You may have heard of this project. Stranger Comics initially announced it in 2016 with a planned Kickstarter goal, only for a variety of issues, including the pandemic, to force a wait. Now it's finally happening, and I'm pleased to say that it's worth waiting for. Based on a 2005 short story, Message from Cecile by original Vampire Hunter D author Hideyuki Kikuchi which hasn't been officially translated into English, the comic is an interesting mix of eastern and western styles of storytelling.

The story, which is the only Vampire Hunter D tale to take place on Mars, spans centuries. In 1999, a young scientist named Cecile is on Mars when the nuclear apocalypse took place, sparing her and the other colonists. Her lover, Franz, returns to Earth to check on his family, and Cecile is haunted by visions of his death—something she knew would happen even before he left because of her Cassandra of Troy-like “gift” of foresight. When Franz returns to Mars, Cecile is at first thrilled, thinking she's finally learned to overcome her visions, but it quickly becomes obvious that Franz is not the same: he's been turned into a vampire, and he's come accompanied by a Noble with the goal of turning Mars into a vampiric playground. Troubled, Cecile has a vision of D and sends off a message to him, begging him to come to Mars when he gets it (several hundred years hence) before succumbing to her fate.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the way it bounces around in time. Outside of the few moments when we're given direct information about when a section is taking place, past and present blend into a sort of pastiche of Cecile's visions—we can't necessarily tell when each event is happening, as if Cecile's power has spun out of control and taken over not only her life, but all of Mars. I likened her power to that of Cassandra of Troy earlier, but where Cassandra was doomed not to be believed even though she saw truly, Cecile is a self-contained Cassandra, not wanting to believe that what she sees will come to pass but knowing that she can't escape it. She goes from initially not fighting her visions at all in 1990s Mars, to hoping that she's wrong when Franz returns, to desperately wishing not to be wrong when she sees D. She's completely conflicted about her power, unable to see it as anything but a negative and simply giving in as she fluctuates continually between hope and despair.

In some ways, this makes her a very typical Vampire Hunter D female character. Many of the women, particularly in the earlier novels, walk a very fine line between competent and damsel, and Cecile embodies that contradiction fully. She's intelligent and absolutely good at her job, but she becomes overwhelmed relatively easily, and even in her more rebellious moments, she's unable to get out of her own head. This does make her a tragic heroine, but it also can be irritating simply from a competence standpoint. It feels as if Cecile gives up too easily, possibly because we don't meet her until the disaster is already in motion; if we'd had a chance to see her in earlier life before she was let down by her power, she may have been a more interesting or relatable character. Most of the time, however, she is blind to what is happening outside of her own emotions, with Franz and his feelings for her being the best example. He truly does love her, both pre-and-post vampiric transformation, but Cecile is so buried in her own prophecies that she's unable to realize that he's the one constant presence in her life. Should she not have summoned D to take the vampires out? I wouldn't go that far. But she does deprive herself of one comfort because her visions have the effect of making her short-sighted.

Apart from Cecile, the character we hear the most from is D's charming Left Hand. He keeps up a constant stream of banter when he's present on the page, with D only contributing one or two lines to the dialogue. This can grow a little annoying, but D's presence in the story is much less about what he has to say than it is about him fulfilling his role as Cecile has seen it. He carries the gravitas of the tale, a complement to Cecile and Franz's tragedy. Artist Ryan Benjamin does a good job of conveying this with his dark, gloomy glimpses of D, taking the original character designs and stretching them so that, while they're still perfectly recognizable characters, they also have a superhero comics sensibility. Benjamin's D could almost be Dhampir Batman. Cecile perhaps suffers the most from the conversion from manga to western comic art, as she looks very sexualized with costumes that emphasize her breasts and bare legs. To a degree that makes sense (and there are non-explicit sex scenes in the book), but it can at times create an odd disconnect between art and story, although the biggest issue may be that it doesn't help make Cecile any less of a damsel in distress.

Apart from the sex scenes, the story is also very violent, which shouldn't be much of a surprise. People get cut in half, heads and other limbs are lopped off, and spongy-looking stumps and halves litter the fight scenes. It's gross, but it's also very much meant to be, so I'd call that a success on the artistic front. Also present in the book are splash pages by Christopher Shy, who did the artistic development of the book. These are gorgeous in shades of grey, very much Shy's own while still plainly inspired by Yoshitaka Amano's original art. Since the hardcover volume doesn't retain fingerprints (which is a major pet peeve of mine as a bibliophile), it's easy to keep this looking lovely on your shelves, something all special editions ought to do.

Vampire Hunter D: Message from Mars is a successful adaptation of a work in Kikuchi's original series. The time jumps can be confusing and Cecile isn't quite as strong as we might like her to be, but it retains the feel of Kikuchi's work and the art is a nice blend of east and west. If you're a fan of the original books, this is an interesting addition to the canon.