Jekkel from Silver Bullet Nights
"I tell myself that I came to Earth for a better life. But deep down, I know the truth. I came here for the blood."
—Seek
* Combat witches * Hobo werewolves * Gay vampires *
You can meet them all in Silver Bullet Nights
Seek is your typical blue-collar vampire. He kills clockwork men for cash, collects his check on Fridays and spends his weekends picking up fangbangers at horror films. All that changes when he meets Donovan, a young man with secrets of his own.
The main cast consists of:
- Seek: A hulking half-vampire haunted by his past as a mercenary.
- Donovan: Serious and bespectacled, Donovan ekes out a life on the streets since his family disowned him.
- Rachael: One of the few supernatural soldiers to adapt to civilian life, Rachael makes a living selling immortal blood out the backdoor of her club.
- Jekkel: A vampire Pretty Boy who veers between moments of child-like innocence and episodes of bloody violence.
- Sed Wingless: A disgraced ex-gargoyle who now acts as Sheriff of the demi-human society. Hulking, jolly and loud, he's never happier than when extorting money from a low-level criminal. Despite this, he's quite good at his job.
Silver Bullet Nights contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Rachael. Beautiful and enigmatic, Rachael combines blood magic with ruthless killing skills as demonstrated when she dispatches a sacrifice with her bare hands. Or rather, claws.
- Alternate Universe: The comic is a kind of unofficial Alternate Universe take on Smoke Fur And Stone. Both comics are by the same creator and many Silver Bullet Nights characters are parallels of ones found in the author's past series.
- Ambiguous Gender: Although she identifies most frequently as female, Rachael sports a flat chest, feminine hips and angular features. Occasionally she feels the need to indulge her "boy side" as she puts it.
- Ax-Crazy: Jekkel. Despite his slender, almost androgynous looks, Jekkel is a force of nature when he snaps or even when he's just set on someone by his girlfriend. He doesn't care about his own safety - all he cares about is killing the opponent at all costs. Of course, it helps that Jekkel is a nearly-immortal vampire with a Healing Factor.
- Back Story: Seek and Rachael are both veterans of a supernatural off-world war and served in the same unit.
- Boisterous Bruiser: When we first see Sed Wingless, he's cheerfully choking a delivery man. Despite an impressive intellect, Sed prefers to rely on brute strength, not least because he enjoys getting his hands dirty.
- Blood Magic: Rachael uses this to summon Jekkel from....wherever Jekkel spends his spare time.
- Crapsack World: While Rachael lives in an opulent apartment, her penthouse is surrounded by slums. Donovan appears to be homeless when he picks up Seek in a movie theater. It's a tough world, even for monsters.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Most of the characters in the comic are monsters. Vampires, werewolves, shifters and yet they're very sympathetic. Even Rachael, who practices blood magic, drugs her sacrifices before killing them.
- Decapitation Presentation: This occurs in a spin-off short comic called Clockwork Blues.
- Healing Factor: All supernatural races have this to a certain degree. On one hand, you have enhanced vampire and half-vampires who can regenerate limbs and organs. On the other, you have supernatural "mortals" (such as Enkibs)who can only heal minor injuries.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: A gender-flipped version. Seek is a towering brute of a man and Donovan barely comes to his chin.
- Manchild: Jekkel has an unnerving habit of giggling around potential victims, forgets to wear clothes and likes to splash in puddles (of rainwater or blood.)
- Manly Gay: Seek. Definitely Seek. He's a burly ex-mercenary who in the words of the creator, was designed as a mixture of "the Punisher and Dracula on steroids." He's a play on the hyper-masculine (and inevitably heterosexual) characters found in Noir comics and notably, the later works of Frank Miller.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Donovan. Apparently his design is loosely based on Steve Urkel. He's short, wears old-fashioned glasses and talks like a middle-aged professor. Despite this, he has no problem picking up a tall, dark and handsome stranger. Of course, it helps that Donovan is attractive in a nerdy sort of way. Kind of geek-meets-twink.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: They are as far from traditional cinematic werewolves as possible. Known as Enkibs, they have perfect control over their animal forms and make a living eating the dead. Their forms vary from Enkib to Enkib.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Silver Bullet Nights features different kinds of vampires. You have the brutish powerhouses like Seek. You have the witches who use blood for magic. And finally, you have the Smokes like Jekkel (who can travel as vapor and are summoned via blood magic.)
- Pretty Boy: Jekkel. Slender, tall and leanly muscled, he has no body or facial hair and his features are quite feminine.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Jekkel is rumored to have once used someone's entrails as skipping rope.
- Straight Gay: While he might not have the physique and intimidating presence of his lover, Donovan comes across as both deadpan and no-nonsense in his mannerisms and speech.
- You Can't Go Home Again: The head of Donovan's family has disowned him for being transgender, resulting in him living on the mean streets of Toro City. He can't return to the family home or business; his previous life is over.
