The blood continues to spill.
Creative Staff:
Story: Eliot Rahal
Art: Dike Ruan
Colors: Miguel Muerto
Letterer: Andworld
What They Say:
Captain Black has been placed in charge of Asylum’s police force and given only one order by the mayor: bring the Vampire Slayer to justice. Now, Black is on the warpath. He’s using all of the tools at his disposal to hunt down his former partner, Detective Harper Halloway, and the Ninja Vampire, Toyo Yamamoto, who harbor a truth the world was forced to forget
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The penultimate installment of Bleed Them Dry arrives and it has me almost wishing that this was the final issue as events here feel a bit drawn out and not quite as connected as they may be. Again, this may flow better in a collection than monthly so that has to be taken into account, but Rahal feels like he’s padding things just a touch here in order to bring all the sides together by the end. That said, it gives Dike Ruan a chance to work with another of the immortals and sets up a fun little bit of sleaze to work with as well. Ruan’s artwork has been a real highlight in this run and there’s a really great sense of design and staging throughout this book to help put it all in the right place.
The opening piece is dealing with the transformational aspect but more so in that it’s done as narration with some visuals of what’s happening. There are some neat aspects to it but it actually felt like it slowed the book down from getting to where it needed to and moved Harper from her proactive role in trying to deal with events that have been thrust upon her now that she’s a vampire. We do see her making some moves that will lead her to finding The Count so she can get the information she’s after and that puts Black on high alert for her. That’s when things feel like they’re finally moving forward as we see how he’s able to put the whole island on alert, raise the bridge that connects it for the first time in a hundred years, and lock things down while knowing exactly where she’s going.
The Count does go into a nice panic upon being alerted by Black with what’s coming and seeing him shift from cocky bastard to that is definitely amusing. But the reality is that STAKE won’t get there in time and Black won’t either as Harper is already there. And he made the mistake of sending his men home early for the holiday, making it even worse. I do like that Harper makes it clear she’s just here for information, not that it makes things any easier, and the arrival of Toyo just starts to turn it into a bit of a bloodbath. But really, all of this is designed in order to bring everyone to a single location so Black can make his final move and secure things that really will make sure he’ll be able to continue on as he likes.
In Summary:
Bleed Them Dry continues to be fun but it was the halfway mark that really got this installment feeling like it was getting to what needed to be done. Harper continues to be an interesting character put into a really bad position that I want to see more of, and to know more of what Toyo is really intending to do here. But it’s fun watching as Black and his control over the mechanisms of the island continue on and force things in the direction he wants, setting us up for the ending here and the finale in the next issue. It’s generally well put together but the slowness of the start, in single-issue form, keeps it from really flowing well.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: November 25th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
