GEORGE CHOMENGEORGE CHOMEN
Real Name: George Chomen
Identity/Class: Human vampire;
pre-modern era
Occupation: Predator;
former zoologist
Group Membership: Vampires of Earth;
Affiliations: None known
Enemies: Volan Gaul
Known Relatives: Debra Chomen (wife)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: A cavern in an unidentified mountainous US region (presumably the southwest; see comments);
formerly a shack in that region
First Appearance: Vampire Tales#7/5: "BATS" (October, 1974)
Powers/Abilities: 
As a vampire, George presumably would have had
superhuman strength
(typically enhanced human) and required regular blood meals to survive.
Further,
feeding on a human victim would typically turn that victim into a
vampire, depending on the extent of the feeding and other
circumstances.
Those George vampirized may or may not have been subservient to him.
When fully fed, he could likely
heal rapidly from non-fatal wounds.
George presumably had the standard
vampire vulnerabilities, including religious icons, sunlight, garlic,
silver, and wooden stakes through the heart. He may or may not have
been susceptible to conventional poisons (at least those affecting
blood properties, such as vitamin K inhibitors; see comments)
He could transform into a normal-sized bat and fly; in bat-form, he slept in a cave during the day; perhaps, like her vampiric progenitor, Volan Gaul, while somewhat dormant in bat-form, he could survive extended periods of sun exposure without harm.
He may have been able to mesmerize others with a gaze; however, not every vampire possesses such abilities.Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'11")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (possibly red; original eye color unrevealed; apparently dark, perhaps brown)
Hair: Unrevealed (dark, possibly black or brown...who knows, it was a black and white story), with long sideburns
History: 
(Vampire
Tales#7/5 (fb) - BTS) - George worked out of a shack
in the American southwest, seeking to obtain bat specimens. His wife, Debra,
planned to join him later.
Debra mailed George a letter, telling him she would be at his comfy little shack about 9 AM on April 18.
(Vampire Tales#7/5) <April 18, 1974> - Apparently having slept in, around 11:25 AM, George checked Debra's note. As she hadn't arrived yet (unbeknownst to him, she had been assaulted by the vampire Volan Gaul en route and had driven off a cliff), George decided to continue his work
Driving off to an area he hadn't previously investigated, George made notes in his journal. 
Investigating an ominous looking cave, George found and netted the sleeping bat within, unaware it was a vampire (Gaul).
Returning to his shack, George put
the bat in a cage. Seeing that Debra had still not arrived, he poured
himself a shot (or more of liquor).
Late afternoon, the policemen knocked at George's cabin door, showing him Debra's apparently dead body and then leaving the body with him.
Placing Debra's body on his bed,
George stood over her for a while. After punching his bathroom vanity
mirror in frustration, George found a bottle of rat poison.
George despondently drank the rat poison, dropped or threw the bottle, which shattered on the ground, painfully held his abdomen, and then collapsed over Debra's form and waited to die.
Meanwhile, as the sun set, Volan Gaul George returned to
humanoid form, broke out of the cage and fed on George's blood. 
However, the poison in George's blood agonized Gaul, who apparently perished (see comments).
(Vampire Tales#7/5) - Shortly after Debra revived as a vampire, George did as well.
The pair
took up residence in Gaul's former cavern.
Comments: Created by Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, and Duffy Vohland.
I thought there would be a word for the study of bats, like khirology, but all I find is chirology, which is the study of the hand.
Rat poison in the medicine cabinet/vanity mirror? What could go wrong with that. It reminds me of the Far Side cartoon where the rat complained about almost grabbing the rat poison in their pantry instead of cereal or something. He noted that they shouldn't keep it so close to the cereal...and then questioned why they had rat poison in the first place.
It is presumed from the story that
Gaul perished from drinking George Chomen's poisoned blood. It is
interesting that George revived as a vampire after dying following his
own poisoning, but the situations are somewhat different. A common type
of rat poison is a Vitamin K inhibitor, which interferes with the
body's ability to normally coagulate (clot) blood, causing those that
ingest a sufficient dose to bleed out and die, even without trauma to
cause bleeding. As it affects blood, it makes some sense that it would
poison a vampire; however, perhaps being bitten by a vampire while
otherwise dying from the poisoning saves a person from mortal death.
Who knows?
Other common types of rat poisons include metal
phosphides (which combine with stomach acid to release poisons, such as
phospene gas) and Vitamin D-based products that cause fatal
hypercalcemia.
Interesting that the police
brought Debra's body to George and just left it there with him. Maybe
he asked for some time alone, and they agreed to give him an hour, or
something like that.
The Chomen's adventures took place at the time they were published and they are not associated with the sliding timescale, so the dates are not topical.
George Chomen was seeking to bag a specimen of
noctilio leporinus, which is native to Latin America (with a range
stretching from Mexico to Northern Argentina), but perhaps the Chomens
traveled to this location to investigate reports of noctilio leporinus existing in this part of the USA.
Courtesy
of Wikipedia:
The greater bulldog bat or fisherman bat (Noctilio
leporinus) is a type of fishing bat native to Latin America (Spanish:
Murciélago pescador). The bat uses echolocation to detect water ripples
made by the fish upon which it preys, then uses the pouch between its
legs to scoop the fish up and its sharp claws to catch and cling to it.
The greater bulldog bats range stretches from Mexico to Northern Argentina and also includes most Caribbean islands.
This was an early prototype of
Marvel's 'Nuff Said stories, as there was no speech in this story, no
was there narration.
The only text
was in Debra's letter to George, in George' journal, and the "NOK NOK"
sound affect when the highway patrolman brought Debra's body to his
cabin.
Volan Gaul's name, as well the
surnames of Debra and George, were revealed in Vampires: The Marvel
Undead. The date was confirmed as 1974, and the location was confirmed
as being in the USA.
Volan Gaul's name is an homage to the artists who created him, deriving the letters of his first name from inker Duffy Vohland's surname and the letters of his surname from the surname of Paul Gulacy.
Debra and George's first names were given in story in Debra's letter to George, while the surname is an anagram of the surname of writer Doug Moench.
Debra was noted to be a zoologist in the unabridged appendix to Vampires: The Marvel Undead as well.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
George Chomen should be distinguished from:
George despondently drank rat poison and then collapsed over Debra's form and waited to die.
Meanwhile, as the sun set, the bat George had captured returned to humanoid form, and Volan Gaul broke out of the cage and fed on George's blood.
However, the poison in George's blood agonized Gaul, who apparently perished (see comments).
(Vampire Tales#7/5) - Shortly after Debra revived as a vampire, George did as well.
George and Debra turned into bats and flew away.
images: (without ads)
Vampire Tales#7/5: "BATS"; story pg. 4, panel 6 (face close-up, partially blocked by letter);
panel 9 (face, full, less detail);
panel 10 (shack);
pg. 5, panel 5 (full profile with Gaul in net);
panel 6 (main);
pg. 7, panel 8 (Debra and George, fanged);
panel 12 (bats in Gaul's former cave)
Appearances:
Vampire Tales#7/5: "BATS" (October, 1974) - Doug Moench (writer), Paul Gulacy (penciler), Duffy Vohland (inker), Tony Isabella (consulting editor), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Vampires: The Marvel Undead (December, 2011) - Jeff
Christiansen, Mike O'Sullivan, and Stuart Vandal (head
writers/coordinators); Markus Raymond & Mike Fichera (assistant
coordinators)
First posted: 05/03/2020
Last updated: 05/03/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
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