Becoming a vampyre and then zipping past all the other Fledglings is not the best way to make friends.
What They Say:
Until recently, Zoey Redbird was an average high-school student worrying about grades, boys, and breakouts. But priorities have a way of changing when you are marked as a vampyre, enroll in the vampyre academy House of Night, and have to figure out a whole new social hierarchy, affinities for elemental magic, and physiological changes that make you crave blood. The magical world of New York Times best-selling authors P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast comes to comics! o Five million novels sold and legions of loyal fans!
The Review:
During the times I would stroll through the book store with my daughters, especially as my eldest would be looking at the young adult novels, I would invariably be drawn to the works of P.C. Cast and her daughter, Kristin Cast. While the works themselves were never anything I read, the look of the books and the vibe they gave off were definitely interesting to say the least. Her House of Night series, which is up to nine novels now, stood out strongly on the shelves so when the news of a comic adaptation surfaced, I figured it’d be a fun one to check out. The opening issue of the five issue Dark Horse series is one that does straddle an interesting and difficult line where it feels like we’re supposed to have knowledge from the novels but at the same time comes off as if it’s trying to introduce the basics of the world in its own way.
The series revolves around Zoey Redbird, a sixteen year old girl who not only just discovered a month ago that she’s a vampyre, but she’s shot ahead of the usual progression they make in a significant way. When you become one, you have the symbol as a tattoo on your forehead and if you survive the change in the end, you end up getting it filled in and are able to drink without asking for permission and have to avoid daylight. When you’re in this in between time, you belong to a school where you’re taught how to live and exist in this form. That gives them the whole teenage school angle to play with the darker twist since everyone is a vampyre and they’re all struggling to survive the change itself. Zoey, however, ended up having her tattoo filled in already and has been chosen by their goddess of Nyx for big things while the school headmistress in Nefreet has made her the leader of the Dark Daughters, which in turn screwed over the previous top of the class with Aphrodite. Not that Zoey wants any of this.
The whole fitting in thing is a basic part of this world so it’s no surprise that she has her own group to hang with, which Aphrodite calls the “Nerd Herd”, even though it’s pretty much filled with its own layer of pretty people. The opening issue spends some quality time with them as a whole and we see how they’re helping her to adjust as well as adjusting themselves too. But what I really liked, and what takes up half of the book, is when they talk about what happened in the far past when in 1270, we see the vampyre Freya as she went to bring a House of Night to Norway and had to deal with winning over the people who themselves were fearful due to the way the church pushed back against paganism. It’s a straightforward story that’s told, but the visual design of it and the use of the vampyre’s mixed in with other mythologies is a nice little twist that I liked a fair bit.
Considering the audience it’s aimed at, the artwork is definitely solid here as it has a neat angular feel to it, some good detail and a kind of minimalism that works for a lot of the scenes. The present day material has your typical mix of normal kids with the various social levels but with the mild addition of the elite school that it is. That part doesn’t dominate which helps. The sequence under the tree where they try to work their powers a bit was really appealing, especially with all the colors used for it. When the book shifted to Norway, it really works in a strong way, especially with the coloring, as that’s where the action is and the design elements really come together in a fantastic way. With it being all in the snow, the atmosphere is spot on here and the character designs and that of the animals that are brought in drew me in more than the present day storyline.
In Summary:
With as big a following as it has, it’s not a surprise to see a comic adaptation of the House of Night mythos. The opening issue here has its positives and negatives but overall left me wanting to read more and hoping for a bit more fleshing out. Zoey’s origin story is covered in a kind of awkward way but it’s dealt with as well as getting a feel for the basic social problems she faces. It doesn’t deal with just the high school age stuff though but also works through a story from the past as we see Freya’s movement in Norway back in the 1270’s where she intends to bring a House of Night there. There’s a good bit of fun to be had with this book and if the series pans out well enough, it may even be enough for me to jump into the novels to get the rest of the story.
Grade: B
