GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Comic Review: Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight (Bride of Blood) #5, #6 | I Smell Sheep

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Comic Review: Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight (Bride of Blood) #5, #6

GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT #5
Writer: Alex de Campi

Colorist: Federica Manfredi
Cover Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse
Publication Date: February 05, 2014
Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Price: $3.99
UPC:7 61568 22741 3 00511
Brace yourself for Grindhouse’s most disturbing tale yet! On what should be the happiest day of Branwyn’s life, atrocity beyond comprehension strikes. With everything she’s ever loved destroyed by reavers, all she has left is revenge, in “Bride of Blood”!
* Cover by Francesco Francavilla!
* Art by Hack/Slash and True Blood’s Federica Manfredi!
* Eisner nominee Alex de Campi (Smoke/Ashes)!

Preview


GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT #6
Writer: Alex de Campi
Artist: Federica Manfredi
Colorist: Federica Manfredi
Cover Artist: Dan Panosian
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse
Publication Date:March 05, 2014
Format:FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Price:$3.99
UPC:7 61568 22741 3 00611
Clad in her fallen brother’s armor, massacre survivor Branwyn vows to repay every drop of blood that was spilled during the slaughter of her wedding party. But her mission turns even more horrific than expected when the true authors of her torment are revealed in the grisly conclusion to “Bride of Blood”!
* Cover by Dan Panosian!
* Hack/Slash and True Blood’s Federica Manfredi brings the hurt!
* Eisner nominee Alex de Campi (Smoke, Ashes) will make you squirm!

Preview

Review #5/#6
Back in the 70s or maybe very early 80s, there was this exploitation film called I Spit On Your Grave. A rape/revenge film that's kind of built in cult status to the point where it's probably the rape/revenge film. It must have some measure of notoriety to earn a crap remake like most other horror properties of the 70s and 80s.

I mention this because "Bride of Blood" the two-issue tale in the Grindhouse series feels like high fantasy incarnation of that movie ... sort of.

It's Branwyn's wedding day, but when barbarians called Reavers attacked her husband-to-be ditches the wedding party, including his blushing--and bleeding--bride. She survives, but barely, and being the last in her family's lineage the fate of her kind rests with her. And when she's up and around again, she's out for blood.

I could say the first issue is pretty brutal, but if you are a reader that needs trigger warnings on subject matter like rape and violence against women in general, brutal might be an understatement. It's a direction I really didn't expect the Grindhouse series to go, but I will give them points for their willingness to push the boundaries of what their audience will read. Unlike the "Bee Vixens from Mars" and "Prisonship Antares", there is nothing fun about this two-issue story. It doesn't feel gratuitous to any offensive degree, but the winks and nods that came with the two previous stories in the series were glaringly absent. Granted, rape-revenge doesn't exactly lend itself to brevity.
As for the artwork, it felt a little uneven in spots. Most of the drawings and coloring are really well done, especially in capturing the quiet scenes or ramping tension, but there are action scenes that just lack vibrancy and fell kind of flat. Brownie points, however, for dressing Branwyn in her slain brother's suit of armor when she goes out to crack skulls, rather than truss her up in some skimpy gold bikini for the sake of a few pages of cheesecake.All in all, it's a straight-forward, action-packed, blood-soaked revenge story.


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