The Blood Hunt is over at Marvel. Time for real vampire horror to return to comics with DC Vs. Vampires: World War V #1 from DC Comics, written by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Otto Schmidt. And while it’s perhaps unfair to compare the two, it’s impossible not to find the DC book more successful in terms of building out the horror of the situation.
The reason it’s unfair is because Marvel’s Blood Hunt was an in-continuity event, with all the requisite “this changes everything” but really not changing that much a mainstream comic event implies. Meanwhile, World War V was first released as several out-of-continuity series, and is now under DC’s revived Elseworlds label. Purely by the nature of not being beholden to continuity, that allows Rosenberg to take far more chances with characters than Marvel’s vamps ever got.
…And I’m not just talking about character deaths, though World War V does open with a grand guignol resetting the world of super-vampires versus superheroes, with humans caught in the middle. The gist is that Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, is now Queen of the Vampires. She’s set up an uneasy détente with the remaining humans, who vampires still need for food. Meanwhile, Damian Wayne is a different sort of vampire, perhaps leading a resistance against Barbara… Or perhaps not.
While it’s hard to root for Damian or Barbara — they do want to eat us, after all — the beating heart of the book continues to be the red-hot relationship between Green Arrow and Black Canary. They’re the Rick and Michonne of this vampire apocalypse, and (no pun intended) gives the book real stakes.
Not enough can be said about Otto Schmidt’s art, too. His action scenes are propulsive, his vampires terrifying, and he draws snowy wastelands as effectively as the skyline of Gotham City. It’s a stupendous, and no small feat to draw the entirety of this dark vision of the DC Universe. Not to mention: vampire super-gorilla. If that doesn’t sell you on this book, I don’t know what will.
As for those who have never read DC Vs. Vampires before, while you definitely should, Rosenberg catches you up easily in this first issue… You can come in clean with no prior knowledge, and leave excited and thrilled to see what’s coming next. Short version? He ate with this one.
DC Vs. Vampires: World War V #1 Rating:
DC Vs. Vampires: World War V #1 Official Synopsis:
THE BEST-SELLING WORLD OF DC VS. VAMPIRES RETURNS WITH A BRAND-NEW ELSEWORLDS SERIES! It’s the dead of winter, and any hope for a fragile truce between the Green Arrow-led human heroes and vampire queen Barbara Gordon’s army has been dashed by Damian Wayne and his guerrilla fighters. He’s the only one fighting back against the bloodthirsty hordes, leaving Green Arrow with a choice: Does he stand and fight or sacrifice the boy in the name of peace?
