The series had 28 issues published, and a one-shot Christmas Special. Artist that have worked on the series are Ted Naifeh, John Gebbia, Breehn Burns, Harley Sparx, and Vincent Batignole.
Tropes used by the series:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Vermilion to Lex and later Moon Raven to Vermilion.
- Artificial Human: Chrys was a wax doll brought to life by a woman that really wanted a child.
- Attention Whore: Moon Raven.
- Back from the Dead: Lex
- Black Comedy Rape/Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Moon Raven taking advantage of Vermilion when he thinks he's drunk is played completely for laughs.
- Clingy Jealous Girl / Crazy Jealous Guy: Isabella is one towards Damion and curses Damion when he doesn't return her feelings for him. Vermilion towards Lex but he can't take a hint. Moon Raven becomes one towards Vermilion but she won't take a hint. Near the end of the series Damion becomes one towards Lex. It's just one big cycle of jealousy isn't it?
- Dark Is Evil Marguerite and Carnival de Mort which she runs. Though, some of her minions seem to be affably evil or punch clock villains.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The main cast and Carnival Macabre.
- Depending on the Artist: Seeing as five different artist have worked on the series, the designs tend to change quite a bit. This can be seen in most of the trade paperbacks, and a few of the issues when a new artist is to be announced.
- Destructive Romance: Max and Lex's relationship. Lex loves Max but if she tried to tell him that she want to be more than just fuck buddies, he leaves her. Though once she says she's over it, he comes back. This cycle ended when Lex began to date Damion.
- Just about everything in Isabella and Damion's relationship embodies this.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Sebastian
- Dreaming the Truth: Early in the series Lex Has a dream about her past life with Damion and Isabella. She finds out later that it's all true.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Naturally, as it satirizes a lot of Goth tropes.
- Embarrassing First Name: Vermillion's real name Herbert
- Emo Teen
- Energy Absorption: Chrys, as a side effect of the spell that brought her to life Chrys can absorb super powers from other magical creatures. So far she's gotten powers from a monster, a werewolf, and a gargoyle.
- Face–Heel Turn: Isabella
- Goth: Satirized.
- Goth Spirals
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Lex and Damion. Really, any guy with Lex.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The Monster and Marguerite. Chrys also qualifies for a while after eating The Monster in the first arc, not realizing that she had been eating the boys she slept with after getting in a fight with Sebastian over his leaving to find the Carnival Macabre. She returns to normal after coughing The Monster up.
- Important Haircut: Throughout most of the series Sebastian can't control reality warping powers and his hair covers his eyes. When he finally accepts his powers and begins to control them, we finally see his face unobscured by his hair.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Everything Moon Raven wears.
- Love Redeems: Well, it did for Isabella and Artemis
- New Old Flame: Artemis to Isabella.
- One-Hour Work Week: The main cast is always shown at night clubs or cafes, and Lex and Vermilion are the only ones who are shown to have jobs.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Lex and Isabella often wear corsets as part of their goth attire.
- Only Mostly Dead: Lex after she came back wrong
- Our Gargoyles Rock: Damion and Isabella can change from human to gargoyle form, and summon other smaller gargoyles to do their bidding.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Can come back from the dead if they so choose. However, only psychics and mediums are aware of their presence.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Meet in a goth night club, several of them look like Orlok, and are shown to be either
neutral or evil. - Our Werewolves Are Different: Artemis, is more of the wolf man variety. He also has a hard controlling himself when he transforms into his werewolf form. Made worse by his past history with Isabella.
- He gets better.
- Perky Goth: Lex, at times.
- Chrys and Lyndi too. Chrys more so than anyone.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Lex, Lyndi, Isabella, Sarah, Moon Raven, and Lucy all qualify.
- Reality Warper: Sebastian does this both unwittingly and knowingly.
- Stalker with a Crush: Vermilion to Lex, to the point of getting a job at Shadow of the Bat just be near her and writing her a love letter pretending to be Damion to lure her to his mansion at one point. He later gets a taste of his own medicine when Moon Raven comes about.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Vermilion, who is convinced that he's a modern day Byronic poet, he sucks.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Lex and Damion. They're both cursed.
- The Cameo: In the chapter “Bad Goth Poetry with your host Vermilion” there is a figure in the background that looks like a certain homicidal maniac.
- Totally Radical /Buffy Speak: Lex has come up with her own set of slang terms (including, Squishy, Oogie, and Yummy) that are used by her and the rest of the cast.
- Vampires Own Night Clubs: Vermilion gets invited to one and gets turned into a vampire.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Castor and Pollux. Near the end of the series Sebastian gives the Monster the ability to switch between human and monster form.
- What Does She Seein Him: Lyndi and Chrys question why Lex stays in her on again, off again relationship with Max.
- Woman Scorned: Isabella
- You Are What You Hate: An interesting example with Chrys. She hates Isabella for cursing Lex and causing her "death" in book three. She attacks Isabella on three separate occasions out of rage motivated revenge. Chrys however, has the ability to absorb powers from other mythical creatures and she is unaware of it for awhile. A side effect of her powers is that she absorbs emotions too. Well, let's just say three times was one too many.
Wait, the page ends here?! That is so Oogie!
