VOLAN GAUL

Real Name: Volan Gaul

Identity/Class: Human vampire;
    pre-modern era

Occupation: Predator

Group Membership: Vampires of Earth;

Affiliations: None known

Enemies: Debra Chomen, George Chomen

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: A cavern in an unidentified mountainous US region (presumably the southwest; see comments).

First Appearance: Vampire Tales#7/5: "BATS" (October, 1974)

Powers/Abilities:
    As a vampire, Volan presumably would have had superhuman strength (typically enhanced human) and required regular blood meals to survive.

    Further, feeding on a human victim would typically turn that victim into a vampire, depending on the extent of the feeding and other circumstances.

    Those he vampirized may or may not have been subservient to him.

    When fully fed, he could likely heal rapidly from non-fatal wounds. However, he was apparently vulnerable to poison, at least a certain type of rat poison.

    He presumably had the standard vampire vulnerabilities, including religious icons, sunlight, garlic, silver, and wooden stakes through the heart.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'10")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 155 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (possibly red; original eye color unrevealed)
Hair: Black (or, at least, dark)

History:
(Vampire Tales#7/5) - Vampire Volan Gaul spent his days in bat form in a cave. By night he returned to humanoid form and sought human victims upon which to feed.

(Vampire Tales#7/5) <April 17, 1974> - Exiting his cavern as the moon rose into the sky, Gaul saw and heard Debra Chomens driving a jeep on the road below.

    Descending onto her vehicle and landing on its hood/windshield, Gaul then grabbed her by the neck and bit down into her jugular vein.

    He continued to drink as the jeep ran off the road and over a cliff, flying away just before it crashed to the ground. Gaul subsequently returned to his cavern in bat form and roosted for the da

(Vampire Tales#7/5) <April 18, 1974> - The next day, as Gaul slept, Debra's husband, George, who had been trying to bag a specimen of noctilio leporinus (greater bulldog bat, aka fisherman bat), investigated Gaul's cavern, caught the dormant bat in a net, brought him back to his cabin, and put him in a cage.

    After highway patrolmen brought the seemingly dead Debra to George's cabin, Vaul (still in bat form) remained in the cage while George despondently drank rat poison and waited to die.

    As the sun set, Gaul returned to humanoid form, broke out of the cage and fed on George's blood.

    However, the poison in George's blood agonized Gaul, and he grabbed his own throat before collapsing (see comments).

(Vampire Tales#7/5 - BTS) - Debra revived as a vampire, and George did as well soon after. The pair took up residence in Gaul's former cavern.

Comments: Created by Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, and Duffy Vohland.

    It is presumed from the story that Gaul perished from drinking George Chomen's poisoned blood. It is interesting that George revived as a vampire after dying following his own poisoning, but the situations are somewhat different.

    Regardless, if Gaul did perish at that time, he was likely revived by the prophecy fulfilled in Blade III#12 that brought back every vampire that had ever perished.

    Gaul's adventures took place at the time they were published and they are not associated with the sliding timescale, so the dates are not topical.

    George Choem was seeking to bag a specimen of noctilio leporinus, which is native to Latin America (with a range stretching from Mexico to Northern Argentina), but perhaps the Chomens traveled to this location to investigate reports of noctilio leporinus existing in this part of the USA.

Courtesy of Wikipedia:
    The greater bulldog bat or fisherman bat (Noctilio leporinus) is a type of fishing bat native to Latin America (Spanish: Murciélago pescador). The bat uses echolocation to detect water ripples made by the fish upon which it preys, then uses the pouch between its legs to scoop the fish up and its sharp claws to catch and cling to it. The greater bulldog bats range stretches from Mexico to Northern Argentina and also includes most Caribbean islands.

    This was an early prototype of Marvel's 'Nuff Said stories, as there was no speech in this story, no was there narration.

        The only text was in Debra's letter to George, in George' journal, and the "NOK NOK" sound affect when the highway patrolman brought Debra's body to his cabin.

    Volan Gaul's name, as well the surnames of Debra and George, were revealed in Vampires: The Marvel Undead. The date was confirmed as 1974, and the location was confirmed as being in the USA.

        Volan Gaul's name is an homage to the artists who created him, deriving the letters of his first name from inker Duffy Vohland's surname and the letters of his surname from the surname of Paul Gulacy.

        Debra and George's first names were given in story in Debra's letter to George, while the surname is an anagram of the surname of writer Doug Moench.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Volan Gaul should be distinguished from:

• GAULAG of the Hyborian era - manager of the wench Purani--Savage Sword of Conan#73
• GAULT of the Hyborian era - fought in the Pict Wars--Wolves Beyond the Border; Savage Sword of Conan#59/3
• GAULT (Zed) - religious order, formerly held the Five Fingers of Annihilation, slaughtered by Helix--X-Force II#1, (identified) #3
• GAULTHING, ALISON - subjected to experiments at Adrenamix, fell to death while fleeing the Psigns of the Times--Justice: Four Balance#1
  
• GAULTHING, ANDERSON - father of Alison, former head of Adrenamix--Justice: Four Balance#1
• VOLA the TRAPPER - Spaceknights first generation, Spaceknight Squadron, lover of Plor/Pulsar, assisted Clavians against Raak/Breaker, returned to Galador, slain by second generation Spaceknights, sacrificed self holding off a group of them--Rom Annual#2
• other "Vola" or "Gaul" characters
  

Gaul's cavern

(Vampire Tales#7/5) <April 17, 1974> - Exiting his cavern as the moon rose into the sky, Gaul saw and heard Debra Chomens driving a jeep on the road below.

    After feasting upon Debra Chomen, Gaul returned to his cavern in bat form and roosted for the day.

(Vampire Tales#7/5) <April 18, 1974> - The next day, as Gaul slept, Debra's husband, George investigated Gaul's cavern, caught the dormant bat in a net, brought him back to his cabin, and put him in a cage.

(Vampire Tales#7/5 - BTS) - After Gaul perished from George's poisoned blood, both Debra and George revived as vampires.

(Vampire Tales#7) - Debra rand George took up residence in Gaul's former cavern.

images: (without ads)
Vampire Tales#7/5: "BATS";  story pg. 1, panel 1 (bat);
            panel 3 (cavern, interior);
            panel 4 (converting from bat to humanoid form, initial);
        pg. 2, panel 1 (converting from bat to humanoid form, final);
          panel 2 (face);
          panel 6 (descending in winged humanoid form);
       pg. 5, panel 3 (captured in bat form);
          panel 4 (cavern, exterior);
       pg. 7, panel 6 (poisoned)

Appearances:
Vampire Tales#7/5: "BATS" (October, 1974) - Doug Moench (writer), Paul Gulacy (penciler), Duffy Vohland (inker), Tony Isabella (consulting editor), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Vampires: The Marvel Undead (December, 2011) - Jeff Christiansen, Mike O'Sullivan, and Stuart Vandal (head writers/coordinators); Markus Raymond & Mike Fichera (assistant coordinators)

First posted: 04/22/2020
Last updated: 04/22/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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