Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Juanan Ramírez
Colours by: Fabiana Mascolo
Letters by: Clem Robins
Cover: Juanan Ramírez
Published by: Dark Horse Comics
(Recap of the first mini-series)
When friends Danny, Sam, and Amy set out to film a ‘parkour’ video for social media, an accident happens, and Danny is left with a broken neck and back. While in the hospital, Danny is visited by a stranger who bites him. Waking up three days later, the stranger, a cop who happens to be a vampire, explains to him what he is and why he turned him. He’s building a team to take down bad guys. Danny learns what he can and can’t do, and after getting used to being what he is, he visits his friends and shows them. Asks if they’d like to be like him. So, being teenagers with poor decision-making skills, they agree. Now, the three of them actually do fight crime, for a small fee, of course, with makeshift costumes to be out in the daylight and so they can show up on their social media videos. They become social media influencers and true heroes until they gain the attention of a group of vamps who travel around taking and killing everyone they come across, the same group the cop wanted to take down. After a fight, our heroes overcome the bad guys, gain even more social media fame, and live the good life. Except for feelings unsaid and unrequited love, get in the way.
And here it goes… There will be spoilers.
Danny and Amy let themselves be ‘killed’ and taken by a group of enforcers for one of the biggest crime bosses in the city, Rufus Tee, to a local junkyard to be “disposed” of. Noticing that the bodies are actually filming what’s being said and done, they try to make sure the kids are really dead. Taking the gang out, they wait for the police and explain that they want to help in taking down Rufus. The police captain doesn’t want them involved with something this dangerous. I’m getting the feeling that Rufus is going to play a big part in the rest of this issue and mini-series. When asked about Sam, they admit that he’s no longer part of the team. Those unrequited feelings from the end of the last mini-series came between the friends. Because, again, they might be vampires, but they’re still 17 years old, and those things happen.
While talking to the police, we see that they’ve been accepted, if reluctantly, as bonafide heroes not only by the public at large through their actions and videos but by the police as well.
Back at their home, Danny and Amy talk about the money they make and how it could become a problem and hard to explain if it’s looked into. Possible foreshadowing, maybe? And while Danny agrees, he doesn’t seem to have a problem. In spending the money on things. Again 17. Poor decision-making. And it’s a comic, so character moments are needed to flesh them out. While they’re worried about these things, they worry about Sam too, who’s changed since they and we’ve seen his last Sam, now no longer an awkward, heavy-set, unathletic nerd’s the best basketball player in the city. He still built the same, but with his vampire abilities, he’s better than any professional athlete could dream of being. With a new group of friends, the former bullies who picked on him and the popular girls who ignored him, he seems to be turning into the very thing all three of them hated when they had a ‘normal’ life.
Danny confronts Sam and asks why he’s doing what he’s doing, becoming just like the people they got picked on by when in school, and Sam, with that teenage wisdom, doesn’t care. He’s going to be a famous athlete and a billionaire by the time he’s 30, and he still has those same feelings for Amy despite having the hottest, most popular girl in school. The teenage angst rolls off the page at times, but it does add to the storytelling and makes the characters more ‘real’ in how a lot of people actually would be with that ‘power corrupts’ adage.
They separate, Sam with his new ‘friends’ and Danny and Amy back to their lives.
That night, two enforcers come after Risso, the biggest bully in the school and the one who made Sam’s life a living hell before he turned and is now one of his group. Cornered, Risso is about to get beaten because he does not have the full amount he owes. To Rufus Tee, we can start to see the strings being pulled to connect the plot points. Before that happens, Sam steps in and beats the enforcers badly. Taking them back to Rufus’ place, Sam tells him that the debt is paid and to leave Risso alone. Rufus likes Sam and asks him to be a part of his gang. I think we can see where some of The story is going to lead.
So, my thoughts. I enjoyed it. A nice continuation from the previous mini. We see the changes and development of the characters, albeit in a somewhat predictable manner so far. The overall story keeps the feel from the first mini without any sudden character changes that can sometimes happen with a gap in between stories.
The art is wonderful; the style captures the more urban setting of the city with a great sort of scratchy colour scheme that gives a more grounded feel despite the supernatural/superhero nature of the story. I guess my only real problem is, much like the first mini, the ‘this feels like a TV show wanting to be made’ nature of the story. Not a bad thing; most IPs out today have that same feel to them to a degree.
But not all on this level.
My score on a 1-10 level?
A solid 8. Would be higher without that TV show feel that; to me, just makes it seem like the comic is just to get the story out without it being a comic on its own. Not a bad thing, but it does sort of stay in the back of your head when reading. And to a lesser degree, it has the same feel that ‘Kick-Ass’ gave. I can see the huge influence of that story in these, just in a slightly different execution of the idea.
Looking forward to where it’s going and if my guesses on the rest of the story will play out or if it gives us a different take.
Agree? Disagree? Comments? Thoughts? Let me know.
Till next time…
Overall: 8/10
Lifelong comic, movie, tv and book fan.
