As Countess Vladimira, Avery is a horror icon, as anyone who has ever attended a comic or horror con can attest. A dark-skinned, leather-clad young woman with large piercing eyes and a ready smile, Vladimira is a vamp for the new century, managing to out-vamp Vampirella herself. The Countess has been the subject of two comic book series, with a third due out soon. She has appeared as herself in several films, most recently in Dennis Devine’s Vampire Night and the Troma “masterpiece" Terror Firmer. She is also a spokesmodel for The Coffin Case Company (http://www.coffincase.com/) and Spooky Planet.com.

What’s most remarkable of all is that Avery Misuraca invented The Countess out of thin air, and then created a demand for her character among the world’s rabid horror fans. “I walked into a comic book store about nine years ago, and saw a promotional poster for a model dressed as Vampirella," Avery explains. “And the guy who owned the store told me ‘You look so much like Vampirella, you should contact the company.’ And I got to thinking about it. I grew up loving horror as a little kid, so I decided to call the company. What the hell? And they told me they already had a Vampirellamodel, but I should send pictures of myself. So I went in, handed them the pictures personally, and by the time I got home there was a message on my machine: ‘We want you to be our East Coast Vampirella.’ So I did that for a little while. I appeared on the cover that Joe Quesada did: Number Zero. Then I did a blood drive for them in New York City. And I appeared for them this year at the Chicago Comicon. And then I decided to create my own character, one I could control the rights to, instead of being just a spokesperson for some company."

“The product of an unholy union between Dracula and a mortal mistress," reads her official biography. “Countess Vladimira came to be in 1637 London. Her father took her under his wing (no pun intended), initiating her into the supernatural life of vampirism, where darkness is light, and passion all consuming. Throughout the centuries Countess Vladimira has been a creature of the night, her months but days, assuming identities as her primitive hunger drives her to different lands. She has become known throughout the world as a fatally irresistible princess of darkness, attracting a group of followers known as the Countess Vladimira Cult. They speak of her beauty, and hypnotic power: a statuesque body; endless locks of raven hair; a porcelain face with piercing eyes and lips that speak to your soul."

With the character in place, the marketing began. Appearing in such publications as Vamperotic and Scream Queens Illustrated helped establish the countess in the eyes of the horror fans. The Blood Relations comic book put her in the realm of sequential art fans. Soon after came the movie offers. Within a few years, the Countess Vladimira Cult was firmly in place.

Avery reveals the chronology. “The modeling came first," she explains. “I did conventions mainly, [and] a couple of photo shoots, made a video, set up at Chiller Horrorcon in 1994, [which is] the biggest horror convention in the country. I did very well there. This was before there were a lot of these kinds of horror characters – or whatever you want to call them. Then I started doing a bunch of shows, which is where I met my first publisher – Kurt Lindo at Brainstorm Publishing. Who everybody warned me about. (laughs)"

The various aspects of fan-based entertainment constantly overlap. Comics are made into movies, movies are made into television shows, television shows become comics. “I just fell into movies," Avery says. “I never, ever thought I would be an actress, but just being out there and meeting people in the industry, I guess it was inevitable. And I love it. One movie I did, called Vampire Nights, I got to have this really great catfight with this woman named, well, Cat. At the end of the fight she stabs me with this stake and blood comes pouring out of my mouth, and all I could think of during the scene was that this was like a Hammer film. It’s like living out my childhood. When I was a kid I loved Hammer films, and this reminded me of that. And I just kept thinking “This is so cool!"

Vampire Nights was produced through Dennis Devine’s company, Unknown Productions. “It’s also called Cinematrix – don’t ask me why they have two names. I just did Death Row Society II with them. I’m in the first five minutes, in order to set-up the next movie. I love working with [Dennis Devine]. He’s just so easy and so together, it’s a pleasure working with him."

After seven years as the popular vamp, does she ever get tired of The Countess? “Oh, no. I’ve put too much time and effort and investment in her to not stay with her. Every time I go from publisher to publisher it’s always a step up to a bigger budget, and somebody who knows better than the last one did how this industry works. So, I’m going on the right track, and we’ll see when this new comic book comes out. I do have more control over this new book than I did the last one. The last one was so rushed to make deadlines, sometimes I didn’t even get to approve or disapprove of things."

An enormous ball of black fluff enters into the room and plops down on a rowing machine, looking regal and only mildly annoyed. “That’s Nosferatu," Avery says. “My Persian kitty. She’s so beautiful."

“Nosferatu the cat", the vampire bats, the multiple skull knick-knacks. She anticipates the question. “I wasn’t a weird kid growing up," she says with a laugh. “Well, I did try to scare people all the time. You know, this took me the longest time to track down in my psyche. I remember watching The Wizard of Oz, and loving the Witch, and Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, and loving the child snatcher, all that. Then one day I was in a salon getting my nails done and I overheard this guy asking another woman, ‘Who was your favorite Sesame Street character?’ And then, I started thinking ‘Oh my god! The Count!’ The Count is my first recollection of anything that had to do with horror that really got me excited when I was little. He wasn’t scary, but he had that cool voice and the thunder and lightening and bats flying and that cool cape. That’s where it began: my love for the Count."

Weird child or not, Avery’s love of horror isn’t for show. As any performer can tell you, you have to have real affection for the genre to put up with some of the more rabid fans, not to mention the long, hot hours spent in conventions. “There are people you meet at the shows that are really, really, really into this vampire thing, and they try to relate to me – or my character, rather." (There, now she’s blurring the fantasy/reality line!) “Like, tonight I’m going out to see Dracula 2000. Even though it might not be that good, I need to see it because people at conventions talk to me about these things. So I have to see a lot of bad movies."

There are perks to playing a famous vampire, though. “Getting to work with The Misfits was fun, I worked with them a couple of times. Doing this show for the Coffin Case Company was very cool. I got to meet all these ‘80s musicians. I was a big metalhead growing up, so when you get to see Rudy from Quiet Riot, it was very nostalgic." I ask her about highlights. “When I opened up for Madison Scare Garden, I got to hang out with Alice Cooper. He told me I looked like Natalie Wood. (I’ve been hearing that since I was a little kid.) Alice was very cool. We hung out in the Green Room, watching the Diamondbacks play. He lives in Arizona and owns a restaurant right next to the stadium, so he had a definite interest in the game."

In between this business, Avery danced in music videos for the Beastie Boys and Kid Rock. “[Before I had even met him] I was a fan of Kid Rock for over eight years. I didn’t even know what the guy looked like. I used to tell people ‘someday you’re going to hear about this guy, he’s great!’"

Other things, always other things. Avery’s Countess shows up touting a number of ventures, as the mascot for Spooky Planet.com and The Coffin Case Company, which provides coffin-shaped guitar-cases to morbid musicians. She has also posed for an upcoming series of posters for Universal Studios. “My friends Roxanne Michaels, Stacy Walker and I are going to be part of limited edition series of posters for Universal Monsters. We’re going to be vampiresses. These are being done by Alex Hurley. And I will be in a Universal poster! Something else that relates to my childhood, because I was – am – a big Universal horror fan. I get to be the horror vampire chick!"

However, “Getting the [new] comic book out is my main priority. I have a new deal with Airwave Comics, also known as TV Comics, the same publisher who puts out V.I.P. and the I Dream of Jeannie and The Munsters. That’s my main focus here. Since I’m moving out to L.A., I’ll have to keep in touch with the publishers here through my representation out there. Then we plan to approach Hot Topics, as they’ve expressed interest in the past with working with me. So once the comic book is out, and we have more artwork and materials, we’ll make another presentation to them."

The L.A. move has been something Avery has been thinking about for some time. A long-time New Jersey native, she has decided for a change of scenery, to see if she can move Avery Misuraca’s career in a new direction as a set designer. “I personally like to decorate, and for the longest time I used to want to be an interior decorator. But then I said to myself, ‘You know, I really don’t want to work one-on-one with a client.’ You have no idea what you’re getting involved in. But I thought that it would be so interesting to do different sets for television, cable, film, photoshoots. And I really love going to look for the stuff. I’m very into going to salvage shops, just tracking the stuff down."

But, again, that would be the career of Avery Misuraca. She still has an alter-ego to think of. The Countess will remain in the public eye with comic books and film appearances. There is a goal here, the pinnacle event for Countess Vladimira: “I would love to have my own Halloween special every year. That would be my dream. Like a Tracy Ullman-type show, with lots of little skits, chopping heads, flying bats. Gotta think big, baby! I want heads to roll!"

And if anyone has the determination to make her dreams come true, it’s the woman behind Countess Vladimira.