CHRISTINA LAWRENCE

Real Name: Christina Lawrence (presumably)

Identity/Class: Human vampire (1930s era)

Occupation: Prostitute (see comments)

Group Membership: Madam Angela's brothel (Angela DiPalma, others)

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Leroy Hayes, Conrad Jeavons, Hodiah Twist

Known Relatives: None (see comments)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Madam Angela's brothel, Lower Manhattan

 

First Appearance: Vampire Tales#2/6 (Oct. 1973)

Powers/Abilities: As a vampire, Christina possessed the standard powers and weaknesses, including superhuman strength and durability, physical transformation (able to assume the form of a bat), the need to consume human blood, weakness to religious icons, etc.

 

Height: 5'7" (by estimation)
Weight: 125 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Red

  

History:
(Vampire Tales#2/6 (fb) - BTS) - The sultry Christina Lawrence was a vampire who "worked" at Madam Angela's brothel in lower Manhattan. She and her fellow vampires preyed on some of the clients who visited the premises, seeing it as an ideal hunting ground since the victims came to them, eliminating the need to risk stalking their prey in more dangerous locations.

 

(Vampire Tales#2/6) - When Leroy Hayes visited the brothel to win a bet with a friend, Christina offered to spend some time with him. Taking him to her room, she promised the nervous man he had nothing to fear from her, and lured him into embracing her, at which point she bit him. As he recoiled in shock and pain she laughed at his sudden terror, then stepped back as her sister vampires rushed into the room, some halfway transformed into bats, to join Christina in feasting.

 

(Vampire Tales#2/6 - BTS) - The group drained Leroy dry, and dumped his corpse in a warehouse on the wharves.

 
(Vampire Tales#2/6) - Following up on information from Leroy's friend that the unfortunate man's last known whereabouts had been Madam Angela's, the detective Hodiah Twist sent his friend Conrad Jeavons into the brothel posing as a client, in order to provide Hodiah a distraction while he broke in to search for clues. Though it was close to dawn, Christina told Madam Angela that she was famished and so would be willing to accommodate the late arrival. She led him to her room, and to his embarrassment and fascination began to disrobe, then suddenly shocked Jeavons by transforming into a bat, passing through a leather-skinned, half-human form on the way. Fully a bat, she flew at him, but Jeavons managed to dodge out the way.

    Without changing back, bat Christina opened the room door to let her sister vampires in, and Jeavons fled out the fire escape and fled across the rooftops, followed moments later by a swarm of bats. Christina and her fellows tried to figure out where he was hiding, until the man managed to slay one of his pursuers by impaling her with a weather vane, then dropping her over the side of the building he was now atop onto a cross lit with neon. As Christina and the other remaining vampires shrieked in anguish at the loss of one of their own, Jeavons fled down to street level via another fire escape, as the neon-lit cross had alerted him that the building he was now at housed a Salvation Army mission, which he swiftly entered. Christina and the others raced in after him, in their haste failing to spot the Salvation Army sign and that Jeavons had dodged to the side of the door they were now entering. Before they could take in their surroundings, their prey slipped back outside and pulled the door shut behind him.

  

   As the pastor spotted them and decried the presence of creatures spawned sand damned in Hell, Christina and her fellow vampiresses suddenly realized they were in a room adorned with dozens of crosses, making escape virtually impossible, with large windows about to let in the light of the imminent sunrise, and Christina wailed that they were doomed.

 

Comments: Created by Don McGregor (writer) and Rich Buckler (penciller) and Carlos Garzon & Klaus Janson (inkers).

 

   It's entirely possible that Christina never actually slept with any clients, instead only feeding on them; if that's the case, then it'd be inaccurate to describe her occupation as prostitute. However, I have to imagine that they couldn't murder every client that went in, or else people would inevitably begin to notice; since brothels couldn't exactly hang signs outside, you'd need somebody surviving to recommend the "services." Since Madam Angela presumably had to have at least some daytime staff (even if closed during daylight hours, you'd need someone to answer the door if, for example, the cops turned up), there might well have been some living prostitutes working in the brothel some of the open hours, with the vampires only picking off a select few clients who seemed more vulnerable, such as Leroy Hayes, a man clearly out of his normal neighborhood who turned up in the early hours before dawn when the brothel had no other clients around to hear his screams. It's perhaps notable that Jeavons, who Christina also targeted, likewise turned up at the brothel only slightly before dawn, again when the brothel would have few witnesses on the premises.

 

   One of the other vampires refers to Christina as "sister Christina"; however, in the context used it was probably simply an indication that the vampiric women viewed other members of their coterie as siblings, rather than actual familial relationships. At a guess, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Angela had turned Christina and her fellows into vampires.

 

   Christina's surname was revealed in the Appendix of the Vampires Handbook; the headshot of her in that same Appendix provided her hair color.

 

   In Blade III#12 a prophecy was fulfilled that brought back all vampires that ever died, presumably including Christina.

 

Profile by Loki, expanding on the sub-profile first written by Jean-Marc Lofficier for the Hodiah Twist entry.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Christina Lawrence has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Vampire Tales#2/6, page 62, panel 7 (main image)
Vampire Tales#2/6, page 62, panel 2 (headshot)
Vampire Tales#2/6, page 62, panel 5-6 (biting Leroy)
Vampire Tales#2/6, page 68, panel 3 (half-bat form)
Vampire Tales#2/6, page 68, panel 8 (in full bat form)
Vampire Tales#2/6, page 70, panel 8 (trapped in the Salvation Army hall)
Vampires: The Marvel Undead Handbook, Vampire Appendix, p7, pan7 (colorized from Vampire Tales#2/6, page 62, panel 2, colorized headshot)

Appearances:
Vampire Tales#2/6 (October, 1973) - Don McGregor (writer), Carlos Garzon (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)

First Posted: 10/24/2021
Last updated: 10/24/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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