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Webcomic / Blood Bank

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Shell (left) and One (right), completely belying the nature of this comic.

In a World… where vampires have been the ruling class for over a thousand years, humans serve under them as blood sources and menial workers. One of these humans (coincidentally named One) is an outlier; he is somehow immune to the Pheromones of vampires, which allow them to control humans. Since the vampires would be unlikely to take this very well, he keeps it a secret and hopes to live a quiet life as a relatively fortunate banker. Things get more complicated, however, when his immunity is discovered by Shell Overlord—not only a vampiric aristocrat, but the next in line to take control of One's workplace, the titular Blood Bank...

Blood Bank is a now-concluded Yaoi comic written by Silb; it is 61 chapters long and very NSFW. The first few chapters can be read for free here.


Tropes Appearing in Blood Bank:

  • Aerith and Bob: Shell, Pain, Brutal, Humpty Dumpty... and Jack.
  • After the End: The vampires establish their supremacy after a meteorite wipes out most of humanity.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Society has begun to tip in favor of humans, and Eric and Shell can finally live in peace; however, Eric will always be known as the cause of the Red Death outbreak and can never live a normal life.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: The English translation repeatedly refers to Shell and Reign as "abnormal" in the context of their sexual preferences. Given the reason for this label and the sort of stigma they are threatened with as a result, a more accurate term would be "deviant".
  • Broken Bird: Most Art, but especially Humpty Dumpty.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: A comic that starts out as a light-hearted BDSM love story goes on to deal with abuse, familial neglect, racial segregation, slavery, genocide, anarchism, and the importance of safewords.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Comes with the territory.
  • Crapsack World: The social divide between vampires and humans is only the beginning of the problems of this world; poverty is rampant and the engineered mortality rates rival those of medieval England. Furthermore, it is stated that vampires—who are explicitly vulnerable to light and heat—will eventually die out as Global Warming and rising sea levels rob them of inhabitable land.
  • Dead Person Impersonation: The original 'One' died of plague as a child. Eric assumed his identity in order to integrate himself into a more comfortable way of life.
  • Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Humpty Dumpty is assumed to be incapable of betraying his master, but turns out to be a part of the resistance, but is actually just gathering intel to pass on to his master, but is then planning to cause the death of all vampires...
  • Every Body Has Lots Of Sex: Art are all but outright stated to be sex slaves (among other things), most upper class vampires have BDSM playrooms, and feeding on humans seems to be just as much about dominating them sexually as actually drinking their blood.
  • Everyone Is Bi: Several major characters are involved on- or off-screen with both men and women, and the story is entirely devoid of Gayngst. Shell is more concerned with people finding out that he's a masochist who fantasizes about being dominated by humans than about those humans being men.
  • Fantastic Ghetto: With the exception of a "lucky" few, humans are made to live in inhospitable slums with very little food or medical help. The only reason they haven't been killed off altogether is because they serve as a convenient supply of blood for the vampires.
  • Fantastic Racism: The vampire elite regard humans as second-class citizens at best and livestock at worst. Overlaps with Unfortunate Implications when much is made of how unattractive the dark-skinned, dark-eyed humans are thought to be.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Shell; played with in that while he is a vampire, he is oblivious to the more heinous acts committed by his kind and genuinely disturbed when he finds out. His equally blond father has greater moral ambiguity to his character, but is eventually revealed to be one of the most benevolent aristocrats of his own generation with the possible exception of White Bones, another blonde character.
  • Happily Married: White and Ellie.
  • Hate Plague: The Red Death has this effect on vampires, causing them to lose their sanity and mindlessly attack each other.
  • Immune to Mind Control: One. The problem? He can't easily tell when someone is trying to control him, which leads to Shell discovering his secret without much effort.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Ellie, who captures the hearts and minds of those around him on the strength of his kind nature alone. One's resemblance to Ellie is part of what causes Shell to take an interest in him.
  • In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race: Humans as a whole are swarthy, with dark skin and eyes. A gray-eyed human is considered enough of a rarity to be sold as an Art.
  • Knight of Cerebus: The comic's tone takes a much darker turn with the appearance of Jack.
  • Love Dodecahedron: While present in the present-day storyline, this is taken up to eleven in backstory; Pain has a complicated, violent relationship with Brutal, who owns and lusts after Humpty Dumpty, who loves Ellie (either platonically or romantically), who is in a mutual relationship with White.... The plot is essentially kickstarted by Ellie's gentle, optimistic nature, which makes him the subject of much fascination among vampires and fellow Art alike.
  • Maligned Mixed Marriage: One's parents, White (a vampire heiress) and Ellie (a human).
  • Mass Hypnosis: How the vampires established their supremacy.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Several, from Reign Fear to the almost comical Pain Overlord and Brutal Bones. The author's only comment was that they named their characters according to their personalities, so this could be either a case of "Blind Idiot" Translation or Gratuitous English.
  • Numerological Motif: Common with the bankers. One is The Hero, with Thirteen being The Rival, for instance.
  • Pheromones: These vampires produce pheromones that enslave human minds. One's immunity to them is what drives the comic.
  • Property of Love: Much of the early conflict in the story comes from the issue of ownership and domination, and how much power One as a human really has over Shell outside the bedroom. This initially bleeds into their sexual encounters with One taking out his anger at vampirekind on a bewildered Shell.
  • Race Fetish: Most vampires openly despise humans and treat them as livestock. This doesn't stop those who can afford it from taking in specially reared human slaves called "Art" as status symbols.
  • Safe Word: "Rose", as of the end of the first section.
  • Sanity Slippage: One in the second half of the story.
  • Smells Sexy: Vampire pheromones appear to have this effect on some humans.
  • Steampunk: Of the retrofuturistic variety, with the vampire elite using steam-powered cars and even dirigibles to get around.
  • Taking the Heat: Eric takes the blame for the bank attacks and Red Death outbreaks in order to prevent all-out war between vampires and humans.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: One. Averted in-story; multiple characters find him plain, even ugly, and are surprised to learn of his involvement with the highly eligible Shell.
  • The Reveal: Several in the course of a few consecutive chapters: first, that vampires have been intentionally culling humans in order to keep the value of blood high. Next, that One is half-vampire and that his true name is Eric. Finally, his father was Ellie, the Art that Shell and Humpty Dumpty mistook him for.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: One isn't wholly human.
  • Wacky Sound Effect: The English translation is a repeat offender, transcribing the sound of footsteps as "clop clop".
  • You Are Number 6: Apparently common among bankers; One's real name is Eric.

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