Pecking order of monster hunters
strixvanallen on May 19, 2017
(I wasn't feeling well this week, so have a scribble while I work in the next strip.)
In Bram & Vlad's universe, monster hunters are the only thing standing between all kinds of threats and Humanity. If people in this ‘verse can go buy some icecream without worrying that they will be eaten by giant worms coming out of the ground, it’s thanks to their constant work. All of the monster hunter teams are important to the world's safety, but it never stopped them to stablish an informal ‘hierarchy’ of how tough you are depending on their regular prey.
The Vampire Hunter Association might be the biggest of all monster hunter organizations (possibly because so many vampires also happen to be rich and influential, so just puching them will not be enough to defeat them - also, since vampires multiply by blood rather than having children, there are much more vampires than any other kind of sentient ‘monster’).
About “Armageddon monsters”, they are big and powerful creatures like Cthulhu, that can potentially destroy the world with ease if they wake/are summoned here. Usually, teams that deal with those kind of horrors are like the Justice League, an all-star team made by the bravest and more skilled hunters of the world (when there is the opportunity to assemble one, that is). Bram's family is almost always called to be part of such teams, if only because they are so paranoid and genre-savvy that they make sure no dumb mistakes will be made when the fate of the world is at balance.
I'll let you decide if this is a compliment to them or not.
Spikes at 9:51PM, May 19, 2017
The Van Helsings being included in all armageddon class attacks is definitely a complement. It means they are the only ones smart enough to actually do the job! heh
strixvanallen at 4:47PM, May 20, 2017
"Hey, mates, want to join our team? You are just paranoid enough to make this work!" xD
Darius Drake at 2:22PM, May 19, 2017
In my opinion, the Van Helsings being included in Armageddon Monster Hunts whenever possible and the reasons behind it is both a compliment and an insult. On one hand, everyone wants them to help, which should give them autograph-wanting levels of respect, particularly due to them being in a leadership position at these times. On the other hand, the reason why they're wanted is because they are considered paranoid by all the other Monster Hunters. Which is an insult. Especially since a fair amount of their new blood would join their ranks due to a set level of paranoia, which would be where these associations would consider their members to be "twitchy".
strixvanallen at 9:48AM, May 21, 2017
To be fair, most monster hunters are "let's kill this mountain with teeth before it eats us" paranoid, and the Van Helsings are "I'm not entering this haunted house without removing all the doors and locking all moving objects in anti-magic vaults" paranoid. To be even more fair, this is why they are still alive to this day.