GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Comic Review: (ARC) The Strain #11 (of 11) | I Smell Sheep

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Comic Review: (ARC) The Strain #11 (of 11)


The Strain #11
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Cover Artist: E.M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Publication Date: February 13, 2013
Format:FC, 32 Pages
UPC:7 61568 19174 5 01111 

The final chapter of The Strain!

Cornered and on the run in the dark home of a goth-rock superstar, the Master heads for the high ground as Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his companions discover the ultimate vampire nest. Can Goodweather and his compatriots defeat this monstrous bloodsucker?* Enter the Master’s lair!
* Soon to be a TV series!
* From director Guillermo del Toro


They have always been here. Vampires. 
In secret and in darkness. 
Waiting. 
Now their time is come 
In two weeks, Manhattan will be gone. 
In one month, the country. 
In two months—the world. 


“Your whole life has led to this, Abraham Setrakian. You will die knowing you failed a second time.” The Master. 


In Issue 11, while Nora stays with Ep‘s son, Zack, we find Ep, Abraham, and pest exterminator turned vampire hunter, Vasiliy, heading deep underground beneath where the World Trade Center had been. They are tracking the Master and even hopefully, Kelly, Ep’s ex-wife, that the Master has taken. Ep is not sure if Kelly is turned yet or not, and hoping if she is, that he can end her suffering as a vampire before she might come for her “Dear One,” Zack. Why beneath the World Trade Center? As Abraham says, “A mole hollows out a home in a felled tree. Gangrene forms in a wound. The Master roots in tragedy and pain.” And more and more the reader learns how much the Master loves misery and hell. They find not only a whole lot of vampires down there, but the Master himself. He bolts and they pursue. Will they stop him, or not? Worse, he’s not the only old vampire around, but there are others of The Born coming. Who will they align with?

Mainly in black, white, and gray, occasionally brightened with a splash of yellow, blue and other colors of light, tempered with red (color of blood), the artists continue to flesh out with these colors symbolically. These comics bring back the vampires that make us fear to tread into the shadows of the night, and yet, brought on their own interpretation of the monsters. Del Toro and Hogan have taken the old vampire myths of Eastern Europe and turned them on their head. And with each issue, the excitement to know more grabs you by the throat and sinks its teeth into you. It has definitely grabbed me, wanting to see more.

I give this issue 5 sheep.


Guest Reviewer: Author Pamela Kinney

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