johnson-burt-upper.jpgBURT JOHNSON

Real Name: Burt Johnson

Identity/Class: Human;
    pre-modern era (circa 1975) (see comments);
    US citizen

Occupation: Pimp

Group Membership:  None

Affiliations:
    formerly Lily Marlowe

Enemies: Lawrence Blasco, Lily Marlowe

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: At least formerly Chicago, Illinois

First Appearance: Vampire Tales I#9/4 (February, 1975)johnson-burt-face.jpg

Powers/Abilities: While not possessing any superhuman abilities or advanced skills, Burt is, at least, an experienced brawler, and he is bold (and/or foolish), not backing down from a fight, even against a vampire.

    Burt is quick-thinking and works well on his feet...realizing he was facing a vampire, he immediately prepared the appropriate means of defense/assault.

    Burt's primary motivation was to prevent the vampire from cutting into his business.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'10 - 6'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 170 - 210 lbs. depending on his height)
Eyes: Unrevealed (black and white comic)
Hair: Apparently blond

History:
(Vampire Tales I#9/4 (fb) - BTS) - Pimp Burt Johnson employed multiple prostitutes, and he considered Lily one of his best workers, although she did have a history of drinking heavily upon occasion.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) <1975> - Burt checked on Lily as he drove by, asking her "How's tricks?" She was not impressed the lack of sublity in his humor. She apparently paid him a large some of money, indicating she had been active and successful. johnson-burt-full.jpg

(Vampire Tales I#9/4 - BTS) - Lily was vampirized by Lawrence Blasco.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - When Lily didn't return to the streets, Burt checked out her apartment and found her very weak and tired. Burt asked what happened and where was the guy she had picked up, but Lily was unable to remember what had happened to her and figured she must have passed out. Burt initially suspected she had been "hitting the sauce again," but when she insisted she was just tired and weak, he appreciated that she looked kind of pale and figured she might have caught a virus. He sent her home to get some rest, as "you can't sell damaged goods."

(Vampire Tales I#9/4 (fb) - BTS) - Three days later, Lily revived and was reinvigorated as a vampire.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - When Lily returned to work, Burt considered her a trouper for bouncing back so quickly.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - In the ensuing days, Lily picked up customers and partial fed on them, after which she headed out on the streets, giving her an alibi as Blasco fatally drained these victims.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4 - BTS) - Having recognized the man who died as a man Lily had been with, Burt became suspicious.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - Burt questioned Lily, but she assured him the man had left after their encounter (see comments) and she didn't know what had happened thereafter.

    Burt told Lily, "Okay, baby...don't sweat it! Go back to work!" However, he was certain Lily was lying; unable to prove this, Burt resolved to keep tabs on her.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - After Lily had taken her customer to a room, presumably unaware that Burt was trailing her, Burt watched as the bat-form of Blasco flew into the room in which Lily had taken her customer.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4 (fb) - BTS) - Aware of Johnson witnessing his arrival and his suspicions, Blasco plotted to lead Burt into a trap.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - When Lily flew out of the room minutes later in bat form, Burt assumed it was the same one as before and figured it might be a vampire bat; though he had no idea how Lily was fitting into this, he followed the bat to kill it to prevent his customers being killed.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4 (fb) - BTS) - Meanwhile, after finishing off his victim, Blasco followed Burt.johnson-burt-finale.jpg

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - When Burt followed the bat to find a recently disturbed coffin in the basement of an abandoned theater, he realized the bat was actually a vampire. Sharpening a stake, Burt opened the coffin but was shocked to find Lily within.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - Blasco then made his presence known and explained his actions. Telling Blasco, "You blew it buddy, 'cause you're not killing me! I'm acing you!" Burt rushed him with his stake, but Blasco easily swatted him away. Realizing how powerful and dangerous Blasco was, Burt threw some baskets between himself and Blasco and then fled; however, Blasco remained close behind, promising to catch and destroy Johnson.

    However, in the dark rooms, Burt was able to briefly lose found a stage lamp on which he tied some strips of cloth in the form on a cross. The searching Blasco warned Johnson that he was only prolonging the inevitable and his agony, but Burt silently thought, "You don't know from pain, creep! But you will...!"

    Shouting, "Okay, Fang-Mouth -- Now the heat's on you, hot and heavy! How do you like it?" Burt then turned on the lamp and held the cross-shadow on Blasco, trapping and weakening him. Blasco futiley instructed Johnson to turn off the lamp, but eventually he collapsed from weakness, after which Burt dragged him back to the basement.

(Vampire Tales I#9/4 (fb) - BTS) - Burt staked both Lawrence and Lily and left them in the

(Vampire Tales I#9/4) - As he departed, Burt lamented that he would miss Lily as she was the best item in his stable; "Well, I guess that's the breaks of the game! You win some...and you lose some."

Comments: Created by Larry Leiber and Jesus Blasco.

    Lily told Burt her "trick" had left after they were done, but Blasco had typically finished off the victims after Lily had fed on them, and they never left the site of the transaction. I guess she wasn't taking them back to her apartment anymore, as if they all died in the same place, she would have been highly suspect regardless of whether she had departed long after her customer's death. Even if they were going to different places, her consistent presence would have been hard to deny. I guess it was just a simple plot for a short story, more of a concept not intended for such scrutiny.

    This story was published in 1975 and has absolutely nothing to tie it to the modern era/sliding timescale...it fits nicely at the time of publication, and Dracula's OHotMU entry confirms the story to have occurred in the second half of the 20th century. The story specifically notes it to have been like 30 years after World War II.

    I wonder if there is some cosmic union of pimps, including the likes of Burt the Pimp/Vampire-Hunter and Pro-Boscis the Procurer.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Burt Johnson should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
Vampire Tales I#9/4, pg. 5, panel 6 (upper body, confronting Lily);
       pg. 6, panel 6 (full body, distant, shadowed);
       pg. 7, panel 1 (face, with stakes);
        pg. 9, panel 6 (walking out with vampires staked)

Appearances:
Vampire Tales I#9/4 (February, 1975) - Larry Leiber (writer), Jesus Blasco (artist), David Kraft (assistant editor), Marv Wolfman (editor)

First posted: 11/10/2018
Last updated: 11/10/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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