The final showdown.
Creative Staff:
Story: Troy Brownfield
Art: Kewber Baal
What They Say:
The blood-soaked conclusion! You’ve seen the preliminaries, but now it’s time for the main event! We’ve got Dracula versus Ottoman assassins, the Blood Queen versus a vengeful sorcerer, and lest we forget, Blood Queen versus Dracula! Surrounded by foes in her own castle, is there any way for Elizabeth to survive? Even if she defeats the enemies of her people, she could still wind up a servant of the Lord of Vampires!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This miniseries has been a lot of fun from the start to read, though admittedly part of me feels that it works simply because I’ve invested enough in the Blood Queen material to feel like I really have a handle on her and her motivations. Dracula’s easy enough to connect with as Brownfield uses a familiar enough template for him with some minor tweaks, but also with a solid enough personality to make him engaging to watch in this context and to be a part of the world that I came into through the Blood Queen stories. With the two of them sussing each other out for a bit and then coming to blows in different ways, it was fun to see each of their strengths but also the way each of them got under each others skins.
With the final issue of the series, the two naturally have their most direct confrontation to date, and that makes for some very dynamic scenes for Kewber Baal to get to illustrate. While Elizabeth’s magic was a part of her series before, it’s here that her blood magic really gets to shine and show off, and she does just that when dealing with Dracula since he’s powerful enough himself, and impressed enough with her to seemingly treat her with an amount of respect because of it, allowing him to fight without holding back. He’s done a few underhanded things along the way, and she does call him out on his gaseous form, but there’s a truth to fighting like this in that in the end, you want to win at all costs. If that’s the way to do it, you do it.
Of course, their final battle has to have a battle and that comes in the form of the slow moving Ottoman troops finally getting to the castle and basically breaking through. It’s a fun enough sequence – even if I wanted a Kool-Aid “OH YEAH!” moment from them – as it turns to having Elizabeth and Dracula work together to defeat them. It is predictable to be sure, complete with her saving him at one point amid the chaos, but it also works well in establishing the kind of draw that needs to happen since neither character is going to be killed off at this point and you want to leave the potential open for other adventures. It does draw to this tie well though, particularly as the dialogue between the two is surprisingly frank, and it sets the tone for what could be some fun moments between them going forward until the dynamic really shifts.
In Summary:
This miniseries was a very fun way of keeping the Blood Queen material going a bit after the main book ended and I definitely like what it did in pairing her with Dracula as a foe and wary ally. The two have some very good banter throughout the battle and I enjoyed their dialogue in bringing things to a close as it’s the kind of realistic approach they have to take considering their positions, as well as the second layer of planning both have in place. The series may end largely in the same way it started when you get down to it, but it was a very fun romp that hopefully introduced the Blood Queen to more readers, and hopefully gets us more material with both her and Dracula, together and separately. The team here did a great job in presenting a slick, fun and very engaging read both monthly and as a full run.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 3rd, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
