Fiends of the Eastern Front

Comic by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra

War
Vampire

Publication dateFebruary–April 1980
May–December 2006Creative teamWriter(s)Gerry Finley-Day
David BishopArtist(s)Carlos Ezquerra
Colin MacNeilLetterer(s)Jack Potter
Colin MacNeil
Ellie de VilleEditor(s)Steve MacManus
Matt SmithReprintsCollected editionsFiends of the Eastern FrontISBN 1-904265-64-2

Fiends of the Eastern Front was a story published in the British comics anthology 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra. The series mixed vampires into the general horror of the Eastern front.

Plot

A diary found with an unearthed skeleton casts new light on a lost piece of history from World War II. It belongs to a young German soldier who was stationed on the Eastern Front alongside a group of Romanian soldiers who always fought at night. Their true nature is soon revealed and when they change sides all Hell breaks loose.

Characters

German

The Germans were:

Hans Schmitt - The main Protagonist
Karl Mueller - Hans' friend
Inspector Brandt - A police officer in 1980 Germany

Russian

The Russians were:

The Rabbi - An unnamed rabbi who performs the ritual
The Golem - Created by the Rabbi to destroy Costanza and his Vampyr
Jesf Charnosov - A member of SMERT KROFPEET

The Vampyr (Blood Pack)

The Vampires were:

Hauptmann Costanza - Vampire leader
- Colonel Grant - An alias of Costanza's
Corporal Gorgo - Costanza's chief Lieutenant
Corporal Cringu - Costanza's loyal thrall
Fourteen other unnamed Vampyr followers

Bibliography

They have appeared in their own series (the original run being released as a single volume by Rebellion Developments in June 2006 and a new series starting to coincide with this) as well as cropping up elsewhere and now feature in a series of novels.

Comics

Fiends of the Eastern Front:
- "Fiends of the Eastern Front", written by Gerry Finley-Day, art by Carlos Ezquerra, in 2000 AD #152-161, February–April 1980 (collected in hardcover, October 2005, ISBN 1-904265-64-2)
- "Stalingrad", written by David Bishop, art by Colin MacNeil, in Judge Dredd Megazine #245-252, May–December 2006
- "1812", written by Ian Edginton, art by Dave Taylor, in 2000 AD #2100–2105, September 2018
- "Fiends of the Western Front", written by Ian Edginton, art by Tiernen Trevallion, in 2000 AD #2111–2115, December 2018 - January 2019
- "Costanta", written by Ian Edginton, art by Tiernen Trevallion, in 2000 AD #2201-2211, September-December 2020
- "1963" written by Ian Edginton, art by Tiernen Trevallion, in 2000 AD #2273-2285, March-June 2022
- "Fiends of West Berlin", written by Karl Stock, art by Warren Pleese, in 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 2022
- "Fiends of the Western Front: Wilde West", written by Ian Edginton, art by Warren Pleese in 2000 AD #2310, November 2022

Cameo appearances in other series

Judge Dredd: "Helter Skelter" (with Garth Ennis; Carlos Ezquerra (1-7, 10-12) and Henry Flint (8-9), in 2000 AD #1250-1261, 2001)
The Scarlet Apocrypha: "Red Menace" (with Dan Abnett and Carlos Ezquerra, in Judge Dredd Megazine #4.17, 2002)
Fodder (with Hannah Berry and Dani K, in 2000AD Free Comic Book Day 2016)

Novels

Black Flame released a series of novels based on the series, all written by David Bishop:

Fiends of the Eastern Front:
- Operation Vampyr (December 2005 ISBN 1-84416-274-5)
- The Blood Red Army (April 2006, ISBN 1-84416-325-3)
- Twilight of the Dead (August 2006, ISBN 1-84416-384-9)
- Fiends of the Rising Sun (July 2007, ISBN 1-84416-494-2)

The first three books were collected in one volume, Fiends of the Eastern Front (672 pages, February 2007, ISBN 1-84416-455-1)

The novel Fiends of the Rising Sun deals with the same premise but with vampire samurai in the Pacific War.