Sukia

Sukia is a vampiress who drinks blood but seems to have few of the classic vampiric powers, except when it is convenient for the story. She was created by Italian author Nicola del Principe, and physically based on Italian actress Ornella Muti. Her best friend and most consistent companion is Gary, a gay man who is as insatiable as Sukia, but who seems to regard Sukia with the utmost priority.

Most of Sukia's adventures are satirical and relate to a trend at the time of publication, touching upon them as Sukia and Gary find intimacy -- very temporarily -- with whomever should take part in the stories. Despite numerous sexual flings, Sukia and Gary most often find that instead of anyone else, they have each other, something of an irony considering their incompatible sexual orientations and very sexual natures.

Sukia is pursued by a journalist who wishes to expose her true nature, although he rarely manages to present any real threat. This is one of the only recurring plots to persist throughout the series; most other stories resolve themselves within one or two issues, and characters do not recur.

After a point, the popularity of Gary made Sukia almost a guest-star in her own title, and by the time the series had ended, they had see-sawed to something of a rather uneven balance. Sukia's adventures ended abruptly, with the publisher closing and the copyright holder of the characters within completely and utterly unknown.

Sukia is especially important for having presented Gary as a person and not just a caricature or a stereotype; in some ways he was stereotypical, but the series' long run gave great opportunity to develop him. At one point he was mentally deranged and became convinced he was heterosexual, and Sukia went to great lengths to restore his normal frame of mind. Gary was one of the earliest gay characters in any comics to receive such treatment, of being matter-of-factly accepted as his identity and being allowed, even encouraged, to be sexually active.

Sukia, too, went through a number of adventures both disturbing and horrific, yet at the end remained consistent with her identity at the start, though she had developed as a person along the way. Her series outlasted many of her contemporaries and was also more explicit but told a story.

Even though Sukia and Gary were not pure, upstanding figures, their close relationship and amusing interactions were pioneering as a heterosexual female and a homosexual male couple, presented in a straightforward manner that has scarcely been achieved since.