Fixation #1 Review: Fandom Gets Fangs, Fame Gets Bloody, and Vail Ain’t Ready

There are comics that enter politely, shake your hand, and ease you into the drama. Fixation #1 does not do that. Nah. This book kicks the door open wearing vampire merch, clutching a conspiracy board, and asking, “You sure your fandom is healthy, fam?” before somebody finds a body. WEPA. That is how you start a horror mystery.

Amy Chase and Savanna Mayer come out swinging with a first issue that understands something dangerous about fandom: love can be beautiful, but obsession will buy the limited-edition poster, refresh the message board all night, and convince itself murder is just another piece of lore. Fixation #1 is not simply “vampire fans get spooky.” That would be too easy. This comic is sharper. It is about nostalgia as a drug, parasocial devotion with a convention badge, and the way studios, celebrities, fans, locals, and media vultures all crowd around the same fire until somebody gets burned.

Taylor Van Owens is a die-hard Blood Mountain superfan who wins the dream prize: a stay at the legendary Mallard house, the iconic filming location tied to the vampire franchise that shaped her life. She brings her best friend Karrah, and the two arrive in Vail ready for cast reunions, anniversary nostalgia, fangirl joy, and enough vampire-themed chaos to make Hot Topic blush from three towns away. But the weekend already has blood on the welcome mat. A young woman has been killed inside the house, production wants it quiet, rumors are spreading, and Taylor is walking into her happy place while the walls are still spiritually wet with panic.

That is the tasty hook here. The Mallard house should feel magical. Instead, it becomes a haunted pressure cooker. Taylor does not love Blood Mountain in a shallow “cute actor, cool merch” kind of way. This series helped her through real grief. It gave her comfort when life got ugly. That gives the issue its heart. Chase does not reduce Taylor to a walking punchline. She is awkward, excited, vulnerable, funny, intense, and painfully human. You may laugh at how hard she fangirls, but you understand why this world matters to her. Big difference.

Karrah is the perfect counterweight. She is warm, funny, flirty, grounded, and just skeptical enough to keep Taylor from floating completely into vampire dreamland. Their friendship gives the book bounce, especially as the plot jumps from coffee shops to fan encounters, cast drama, online harassment, signings, memorials, and late-night creepiness. Karrah gets the jokes, but she also gets Taylor. That matters.

What really makes this book work is how real the Blood Mountain fandom ecosystem feels. The themed drinks. The fan boards. The anniversary events. The actors who are grateful, exhausted, resentful, trapped, or just trying to survive the machine that made them famous. The production team trying to polish disaster into publicity while a murder investigation creeps around the edges. You can smell the merch table and desperation in the same panel. Chase nails that weird fan-culture cocktail where love, money, grief, entitlement, and identity all get poured into one cursed cup.

Savanna Mayer’s artwork does major heavy lifting. The faces are expressive, and in a story built on awkward fan reactions, celebrity discomfort, suspicion, and dread, that is essential. Taylor’s wonder feels genuine. Her anxiety feels just as real. The Mallard house looks cozy and cursed at the same time, which is exactly the assignment. It is the kind of place where you want to take selfies until you realize the shadows are watching you back.

James Fenner’s colors give the book its gothic pulse. The purples, reds, blues, and eerie romantic lighting make Vail feel like a tourist town trapped inside a vampire fan edit. The fantasy elements glow with melodrama, while the real-world scenes still feel grounded enough for the horror to cut through. Sandy Tanaka’s lettering and design keep the story readable while giving all the media noise, fan board chaos, messages, signage, and dramatic dialogue its own obsessive rhythm.

The issue also avoids the lazy “fans are bad” sermon. It knows fandom can save people. It can build community. It can help grief sit down somewhere. But it also knows that when identity gets stapled too tightly to a story, celebrity, ship, or memory, things get ugly fast. Love becomes entitlement. Devotion becomes surveillance. Criticism becomes betrayal. And then, boom, somebody wants to make history for all the wrong reasons.

The cast of suspects is already tasty. Resentful locals. Jealous fans. Actors with old wounds. Producers trying to keep the machine moving. Superfans treating instability like bonus content. The issue lays out enough motives to make everybody look suspicious without solving the mystery too early. It is a little crowded in spots, but that crowding fits the story. Vail is overloaded. The fandom is overloaded. Taylor is overloaded. That swarm is the point.

By the final pages, Fixation #1 shifts from gothic fan-weekend fun into something more sinister, personal, and dangerous. The killer is not just chasing blood. They are chasing meaning. Legacy. Punishment. A permanent place in the mythology. A random murderer is scary. A murderer who thinks they are correcting the story? That is nightmare fuel with Wi-Fi.

Fixation is slick, stylish, emotionally clever horror with real bite. Amy Chase writes with humor, tension, and psychological sharpness. Savanna Mayer brings expression and atmosphere. James Fenner makes the whole thing glow like neon blood in a snow town nightmare. Sandy Tanaka gives it a layered, media-saturated pulse. This debut has fangs, brains, heart, and a basement full of red flags wearing collectible lanyards.

Fixation #1 is for readers who like horror with mystery, fandom critique with empathy, and vampire nostalgia served with a side of “yo, maybe do not meet your heroes in a murder house.” Pre-order this one before August 3, because when September 9 hits, Vail is opening its doors, Blood Mountain is calling its faithful, and somebody is ready to turn fandom into a crime scene.

CRUSADERS SCORE:
4.5/5

Writer: Amy Chase
Artist: Savanna Mayer
Colorist: James Fenner
Letterer and Designer: Sandy Tanaka
Editor: Riley Farmer
Concept: Riley Farmer
Cover A: Suspiria Vilchez
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Pre-Orders Due: August 3, 2026
On Sale: September 9, 2026