Sir Francis Varney is the titular character of the Victorian "penny dreadful" serial Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood (1845–1847). Attributed to James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest, he is one of the most influential figures in vampire literature, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula by half a century. Francis Varney, a nobleman from the English Civil War, was punished for the murder of his son by being transformed into a loathsome blood-sucking monster. He was the first vampire to be depicted with fangs and possessed both a hypnotic gaze and super strength, as well as the first tragic, sympathetic vampire anti-hero of sorts.