What if Vampires ruled 1960s London?  That is the thought that must have inspired Mark Ricketts when he came up with the idea for Night Trippers, a graphic novel with sex, drugs, rock & roll, and vampires.

Dorothy (Dot, for short) is a nurse at a hospital and one night when she is making the rounds, a mysterious man appears and attacks on of the patients with a wooden stake.  The patient disappears in a cloud of dust, and the attacker flees.  Little does Dot know, she is now a part of an undead subculture that has been manipulating swinging London for the past decade.

I heard about this graphic novel when I was read “Graphic Grown Up” in the August issue of Library Journal.  It included a list of comics and graphic novels to recommend to adults that want to try out the format.  This one caught my eye because of the colorful cover.

The art style is very different from any other graphic novel I have read.  The characters all seem to have very sharp edges, be it in their facial features or their Twiggy-style bodies.  But it worked for a story about fanged villians.  And for some reason, the “hero” of the story immediately made me think of Johnny Depp…might just be because one of his first lines sounded like something Jack Sparrow would say.

The story pokes a lot of fun at 60s culture and it would help the reader if they are familiar with the time period, especially the music.  I had a good time reading it, and even though Ricketts wraps most of the plot up by the last page, he leaves enough open that he could return to these characters later on. 

3.5 out of 5 – If you’re in need of a graphic novel with vampires and a sense of humor about itself, Night Trippers is a great place to start.

Official Night Trippers website here with preview images from the graphic novel!