Rating: 4/5 – A different kind of vampire story.
I was really impressed with this issue. Not surprising, writer Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling novelist and has won multiple Bram Stoker awards for his horror novels. The guy knows how to tell a story. The main character is Trick, a college student who is undergoing treatment for his cancer. The dialogue and general demeanor while Trick is interacting with his best friend Kyle made him come alive for me within the first few pages of the story.
This is the story of Trick’s encounter with a vampire and, as one might infer from the title of the series, Trick’s blood is not very tasty. The vampire who bites him is pissed and is determined to get back at Trick. That’s about all the detail I’ll go into here for fear of spoiling the story.
Artist Tyler Crook should be familiar to fans of B.P.R.D. His style is very well suited to this story. The juxtaposition of the 4 wordless panels on page 14 were a particularly moving and effective piece of storytelling. The last page of the story was a definite “I need to see what happens next” moment. Crook’s character designs, panel composition and color palette made for a visual feast from start to finish.
This was a great 1st issue. I’ve seen many authors come from a different medium (novels) and struggle with the format of telling a story in 22 page installments that really seem to stand alone and tell a satisfying chunk of story. Maberry does this quite ably. Maberry and Crook have created a world that was in turns moving and terrifying, I’ll be back for more!
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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I decided not to get this but it sounds like I would really enjoy it.