Hipira

(Dark Horse, 2005)
™ and © 2002 & 2005 Mash Room and Shinji Kimura

Hipira, a fun-loving vampire child of indeterminate age (and gender), lives in the vampire city of Saruta, where the sun hasn’t risen in 2,000 years. We watch as he/she explores his/her world, goes to school, and play pranks (like imitating a rooster to terrify the townspeople).

Stories about little vampires that blend the gloomy with the cute are a dime a dozen, but what makes this pretty children’s book from Dark Horse so unexpectedly smart is its deeply weird feel. As when we learn the village elder has been collecting human souls so he can wring them of sprites, because, if a vampire drinks sprites’ blood, they go to Hell (which apparently is a good thing, if you’re a vampire).

But, instead, his vortex produces a single, strangely sperm-like creature named Soul who instantly becomes Hipira’s new best friend. Kids’ books just weren’t this weird (or interesting) when I was a kid. Though it never answers the most obvious question: Who, exactly, have these vampires been feeding on all this time?

— S.A. Bennett

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Notes

Writer

Artist

#1 (Hardcover Edition)

August, 2005
Cover Price: $13.95
1 copy available for $11.50

Katsuhiro Otomo

Shinji Kimura