven and turning the Grigori against God can be traced back to him, and its openly stated he will attempt to take over Heaven again during the end times. Yet, he is a background character who rarely intervenes in the plot and, outside of flashbacks, only appeared in one issue to bail out Alex from being executed by the Angelic Host.

* NoPartyGiven: Van Fleet is a US Senator running for president, yet his political inclinations are never specified beyond the fact he is based on New York. Since being a vampire transcends any notion of human politic identities in his own words, its pretty impossible to classify him as conservative or progressive.
* LadyInRed: Scarlet X and Lisseth are both clad in sexy red-outfits.
* LittleRedFightingHood: Scarlet's character and backstory are obviously modeled after Little Red Riding Hood.

* PragmaticVillainy: Van Fleet is unhappy with the [[spoiler:the devastation unleashed by the dragons upon the world]] primarily because it will affect his public view as a VillainWithGoodPublicity, not out of any moral reservations about said disaster. As far as he concerned, the people can die far all he cares, but at least the place should be intact. [[spoiler:When the scope of her plan to undo reality is truly revealed to him, he promptly turns against her because he doesn't see himself governing over anyone]].
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Chalkdyri is a race of dragons that existed in ancient times around the War in Heaven. They attempted to destroy mankind when it was still young, but they were driven out and imprisioned by the forces of Heaven.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They embody many classical traits such as being sensitive to sunlight, immortal, super strong and the usual stuff. They don't turn into bats (It was a merely a rumor spread by the Bram Stoker novel) and they are only affected by religions icons they believe in (a Jewish vampire shrugs off a cross being pointed at him). There is more than one common breed such as the Children of Judas (child-like feral vampires with distinct bite marks) and Alex is a unique vampire in his own right, the first and the last of his kind. [[spoiler: Or so Ekimus says, since there were other "Chosen" vampires before him like Van Fleet, who displays the ability to use sorcery]].

* ReligiousVampire: At least [[FullyEmbracedFiend Joe]] had kept his belief on God and the Virgin Mary.

** Scarlet is a obvious homage to ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'', being French in origin (just like the original story) and her backstory centering around werewolves.

** While visiting a MonsterTown beneath New York, Alex comments that he feels like he walked into [[Film/ThePhantomMenace the Episode One's set]] being surrounded by so many weird looking monsters. Makes sense that reference was made when the movie was still fresh.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:A homeless man resembling Van Fleet passes by Joe and his friend in the ending. Joe's reaction heavily implies its him, but its not known how he survived since his body was set ablaze by Alex.]]
* VampireBitesSuck: More often than not, vampire feedings are not ''pretty'' to look at. Even the nicest vampires like Joe are prone to tear his victims apart (although given the nature of his [[AssholeVictim victims]], its justified).

** T.C. Steinman is Van Fleet's assistant and responsible for keeping the vampires' existence secret. After being fired by Van Fleet, Steinman freaks out, turns into TheStarscream and raids his building with armed thugs and kills everyone inside. He is so far gone that he doesn't care he might be expose their existence to the world.

** Lisseth is obviously one for UsefulNotes/{{Lilith}}, being Adam's first wife who became a demon.

!Tropes

* TheChosenOne: Alex is a special vampire, specifically the first and the last of his kind, and he is chronicled to save the world from upcoming apocalypse. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he is the latest in a long line of "Chosen Ones" trained by Ekimus to destroy vampirekind, of which Victor originally belonged to]].
* ChurchMilitant: The Templars are the real-life order turned into a religious armed force devoted to hunt monsters. Played with in that they are very much independent than the Christian Church.

** Victor Van Fleet had T.C. Steinman, his Jewish fledgling who soon turns into TheStarscream. Van Fleet could probably considered one to Lisseth, but he sees himself as a equal partner-in-crime than her underling.

* Myth/SaintGeorge: He is real, having reincarnated as a New York police officer named George Davis and he plays a pivotal role in the story.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Chalkdyri was a dragon race that was imprisoned in Tartarus for trying to destroy mankind while it was still innocent and ignorant. [[spoiler:They are unwittingly released by Ekimus and proceed to lay waste upon the world.]]

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Interestingly, this trope is rather equal opportunity: Alex wears a skintight leather suit that in his words "makes him look like a porn star" while his love interest [[MsFanservice Scarlet]] wears a suit composed of straps, fishnets and long boots with a cape. Both of them ditch these costumes in following arcs for something more conservative.

* TwoferTokenMinority: [[TheLancer Joe]] is a Native-Mexican vampire.

* VampiresLoveJesus: At least [[FullyEmbracedFiend Joe]] had kept his belief on God and the Virgin Mary.

''Crimson'' is 1998 UrbanFantasy[=/=]horror comic book written by Bryan Augustyn and drawn by Humberto Ramos, revolving around a problematic teenager named Alex Elder. After running away from home to a party late at night with his friends, he is attacked by the vampire gang known as the Jelly Bats. While his friends are murdered by the gang, Alex is saved by Ekimus, the last of an ancient race pre-dating humanity, although he is bitten and turned into a vampire by the gang leader Rose. Coming with terms of his newfound, Alex is drawn to a supernatural world and a millennia-long conflict between good and evil. Alex is believed to be TheChosenOne having powers beyond that of a normal vampire and he is fated to bring an end to vampirekind. He will face many obstacles and will be assisted by a colorful cast of allies of different backgrounds to achieve his goal.

* VampireLovesJesus: At least [[FullyEmbracedFiend Joe]] had kept his belief on God and the Virgin Mary.

* AllMythsAreTrue: The War in Heaven happened, angels and demons exist and so do vampires, werewolves and a multitude of monsters collectively referred to as "darklings". The Underworld from Myth/ClassicalMythology holds the ancient enemies of God in chains.

* TheChosenOne: Alex is a special vampire, specifically the first and the last of his kind, and he is chronicled to save the world from upcoming apocalypse. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he is the latest in a long line of "Chosen Ones" created by Ekimus to destroy vampirekind, of which Victor originally belonged to]].

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They embody many classical traits such as being sensitive to sunlight, immortal, super strong and the usual stuff. They don't turn into bats (It was a merely a rumor spread by the Bram Stoker novel) and they are only affected by religions icons they believe in (a Jewish vampire shrugs off a cross being pointed at him). There is more than one common breed such as the Children of Judas (child-like feral vampires with distinct bite marks) and Alex is a unique vampire in his own right, the first and the last of his kind.

* VampireBitesSuck: More often than not, vampire feedings are not ''pretty'' to look at. Even the nicest vampires like Joe are prone to feed this way (although given his the nature of his [[AssholeVictim victims]], its justified).

* VegetarianVampire: Alex tries really hard to be this trope. He absolutely refuses to feed on humans like [[FullyEmbracedFiend Joe]] and is disgusted having to drink from animals, and donated blood doesn't provide the same sustenance.

* BettyAndVeronica: Alex has Zophiel (the sensitive and vulnerable FallenAngel) as the Betty and Scarlet (the [[MsFanservice sexy]] [[TheHunter monster hunter]]) is the Veronica. In the end, [[spoiler: he ends up with neither as Zophie dies in the final battle and Scarlet joins a convent]].

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: A recurring theme in the comic is that some human organizations such as the Templars are so fanatically devoted in exterminating all darklings whether they are good or evi, that they extend this treatment towards anything non-human, including in holy nature. One sub-faction within the Templars hunts angels to harvest their organs and body parts into enhancing drugs, their [[InsaneTrollLogic reasoning being that angels were sent as reward from heaven to mortal champions]].
* IHateYouVampireDad: Alex loathes Rose for turning him into a vampire, as well as murdering his friends and girlfriend. [[spoiler:It turns out, Ekimus was the one who allowed that to happen and fed Alex some of his own blood to make him a special vampire breed. When Alex discover this, he extends this feelings to him as well, though they reconcile aftewards]].

* PoirotSpeak: Scarlet's dialogue features several French words mixed up with English.

* ApocalypseHow: [[Class 1 takes place the Chalkydiri are released around the world and unleash destruction upon mankind, though the ending shows that mankind is rebuilding after the attack. Had it gone unchecked, it would have escalated to [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 Class X-4]] with all of existence being destroyed by Lisseth]].

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Chalkydiri is a race of dragons that existed in ancient times around the War in Heaven. They attempted to destroy mankind when it was still young, but they were driven out and imprisioned by the forces of Heaven.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Chalkydiri was a dragon race that was imprisoned in Tartarus for trying to destroy mankind while it was still innocent and ignorant. [[spoiler:They are unwittingly released by Ekimus and proceed to lay waste upon the world.]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: A recurring theme in the comic is that some human organizations such as the Templars are so fanatically devoted in exterminating all darklings, they extend this treatment towards anything non-human. One sub-faction within the Templars that kills angels and harvest their organs and body parts to turn them into enhancing drugs, their [[InsaneTrollLogic reasoning being that angels were sent as reward from heaven to mortal champions]].

** GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:The final pages reveal that Joe was recounting everything that transpired in the series to a drinking buddy who interrupts him in the part where Alex found the HolyGrail and made himself human again. What makes this confusing is that said friend doesn't buy his story is real and that vampires, demons and monsters don't exist, despite the fact the catastrophic event that happened around the world such as dragons nearly wiping out mankind proves that supernatural beings exist and they nearly brought the apocalypse, or more obviously, the fact Joe clearly looks like a vampire with sharp fangs and yellow eyes. Even that is made ambiguous, since they both walk out of the bar during daytime with Joe suffering no damaging effects. They even pass by a homeless man that looks Van Fleet even though he died during the final battle, which Joe briefly pauses to comment on. These things make it unclear whether or not the story was made up or if it really happened.]]

* HolierThanThou: The Archangels are so overzealous that they punish [[AllCrimesAreEqual an AIDS victim the same way as a mother who allowed her daughter to die in the cold]].
* IHateYouVampireDad: Alex loathes Rose for turning him into a vampire, as well as murdering his friends and girlfriend. [[spoiler:It turns out, Ekimus was the one who allowed that to happen and fed Alex some of his own blood to make him a special vampire breed. When Alex discover this, he extends this feelings to him as well]].

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Interestingly, this trope is rather equal opportunity: Alex wears a skintight leather suit that in his words "makes him look like a porn star" while his love interest [[MsFanservice Scarlet]] wears a suit composed of straps, fishnets and long boots with a cape. Both of them ditch these costumes after the initial arc.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:A homeless man with resembling Van Fleet passes by Joe and his friend in the ending. Joe's reaction heavily implies its him, but its not known how he survived since his body was set ablaze by Alex.]]

** The Jelly Bats, the vampires that attacks Alex are evocative of ''Film/TheLostBoys''.

* LadyInRed: Scarlet X.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Their origin is tied with Cain's murder of Abel. More specifically, Cain murdered Abel under the influence of an angelic weapon and ever since then, [[TheDescendantsOfCain his descendants]] were cursed with lycanthropy. This condition is seemingly hereditary rather than transmitted like vampirism. They are capable of transforming at will and retain their control and ability to speak in wolf form. Scarlet reveals that her family is descended from a French noblewoman who was savaged raped by a werewolf and became pregnant with his children. The hunter who saved her by killing the werewolf ended up marrying her and raised the children to hunt monsters and placed protective seals to prevent them from turning into werewolves, eventually forming the Order of the Red Hood.

* BigBadDuumvirate: [[CorruptPolitician Victor Van Fleet]] and [[MonsterProgenitor Lisseth]] are the primary villains of the series.

* CreepyChild: The aptly named Children of Judas are a group of savage vampire children in service to Van Fleet's assistant T.C. Steinman.

* GreaterScopeVillain: {{Satan}}, naturally. He is far bigger and far more dangerous than [[BigBad Lisseth]] and all tragedies such as the War in Heaven and turning the Grigori against God can be traced back to him, and its openly stated he attempt to destroy Heaven again during the end times. Yet, he is a background character who rarely intervenes in the plot and, outside of flashbacks, only appeared in one issue to bail out Alex from being executed by the Angelic Host.

* ActionGirl: Scarlet, the resident vampire-hunting lady in red.

** Lisseth gains a literal one in form of [[spoiler:Sapha, the Dragon King who submits to her authority as he is released]].

* AncientConspiracy: There is a supernatural world with several secret organizations keeping under watch including the Knights Templar. While the specifics are not given, its implied they have been involved with the [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheColdWar Cuban missile crisis]].

* KnightTemplar: Quite literally with the Knights Templar who still survive to this day are absolutely zealous in fighting the supernatural threats. Their elite members, the Order of the Dragon, are even ''worse'' in this regard since they target ''angels'' as well.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Their origin is tied with Cain's murder of Abel. More specifically, Cain murdered Abel under the influence of an angelic weapon and ever since then, his descendants were cursed with lycanthropy. This condition is seemingly hereditary rather than transmitted like vampirism. They are capable of transforming at will and retain their control and ability to speak in wolf form. Scarlet reveals that her family is descended from a French noblewoman who was savaged raped by a werewolf and became pregnant with his children. The hunter who saved her by killing the werewolf ended up marrying her and raised the children to hunt monsters and placed protective seals to prevent them from turning into werewolves, eventually forming the Order of the Red Hood.

* AffablyEvil: {{Satan}} himself believe it or not. In his first proper appearance in Issue 7, he is a smooth-talking, easy-going ManOfWealthAndTaste who ends up being ''nicer'' to Alex than the ''bloody angels''. With that said, he is still very much evil and looks forward to fight against Michael again in the end times.

* AncientConspiracy: There is a supernatural world with several secret organizations keeping under watch including the Knights Templar. While the specifics are not given, its implied they have been involved with the Cuba missile crisis.

* TheAtoner: Ekimus belonged to race that sided with Lucifer during the War in Heaven and was completely exterminated leaving him TheLastOfHisKind as well as [[spoiler:creating the vampire race with Lisseth]]. He seeks to redeem himself by mentoring Alex in prevent the upcoming apocalypse.

** For a supposedly sadistic VampireMonarch, Van Fleet takes surprisingly care of his employees and their families, one of them being Alex's. When his assistant[=/=]vampire fledgling Steinman screws up his job epically, he simply fires him instead of [[YouHaveFailedMe punishing him for his failure]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Lisseth is destroyed and her apocalyptic plan is averted. However, untold innocents have perished around the world after the dragon attack and the heroes' victory came at cost of Zophie and George's lives (both of whom ascend to Heaven upon their deaths). Alex still remained a vampire, but he embarks on a quest to find the HolyGrail and cure his condition. He is forced to abandon his loved ones behind, with Scarlet joining a convent and his father becoming Senator following Van Fleet's death, but its implied he will succeed in his quest and returns to them eventually.]] With that said...

* IHateYouVampireDad: Alex loathes Rose for turning him into a vampire, as well as murdering his friends and girlfriend. [[spoiler:It turns out, Ekimus was the one who allowed that to happen and fed Alex some of his own blood to make him a special vampire breed. When Alex discover this, he extends this feelings to him as well]]

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Their origin is tied with Cain's murder of Abel. More specifically, Cain murdered Abel under the influence of an angelic weapon and ever since then, his descendants were cursed with lycanthropy. This condition is seemingly hereditary rather than transmitted like vampirism. They are capable of transforming at will and retain their control and ability to speak in wolf form. Scarlet reveals that her family is descended from a French noblewoman who was savaged raped by a werewolf and became pregnant with his children children. The hunter who saved her by killing the werewolf ended up marrying her and raised the children to hunt monsters and placed protective seals to prevent them from turning into werewolves. These children eventually formed the Order of the Red Hood.

* VampireBitesSuck: More often than not, vampire feedings are not ''pretty'' to look at.