VIDEO VAMP "EMBEDDED" IN DIGITAL HORROR COMIC

And yet another horror comic book hits the . . . bandwith? This time it's a comic book in Adobe's PDF format introduced by a Digital Dame with dangerous curves, but -- hold on to your popcorn, fangboy, she's not exactly the Video Vamp that you're thinking of. Come to think of it, she may not ultimately be what you're wishing for either, depending on your taste in -- comic books.

Her name is "Countess Cassandra" (that's Kaw-sawn-dra, not Ka-sand-dra, beetle-brow!) and she hosts the comic called MACABRE MAGAZINE. It's actually a comic, not a magazine like FANGO or RUE MORGUE.

The books are inexpensive enough -- 99-cents American will get you one of the first four issues that have been published so far. There is also a print edition of Issue #1 that sells for $3.99 or you can get an autographed copy for $6.99.

I went ahead and took the plunge and ordered up a digital copy of Issue #1. After checking out through PayPal, I returned to the webpage and there was a download prompt waiting for me.

It was immediately apparent that MACABRE is designed to be the comic book version of ELVIRA'S MOVIE MACABRE. Countess Cassandra introduces and ends each tale with an embedded video. The schtick is very familiar and is not far off from the type of snappy and suggestive humor that has made Elvira famous. Countess Cassandra's studio setting is also reminiscent of Elvira's digs. This all makes MACABRE -- despite its interesting premise combining video intros with illustrated stories -- a little to derivative.

Another thing that struck me as a little sneaky was a clever, but rather disingenuous marketing ploy that the webpage uses. Obviously designed to grab top tier search results, the web page title tab reads: "Elvira Tales from the Crypt Vampirella Horror Comic".

So, if you like your comics served up with a little sauce, try MACABRE. If not, there's always the real deal to fall back on.