The supernatural has become a popular subgenre for readers of romance, and artist Sarah Andersen has possibly created the most wholesome one out there with Fangs, a vampire-werewolf story that comic fans must read. Popularized by Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, supernatural romance has become fairly common in the romance genre. Whether it’s love with a vampire, werewolf, witch/warlock, or even a zombie; there’s no doubt that the concept of a person falling in love with a classic monster is all the rage. What hasn’t been touched on much though has been love between two monsters…until now with Fangs blowing people away with its adorable characters and wholesome chemistry.
Sarah Andersen is an artist whom people may be fairly familiar with online. She’s well known for her semi-autobiographical comics, Sarah’s Scribbles, which document her daily life, emotions and struggles in a humorous way that can also reach out and relate to her readers. It’s this series that helped her rise to popularity and she continues to publish new entries to this day. However, between October 2019 and July 2020, she took a bit of a break from Scribbles to focus on a new project: Fangs. What followed was a work so full of passion and dedication that it’s bound to become a classic among romance comics.
Fangs is a series of non-sequitur comics that follows Vamp, a vampire, and Jimmy, a werewolf. The two meet one night at a bar called the Odditorium and immediately hit it off. The rest of the series is just the two in their daily lives in a relationship with one another. There’s no big overarching narrative or end-of-the-world type stakes. It’s just a romance between these two characters, and it’s so well-written that it’s impossible not to love. Vamp and Jimmy have a relationship that’s not just relatable but also sets goals for what a healthy relationship can look like. They care for one another, respect one another’s boundaries when needed and regularly show their compatibility through traditional acts of romance or just casual togetherness. They clearly have a strong love for each other, and Andersen beautifully captures this in both her art and how the two interact.
What’s even more interesting though is that Andersen knows when to show these characters at their most…well, human. Life with these two isn’t always sweet as roses. Just like real relationships, there are highs and lows, and Andersen isn’t afraid to capture this in her work. One entry in the series has the two having a brief argument. Others may show either Vamp or Elsie at a personal low to the point that their significant other notices. At the end of the day though, they still care for one another, and that’s what makes them such an endearing romantic couple. On one page, the reader can tear up seeing these two have a fight or see one of them crying for reasons unknown. But the next page can bring a smile because they now know that this was just a low day for the relationship, but their bond and love for one another managed to have them work through it.
The official synopsis for Fangs on Tapas is described by Andersen to be a chronicle of “the humor, sweetness and awkwardness of meeting someone perfectly suited to you but also vastly different.” Based on this description, Andersen absolutely hit the mark with this series. The tale of these two very different monsters shows that people can be different…but that perfect fit can still be found within. Currently, every entry of Fangs is available to read for free on Sarah Andersen’s Tapas. For fans of physical copies though, there is also a beautiful hardcover edition with every entry in the series plus an additional 25 comics not on Tapas. Sarah Andersen‘s wholesome vampire-werewolf romance Fangs is a must-read, and it’s amazing knowing that the most relatable couple in comics may not be human themselves…but still have a beautiful sense of humanity.
