I don’t recall what I was looking for on the library website when I stumbled across The Lost Boys comic, but I hit hold super fast. After the 1987 movie, there were two straight-to-DVD sequels, and a comic series (Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs) but this comic is a direct sequel to the original film. And this comic reads and feels like a sequel to a 1987 movie in both good and bad ways. So yes, the rest of this review will have some mild spoilers for the movie if you haven’t seen it (but if you haven’t and you like horror comedy from the 1980s, find this movie and watch it because it is brilliant).
Picking up after the movie (how long after the movie is unclear, but long enough for the adventures of the first movie to be turned into a self-published comic book by the Frog brothers), The Emerson’s (Lucy, Michael, Sam and Grandpa) are still living in Santa Carla (I might have considered a scenery change but what the heck), along with Star and Laddie, and the Frog brothers. There are some strangers in town, however – a tribe of all female vampires, who have a connection to Star and are bringing trouble with them.
The series decides to up the stakes (heh) early on by killing off one of the movie’s original characters, and then fleshes out a fan favourite (I guess) character who basically amounted to a cameo in the first movie (it is the saxophone player). Some characters who you might have thought were goners make comebacks, some familiar places are revisited, some plot points are reused, and a few lines from the movie get reused. So basically, it’s a sequel and tossing in some fan service which is fine.
What was not super fine to me was the plot centring on Star’s connections to these new female vampires, but Star is perhaps the most undeveloped character in this comic. I mean no one gets a ton of development, but Star feels like just a plot point here and less than a character. Even on the cover of the comic she’s relegated to the background, behind Michael and the female vampires. I was excited to learn more about Star, and instead, I feel like I learned more about the guy playing saxophone on the boardwalk.
I did appreciate that the art didn’t seem like it was trying to be a realistic adaptation of the actors who played the various roles in the movies. There is blood and gore, and some creepy vampire-melting action that all reads well, and feels very cinematic.
The ending is – an ending. I feel like the creators hoped (thought) that they might get to tell some more stories because it feels like a third entry into the franchise was planned based on how things ended. I’m not sad exactly that there isn’t more in this comic verse as honestly I’m not sure there needs to be much more explored, but I also would 100% read any more comic issues put out. I am the target audience however I guess, being a big fan of the original movie.