SOURCE: "The Hills of the Dead" by Robert E. Howard (Weird Tales, August 1930)

DESCRIPTION: "...They were tall and gaunt and entirely naked. Their skins were a dusty black, tinged with a grey, ashy hue, as of death. Their faces were different from any he had ever seen. The brows were high and narrow, the noses huge and snout-like; the eyes were inhumanly large and inhumanly red. As the two stood there it seemed to Kane that only their burning eyes lived." ("The Hills of the Dead" by Robert E. Howard)

NOTES: The Vampires of the Hills are of an ancient race that once lived in a city near the caves where the vampires hide by day. They are not afraid of the light but of vultures which eat their dead flesh. Solomon Kane is able to kill them in two ways: fire and with his juju stick that N'longa gave him, which predates even the Egyptians. Kane is also able to disable them by breaking their spines. Unable to walk, they still leer at him with red eyes. N'Longa wipes them out by calling hundreds of vultures to the city to devour them.

HISTORY: It is interesting to see what Howard does with the vampire. Remeber this is 1930. Dracula the film with Bela Lugosi has not yet been released. Howard seems to be inspired by Stoker's novel since his vampires can walk in the daylight. They only turn to ash when the juju staff kills him. "The Hills of the Dead" was illustrated for Kull and the Barbarians #2 and 3 (1975). Adapted by Roy Thomas, it was illustrated by Alan Weiss and Neal Adams.

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