DC Vs. Vampires #4 – James Tynion IV/Matt Rosenberg, Writers; Otto Schmidt, Artist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The creative team in this series has done a great job of building the tension from issue to issue. With zombies, it’s clear when someone’s turned and there’s no ambiguity. With vampires, not only are you fighting your friends and family, but they might look and act exactly like your loved ones up until the moment when they sink their teeth in your neck. That’s illustrated brilliantly by a segment when John Constantine and a vampire Zatanna have a casual conversation as John—who’s a lot savvier than he looks—uses her to satisfy his curiosity about the afterlife until it comes time to cut bait. And even scarier, we saw last issue that Diana became the second Justice League member to be turned after Hal—and she wasted no time pointing the finger at Bruce as the source of the vampire plague. And now the League is descending of the base of the person who may be their best hope of surviving.
This is a horror book, sure, but both the writers are very good at dark comedy. The fight between Batman and an infiltrating Green Arrow is probably the best scene of the entire series, as the two aggro vigilantes are motivated by rage—up until the moment they both fall on their faces as they try to prove the other is a vigilante, and realize they’ve both been played. From there, it’s a wildly intense bunker battle as they face off against the entire Justice League. At the same time, Cassandra Cain and Jason Todd are going up against one of the scariest villains of the series—a vampirized Gorilla Grodd. What does a vampire gorilla eat? Anything he wants. Otto Schmidt’s art continues to be some of the best the DCU has to offer, and this series has improved from issue to issue as it slowly unfolds its mystery. But I’m guessing happy endings will be few and far between for the heroes of this world.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
