UNDER THE TRAVELER’S HAT: VAMPIRE HUNTER D
So who is this vampire hunter known only by a single initial, and how in the world are there twenty volumes (and yet more to come) detailing his exploits? The best way to think about it is to consider D an iconic character, much like James Bond or Sherlock Holmes. He’s got certain consistent characteristics—the wide-brimmed traveler’s hat, the cyborg horse, the black cloak, the air of ethereal indifference, the fact his left hand is a separate, conscious entity with its own personality and a raging id—and of course, the fact that D is so staggeringly beautiful that everyone who sees him falls hopelessly in lust. Finally, D has a general modus operandi around which a massive variety of adventures can be explored.
Author Hideyuki Kikuchi has been spinning tales of this gorgeous vampire hunter since 1983, combining all of the chills, gothic romance, and wry humor of his beloved Hammer horror films (that he readily admits are the major influence on his storytelling) with elements of craggy science fiction such as extraterrestrials, mobile cities, and cyborgs—all transposed to a far future that possesses the tumbleweed lawlessness of the Wild West. The Vampire Hunter D series is illustrated, as always, by the man who's given us the image of D beyond the words, Yoshitaka Amano.
In Vampire Hunter D volume 20, Scenes from an Unholy War (in stores this week!), D joins a group of mercenaries hired to protect a town on the frontier from an invading gang known not-at-all-ominously as the Black Death, but that’s only the beginning of the story. Mayhem, swordfights, bloodshed, and lots of sassy commentary from Left Hand ensue, but all throughout, D never loses his impeccable, ice-cold composure. As a standalone novel, volume 20 provides action and character aplenty, but the full series creates an unforgettable universe.
—Jemiah Jefferson, editor