About.com Rating

Bite Me first started as a webcomic, sometime around 2001, written and drawn by then-high-school-student Dylan Meconis. It ran for several years online, and was eventually published in print. This edition (the 3rd) is the "13th Anniversary Edition" and includes some bonus material like witty footnotes and a brand-new story.

Publication Information

• Full Title:Bite Me: A Vampire Farce
• Writer/Artist: Dylan Meconis

• Publisher: Elea Press
• Publication Date: 2012
• ISBN: 9780988220201

Turn Me

Claire is a barmaid not entirely suited to her job. She's clumsy with peeling potatoes, and she's prone to walloping customers with trays when they try to grope her. And excitement and violence are in the air, even well outside the city of Paris, because the French Revolution has begun.

One evening a dark stranger shows up at the inn, and one thing leads to another, and next thing she knows, Claire is a vampire. The main vampire lair in Paris has been infiltrated and the entire coven captured, and now it's up to Lucien (the stranger), Ginevra (his acquaintance), and Claire (our hero) to save the day.

Humor Me

Bite Me is an interesting blend of comedy and historical tale -- not always completely accurate (as the author notes on one page where the costumes aren't entirely period), but still capturing the feeling of the times. The story feels like there's genuine research behind it, which makes the comedy -- both verbal and slapstick -- feel funnier, somehow.

Comedy is one of the hardest genres to write, and whether or not readers will find it funny depends as much on the reader as on the writer. For me, Bite Me was always amusing, and there were several times it had me laughing out loud. A lot of the humor was silly, but it was a good silly, and tempered by some very smart humor here and there.

Show Me

The art in Bite Me is the work of a talented beginner. The book was originally completed in 2004, and even within its pages you can observe the development of Ms Meconis' drawing from simple but a little rough, to a much more polished cartoon style. In the years since then, she's gotten even better (and is definitely no longer a beginner), as one can see from the new story included at the end of the book.

The drawing is in greyscale, and very stylized (those cheekbones!), but it's a suitable look for the story, like still animation. The lettering is hand-done, and not as slick as many comics, but it has a frenetic energy that suits the story very well.

Read Me

You can read the entirety of Bite Me on the web (here's the official site), but if you have some spare cash and want to support a gifted cartoonist and encourage her to make more work, consider buying the printed book. It's a nicely produced volume, with crisp reproduction and an appealing use of spot gloss on the cover (which is rendered in greyscale and red). You can also read Meconis' latest tale, Family Man (featuring one of the characters from Bite Me, but in a more serious historical tale), on the web (here).

The publisher recommends Bite Me for ages 8 and up, though some parents might not want their younger kids to see the minimal cartoony violence or the very occasional sexual innuendo (no actual sex here and only a few smooches). Readers who know a bit about the French Revolution will get more out of the reading, but it's very accessible even to those who know nothing at all about history.

Vampire fans might object to silly vampires (though I hope they'll see them rather as a broadening of their favorite subject), and readers tired of vampires should find this take refreshing -- especially where it pokes fun at some of the sillier tropes of vampire fiction (Lord Batfang? Snort!).

Disclosure: A review copy was purchased by the reviewer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.