''Undying Love'' is a limited comic book series created and written by

Tomm Coker Tomm Coker, also known as Thomas L. Coker (born November 3, 1972), is an American comic book artist and film director/writer. Career Coker's career started in the early nineties drawing comic books for Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel C ...

and Daniel Freedman. The first issue was published in March

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

by American company

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-o ...

. Originally meant to be 2 arcs published as an 8-issue limited-series, only 4 issues and a collected edition were ever published. The story is about an ex-soldier who falls in love with a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

, a Chinese woman named Mei. To free Mei of her vampiric curse, John Sargent must fight his way through the Hong Kong underworld to kill the vampire who transformed her. It happens that Mei was transformed by one of the most powerful vampires of all times.

Publication history

Coker said that he got the idea from a news story that he read about a drug-addicted woman who was forced into prostitution. One of her Johns fell in love with her, but she was ashamed of what she had become. She was also being beaten by her

pimp Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

, so the John shot and killed the pimp and some other men, was caught, and spent the rest of his life in jail. Both creators also said they spent months researching

Chinese folklore Chinese folklore encompasses the folklore of China, and includes songs, poetry, dances, puppetry, and tales. It often tells stories of human nature, historical or legendary events, love, and the supernatural. The stories often explain natural phe ...

and

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

. The story is also heavily inspired by Romanian vampire lore.

Collected edition

In September 2011, ''Undying Love Vol. 1'' was released. It had 102 pages and included issues #1-4, never-before-seen art, cover gallery, character designs, a page of the script and layouts for four pages.

Film

In March 2012,

Alexandre Aja Alexandre Jouan-Arcady, known professionally as Alexandre Aja, (; born 7 August 1978) is a French filmmaker best known for his work in the horror genre. He rose to international stardom for his 2003 horror film '' Haute Tension'' (known as ''Hi ...

, director of '' Piranha 3D'', was in negotiations to direct a film adaptation of ''Undying Love'', but in November, Aja was out and

Joe Carnahan Joseph Aaron Carnahan (born May 9, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor whose films include '' Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane''; '' Narc''; ''Smokin' Aces''; ''The A-Team''; '' The Grey''; and '' Boss Level''. He ...

, director of '' The Grey'', ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court ma ...

'' and ''

Smokin' Aces ''Smokin' Aces'' is a 2006 American action comedy film written and directed by Joe Carnahan. The film centers on the chase for Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant Robert 'Buddy Aces' Israel ( Jeremy Piven), on whom a one-million-dollar boun ...

'', was in negotiations to direct ''Undying Love'' for Warner Bros. The project was said to be produced by

Michael De Luca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. The former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks, De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Bes ...

and Stephen L’Heureux and also by Chris Bender and J.C. Spink of Benderspink. In January 2019,

David Leitch David Leitch (born November 16, 1975) is an American filmmaker, actor, stunt performer and stunt coordinator who made his directorial debut on the 2014 action film ''John Wick'' with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited. Leitch the ...

was announced to direct ''Undying Love'' from

Tommy Wirkola Tommy Wirkola (born 6 December 1979) is a Norwegian film director and writer. Career His first film was 2007's '' Kill Buljo'', which he co-wrote with Stig Frode Henriksen. They later made the 2009 horror comedy ''Dead Snow''. In 2010 they agai ...

for Studio 8 and is produced by Jeff Robinov, Kelly McCormick, and Stephen L’Heureux.

References

{{Reflist Image Comics limited series