

Indeed, the manga is a treat for gun enthusiasts and anyone who appreciates some stunning displays of violence. Though surprisingly, Alucard favors his twin guns over feasting on his enemies, and Seras wields a ludicrously long cannon called the Harkonnen. Everything is over the top, especially the blood spray. Vampires and Nazis are the cornerstone of pulp comics, and Hellsing unashamedly leans all the way into the absurdity of the circumstances. And though Alucard, Seras, and Anderson are all incredibly hard to kill, Millennium has another ace up its sleeve: They have been building an undead army for decades, scientifically modifying their ranks to be stronger.

The Hellsing Organization isn’t the only group invested in defeating Millennium, however the Vatican’s mysterious Iscariot Organization has deployed their hideously powerful Father Alexander Anderson whose bloodlust for Alucard occasionally threatens his ability to perform his duties. The Major’s chief concern is to plunge the world into war once again, lusting after the chaos, violence, and upheaval that war brings. Her newfound abilities are necessary, however, in the fight against Millennium, a holdover Nazi organization led by a man who was a Lieutenant in the SS during World War II, now known as The Major.

Seras, known as “Police Girl” by most, is hesitant to drink human blood or live in a coffin, grasping on to her remaining humanity and grappling with her steady transformation into a monster. In the pursuit of a vampire priest, Alucard turns a young police woman, Seras Victoria, into a vampire whose need to learn the ropes allows the reader an in with this secretive group. Sir Integra, a young bespectacled woman with an affinity for thin cigars, utilizes the services of the dread vampire Alucard to keep England free of monsters.

Initially translated into English as a collaboration between Dark Horse and Digital Manga Publishing in the early 2000s, Hellsing follows the maneuvers of the Hellsing Organization, led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. For those who like to strike a balance, there is Hellsing. Lovers of vampire fiction can often be divided into those who love genuinely terrifying monsters and those who enjoy surrounding themselves with all things darkly beautiful. The lore is rarely consistent, the only binding aspect that of blood drinking. Vampire fiction runs the gamut, from the creeping Victorian horror of Dracula, to the romance Twilight, to the thinly veiled homoerotica of Carmilla, to the science fiction wasteland of Vampire Hunter D. Lettering & Retouch: Wilbert Lacuna & Studio Cutie
