by Randy Lander

THE VAMPIRE BRAT AND OTHER TALES OF SUPERNATURAL LAW TP Recommended (8/10) Exhibit A Press Writer/Artist: Batton Lash Art Assist: Derek Ozawa & Melissa Uran Editor: Jackie Estrada Price: $14.95 US The latest collection of Supernatural Law, while perhaps not quite as approachable for new readers as other collections, lives up to the high standards that Batton Lash has established for the series. This trade consists largely of two continuing stories, a legal battle that pits Wolff & Byrd against parodies of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ally McBeal and another story that sees them defending a takeoff on Marvel's Hulk. In between, there are a lot of developments in the personal lives of the various cast members, as well as a retrospective of the law firm's history and a couple of isolated stories as well. This book is the spiritual descendant of the EC comics, with the same almost campy tone and horror feel in the artwork and writing. Always amusing, this collection is heavier on soap opera than on puns or gags, but it still serves up considerable laughs and plenty of quality storytelling. Kicking off the collection is "The Vampire Brat," which takes a decidedly different take on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though Lash clearly has a lot of affection for the source material, he mercilessly skewers the slayer and her supporting cast with his "Myrtle the Vampire Hater" character, who slays mostly out of a lack of self esteem (and a desire for extra credit). Not satisfied with one clever pop-culture reference, Lash has Myrtle represented by Ally McGraugh, a very familiar "post-feminist role model" lawyer. Given how effectively and hilariously Ally McBeal is skewered by McGraugh, I'm not certain that Lash is a fan of Ally McBeal, but clearly he knows it well enough to nail the basics of the character and make the parody quite funny. One of the nice things about this book is that Lash ventures into a variety of different genres for his parody. Following up on his work with Anne Rice and Bram Stoker inspiration, he tackles Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Hulk and makes them resonate for fans of the series as well as amusing enough for someone who only has a surface familiarity with the concepts. In addition, he'll often use these stories to address larger issues in a fairly subtle way. The story of the Inevitable Hank is just as much an indictment of the parental school of thought that violent movies and video games are more important than good parenting, the story of the Vampire Brat an indication of high school dynamics and the folly of romance and all of the subplots an indication of how lives can get so incredibly complicated. The various characters and their subplots are one of the main attractions of the book for me. The stories each have an individual case that generally wraps up in a few issues, but the running story of the relationships of Alanna Wolff, Jeff Byrd, Corey Wolff and Mavis has been going since issue one, growing ever more complicated. While this does have a tendency to make the book a little inaccessible to new readers at times, it also gives the feelings of real relationships and lives going on in the midst of the weirdness, grounding the stories and making the humor funnier. In the middle of this trade there is a story that includes an office party and time travel, and shows off the extended cast that Lash has built up over the course of twenty-five issues, and it's pretty impressive. One thing I love and have grown to admire is how Lash throws out a variety of plot threads and brings them home. The story of Buford and Myrtle has a variety of players in the background, and it's interesting how a supporting player in one part of the story becomes a major player in the finale. And a seemingly minor gag at the beginning of the party issue turns out to be quite an important clue to the plot by the end, which is another nice surprise. Basically, Lash is a master of storytelling structure, whether it's well-constructed character arcs or finely-tuned plots. It's hard for me to really explain what I like about Lash's artwork. It's always easy to read, and he does some great things with facial expressions (particularly some very nice work on the Chase/Mrs. Fortunatus scenes) as well as putting in plenty of work on backgrounds and settings. Basically, he makes the whole thing feel like a well-furnished legal comedy-drama rather than a comic book, in art and story. By buying the trade paperback, readers do miss out on a few of the extras that come in the monthly issues, such as the pinups from notable artists like Dave Sim and Jeff Smith or Lash's recommendations of other comics, but they do get the bonus of a Will Eisner introductory piece. In addition, readers will get a solid package of entertaining comics in a well-designed package. I note that the number four adorns this collection, leading me to hope that the stories currently out of print (and very important to the character arcs) will soon be reprinted in collections similar to this one and Sonovawitch, the previous trade. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.