Even vampires have copycats … or is the madness contagious?
Creative Staff:
Writer Pat Shand
Artwork Michele Bandini
What They Say:
Last year, Liesel Van Helsing was attacked by an evil from her father’s past … but she survived, and moved on with her life. Besides becoming the name that vampires fear, she’s also found love … in the strangest place. However, when old friends come calling on her for help, Van Helsing finds herself pulled into a final conflict with the deadliest vampire of all time!
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
Liesel and Harker have only one venue left to find information on how to stop Dracula, the Steward of Rome; he was the last man who survived an encounter against the vampire and the only one who wrote anything about that event. But, who knows if the hunter is still viable or if they can glean anything from such a dubious source? There is only way to find out – go to Italy and track down this writer to see firsthand a method to cease the insanity caused by the Master of the Night. It shouldn’t be that difficult, after all, how many vampires can there be in Rome?
But, the answer is not as easy as it seems for a series of murders plague the city – with all the motives the same: young women killed by a set of fangs to the neck. The police seem preoccupied and don’t take the murders seriously, their investigations are lacking in any real leads or any speed in solving the cases. So, it is up to our intrepid dual to track down the killer and hopefully their true quarry. However, as they find the Steward, his appearance is not as they expected nor is his demeanour. The information which they have been searching for seems questionable at best, but Hades may have the true answer which they seek – a way to end the reign of Dracula. But, can they still trust a god who betrayed them once? Do they have any other choice?
In Summary:
This issue is a nice break from the horror story which Pat Shand has established in the previous issues. This side story to find the Steward enclosed within a copycat killer murder mystery gives us just enough of the creep factour to make it feel like one of your favourite TV crime dramas, but tainted with a touch of the macabre to slip it into something much darker. We almost forget that this a vampire tale, until we see the pool of blood dripping from the corpse.
But that notion is taken care by Michele Bandini from the start, his gentle build up with the first victim: the broken window, stained hair, blood splattered panel for her final scream, obligatory sinking into the neck and then falling over the edge … all ending with that grotesque page of the crimson river, with the white rose floating in the pool. If it wasn’t so beautiful, it wouldn’t be art, would it? True, all taste is subjective, but this page just made the whole issue for me! It isn’t too horrifying, but the artistic flow which it sets for the rest of the book and the reveal of the Steward is what makes the comic worth reading!
Now that they have the information, how can they trust the source – Hades or the Steward of Rome? Shand and Bandini have woven this story into a thrilling tale of intrigue, but will they be able wrap this up satisfactory with only two more issues? Either this will be a great story or a spin-off into something else – either way, we can’t lose! We are left in a lurch, now we just have to wait until next month to see what happens next!
Grade: A
Rating: 16+
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: October 28th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
