Visions of Lorelei: Louis Small Jr.

Welcome to Visions of Lorelei, a 13-part artistic event that celebrates the recent publication of Lorelei: Sects and the City, a Mature Readers graphic novel that reintroduces The ’Warp’s first horror heroine: the soul-stealing succubus Lorelei, who made her small-press comics debut in 1989 before starring in a short-lived, full-size comics series in 1993. We kick things off with a team-up that will probably never happen—but a fella can dream, can’t he?

I first met artist Louis Small Jr. in early 1993—I was making plans to publish Lori in her first full-sized comic, and Louis was getting attention as the penciler of Harris Comics’ recently launched Vampirella series (with some guy named Jim Balent inking him—hey, whatever happened to him?). Considering how ugly the art was on Harris’ previous Vampirella comic—the b&w miniseries Morning in America—Louis’s art was the proverbial breath of fresh air. And I told him so, when I ran into him at the ’93 Great Eastern Convention in New York. He was talking to a friend of mine who saw me coming and yelled out, “There’s that guy I was telling you about, who’s the big Vampirella fan!” And then I gushed about how awesome Louis’s art was.

The gushing paid off. Turned out Harris Comics wasn’t really promoting Louis’s appearance at the con—in fact, they didn’t even have copies of Vampirella #1 on display—and he was feeling pretty annoyed. But now, here was someone excited about his art, and he felt appreciated—so appreciated that he stopped by my artist alley table the next day to say he’d be willing to draw the cover for the upcoming Lorelei #0 for free.

Skip ahead to fall ’93. By then I’d published two issues of Lorelei—#0 and #1, both with covers by Louis—and I was trying to figure out a way to get people’s attention at another Great Eastern show. How about a free b&w poster? I thought. But what should the subject be? Lorelei, obviously, but there needed to be a real eye-grabbing element. Then the idea just popped into my head…

Lori and Vampirella, drawn by Louis—makes sense, doesn’t it? And the people who picked up the poster sure loved it. Unfortunately, this is as close to teaming up as these two ladies have ever gotten. Ah, well. But it’s sure a nice piece, isn’t it?