The vampire of Barcelona gets her own graphic novel

It is almost like a Catalan version of Jack the Ripper: in the first years of the 20th century, dozens of children were kidnapped, prostituted and murdered by a woman known as the vampire of “El Raval” — the poverty-ridden neighborhood in Barcelona where the series of crimes seemingly occurred.

The story, deep-rooted in Barcelona’s collective imaginary as one of the most mysterious and macabre legends of the city, has inspired countless articles, books and even TV shows and movie characters. It will now be at the center of a graphic novel, written by Miguel Ángel Parra and Iván Ledesma and illustrated by Jandro González, to be published on November 17: La Vampira de Barcelona (“The Vampire of Barcelona”).

The authors set the legend aside and focus instead on the true story behind it — that of Enriqueta Martí, a woman arrested in 1912 for kidnapping a girl who shortly thereafter died in jail. Authors used historical documents in order to be as accurate as possible. “We did not want to portray a parody of the character,” Ledesma said.