Vampires in DC universe

[HsssH]

I was reading a bit about vampires in Marvel universe and started thinking that DC doesn't really have any high profile characters related to vampires? By high profile I mean that character regularly appears in published comics.

There is obviously Bennett. His friend Mary. And Cain (first vampire, different to Sandman/Vertigo Cain and Rucka's Crime Bible Cain) acted as a villain in I... Vampire series and crossover with JLD, he also had few appearances in Demon Knights. Dracula himself, outside of Red Rain, is very minor character in DC universe.

Then there are cosmic vampires like Starbreaker and Belzebeth. And we also got multiversal vampires in Monitors (Mandrakk being the obvious one) as we seen them in Superman: Beyond during Final Crisis. None of them have many appearances.

I think that Batwoman had some storylines with vampires, but I haven't read any of those and I'm not sure who appears there and if they are major/minor characters. And thats it I think?

Doesn't really stack up against Marvel's usage of Dracula, Morbius and Blade.

[marhawkman]

there was a major JL story long ago that was Vampires trying to turn the JL and take over the world.... but... it didn't have much aftermath.

[Lonewolf36]

Looker was pretty active during the Outsiders run and Scream Queen during the Scare Tactics series but your correct DC has nothing on the level of Marvel. I would love to see Marius Dimeter used more.

[Robotman]

There’s the Mad Monk who was Batman’s first antagonist and one of the first comic book supervillains. DC really should utilize him more.

[exile001]

Doesn't really stack up against Marvel's usage of Dracula, Morbius and Blade.

I think it's in part because DC doesn't lean into their horror tradition the way Marvel has over the decades. Pre-Marvel had a big horror line (when they couldn't sell superheroes) and they slowly took parts into the brand once they became Marvel, and leapt back into 70's when supernatural stuff was all the rage. Marvel chased that trend, even licensing some versions of movie monsters.

DC had horror comics in the 50's and such but kept them largely separate to their superhero line, which was still selling really well. Some of it crossed over in the 70's-80's but then in the late 80's-90's they shipped a lot of it off to Vertigo to do interesting things while Marvel did the (more prominent) Midnight Sons.

DC still has a problem with traditional horror in universe that always feels a bit flat and generic.

The New 52's I, Vampire book was great, though. I believe that was my first introduction to Andrea Sorrentino's gorgeous art.

Oh, also American Vampire is fantastic (Vertigo, so not main continuity).

[Timothy Hunter]

There was the King of Vampires who appeared on a couple of issues of Ennis' Hellblazer. I thought he was a very cool character, but he hasn't appeared since.

[K7P5V]

There’s the Mad Monk who was Batman’s first antagonist and one of the first comic book supervillains. DC really should utilize him more.

Indeed. There was also another Monk: Louis DuBois. Along with his sister, Dala.
Would be interesting to see them again (if at all possible, of course):

[marhawkman]

I think it's in part because DC doesn't lean into their horror tradition the way Marvel has over the decades. Pre-Marvel had a big horror line (when they couldn't sell superheroes) and they slowly took parts into the brand once they became Marvel, and leapt back into 70's when supernatural stuff was all the rage. Marvel chased that trend, even licensing some versions of movie monsters.

DC had horror comics in the 50's and such but kept them largely separate to their superhero line, which was still selling really well. Some of it crossed over in the 70's-80's but then in the late 80's-90's they shipped a lot of it off to Vertigo to do interesting things while Marvel did the (more prominent) Midnight Sons.

DC still has a problem with traditional horror in universe that always feels a bit flat and generic.

The New 52's I, Vampire book was great, though. I believe that was my first introduction to Andrea Sorrentino's gorgeous art.

Oh, also American Vampire is fantastic (Vertigo, so not main continuity).

Well that one JL run had a lot of horror-lite stuff alongside Crucifer.... yes really they actually named a vampire that. https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Crucifer_(New_Earth)
Wait... they used in him LIVE ACTION O_O!!!!
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Crucifer_(Arrowverse)

I kinda wanna see that now.