May young art prevail: Dylan Maconis' Bite Me!

The great thing about early works is that they contain so many possibilities. There's always another idea, another conversational riff, another fruitful aside dropped in until the piece can be fit to bursting. They make up in pizzazz what they may want for in focus and discipline.

And so it is with Bite Me! - a graphic novel begun while still in school by Eisner nominee Dylan Maconis, available to read online and buy here. 

It's so good, you'll have trouble crediting she produced it so young were it not for the energy.

A piece of screwball comedy with vampires set during the French revolution, Bite Me! is a pile up of le snark, sight gags and physical comedy, poking fun at Anne Rice and A Tale Of Two Cities alike. The gag-per-panel (never mind per page) ratio is ultra, ultra-high and while the story threatens to overturn at the corners it always keeps going on a crest of relentless momentum.

It also manages not one but two strong women protagonists, with Clare, the (anti-) heroine coming along like an undead Katherine Hepburn in a tricolour cockade.

The comic's got great art, kinetic, characterful and at the service of the story. And, if you want to check out how good Maconis has got since check out Family Man (a prequel of sorts to Bite Me with added gravitas) or her short Outfoxed. 

Bite Me! is a joyful potlatch of excessive inspiration. Long may young art prevail.