Comic Review: The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter #4

The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter #4
Writer: David Lapham
Penciller: Edgar Salazar
Inker: Keith Champagne
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Dark Horse Books
December 14, 2016
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Read the comic! Watch the series!

Quinlan races against time to move the dwindling troops into place and support Tacitus’s surge against the Berber horde. Can he hold out against the vampire menace lurking in the desert and fulfill his mission?

* The origin of Mr. Quinlan from The Strain—by Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro and writer David Lapham—begins here!

Quinlan and his Roman soldiers battled vampire hordes in this issue. During the last hour before dawn, and later, when the vampires hide during the day in the desert.

The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter is a vampire tale that is gritty, bloody, with a taste of humanity.

5 vampiric sheep

Pamela Kinney

Comic Review: The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter #3 from Dark Horse Comics

The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter #3

Writer: David Lapham

Penciller: Edgar Salazar

Inker: Keith Champagne

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror

Dark Horse Comics

November 09, 2016

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC: 7 61568 00065 8 00311

While leading heat-stricken and water-deprived Roman soldiers through the scorching desert to fight back against the Berber hordes, Quinlan uncovers a grave scheme that has the potential to obliterate his troops entirely.

buy from amazon

In this issue, Master Quinlan has fought with the Roman army against Berbers for five years. His commander is Tacitus, and Quinlan is his most trusted centurion. He would gladly die for him…if he could die. And though he is in the Roman army, he not fighting for Rome, who has not always treated him well, but for himself, a free man. More so, six years ago he learned through the other ancient ones like the Master that they needed him to learn so they could determine if he would be their ally, or must be destroyed. Thinking the Master had more to worry about than searching for him, Quinlan is told to lead some men to a pass to cut off a Berber army, while his commander would lead the rest to surprise the enemy. Quinlan would find more than Berbers though.

This is well written, keeping to historical accuracy, while giving us more insight to Quinlan and his past.

Review: Issue #1, Issue #2

5 vampiric sheep

Pamela Kinney

Comic Review: The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter #2 from Dark Horse Comics

The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter #2

Writer: David Lapham

Penciller: Edgar Salazar

Inker: Keith Champagne, Dan Jackson

Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror

October 12, 2016

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC: 7 61568 00065 8 00211

Dark Horse Books

Preview

Now a champion in the ancient arenas of Rome, Mr. Quinlan finds himself up against the fiercest of all of the gladiators. But his chances of survival outside the arena are even worse, as the Master closes in on Mr. Quinlan after years of searching!

* The origin of Mr. Quinlan from director Guillermo del Toro and writer David Lapham—begins here!

The comic issue begins with  Mr. Quinlan as an arena gladioator in Rome, 55 A.D. At that time, he is known as Bellator Candidus, and almost undefeatable. But the Emperor is not impressed and feels his favorite warrior, Spiculus, will beat the white newcomer. Spiculus fought with honor, skill and dignity, something the vampire half-breed aspired to. And when Quinlan does defeat the other gladiator, the Emperor thinks he fights like a demon. It is at that moment a stranger appears—the Master.

It is great to see how Quinlan began with the first issue and now this second one. Hopefully, it will go all the way to the time when the Master first arrives in America on a plane, like the first book and in the TV series.

5 vampiric sheep

Pamela Kinney

Comic Review: The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter from Dark Horse Comics

The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter

Writer: David Lapham

Penciller: Edgar Salazar

Inker: Keith Champagne

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: Juan Ferreyra

Dark Horse Comics

Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure

September 14, 2016

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC: 7 61568 00065 8 00111

The origin of Mr. Quinlan!

A vampiric abomination seeks to destroy the monster that sired him. Born as a mistake of a powerful vampire known as the Master and raised in the brutal gladiatorial arenas of ancient Rome, Mr. Quinlan must survive long enough to carry out his mission when his target begins hunting him.

* Go back to the beginnings of a popular character from The Strain.

* Watch The Strain on FX!

In this first issue, we learn the origins of the half vampire, half human vampire hunter, Quinlan. Like Blade the vampire hunter, he too can walk in the daylight, unlike the vampires in The Strain. His life began in his mother’s belly, as she and other slave girls were brought to the Master, now called Thrax. Thrax was a trusted confident of the mad Roman Emperor Caligula. Before he could finish her, guards came to get Thrax because Caligula needed him. Quinlan’s mother was already infected and changing and able to overpower her guard to escape. She gives birth to Quinlan, who grows like a normal child, except he has the vampire tongue like her and subsist on blood. Unlike her, he can hunt in the daylight and he doesn’t have the worms in his blood, so he cannot infect others. Thrax is chased away after Caligula’s death, but he searches for the woman and her child.

Dark Horse gives us the frightening horror, blood and darkness from The Strain, but this time, takes us into the past, adding a historical aspect to it. If you enjoy historical vampire horror stories, you will enjoy reading this comic. The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter could be called the bloody love child of Anne Rice if Guillermo Del Toro was the father.

I give The Strain: Master Quinlan, Vampire Hunter 4 sheep.

Pamela K. Kinney

Comic Review: Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain: the Night Eternal issue #10

THE STRAIN: THE NIGHT ETERNAL #10
Writer: David Lapham

Artist: Mike Huddleston

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: E. M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse

Publication Date:June 17, 2015Format: FC, 32 pages

PREVIEW

Two years ago, the Master won.

He spread the vampire virus across New York and, by triggering a series of nuclear meltdowns, defeated the ancient vampires that opposed him.

Now, in a world where the sun is all but blocked out by nuclear winter, the Master’s influences reaches across the globe.

Hope is on life support, but a few remain who may revive it: an alcoholic, a doctor, an exterminator, a criminal, and a renegade vampire are humanity’s last chance…

This issue, those fighting the Master are looking for a detonator for the nuclear bomb they have to destroy the Master. Plus find the place where it must go off. There is a book, but Eph figures out how to read it. Made for humankind to fight vampires, it has a silver cover and its secrets were written so they could only be read in sunlight. They take off in a truck, heading for where the island they need to be on the right day is. Meanwhile the Master and Zack’s vampire mother visit Zack at the zoo, to tell him his father is still alive. That he did not come for Zack; as like the snow leopard in the zoo, he wants to be the last obstacle between the Master and his vamps and total domination.

Close to the end of the comic based on the third book in The Strain trilogy, the vampires seem less frightening and unsettling as in the first two novels and comics. I am not feeling this one particularly. Still, one still wants to follow this to the end, to see if the humans win against the Master. The artwork is still great and the dark colors perfect for this comic.

I give The Strain: the Night Eternal Issue #10

3 ½ sheep

Pamela K. Kinney

Comic Review: THE STRAIN: THE NIGHT ETERNAL #4

THE STRAIN: THE NIGHT ETERNAL #4Writer: David Lapham

Artist: Mike Huddleston

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: E. M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse Comics

Publication Date: November 19, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price: $3.99

UPC:7 61568 19195 0 00411

Preview

Read the comic! Watch the series!

The final chapter in the Strain Trilogy—by Guillermo del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan—begins here!

It’s been two years since the Master’s plan succeeded and a near apocalypse coated the world in darkness. Now able to roam freely, the Master’s legion of vampires rule the world—a horrifying police state where humans are harvested for blood.
Known as the Born, he works with the rebellion, but he’s a vampire . . . Who, or what, is Mr. Quinlan? And what, exactly, is his connection to the Master? This issue sheds light on the past of the mysterious and badass bloodsucker slayer who is bent on destroying the Master’s strain and ending his reign.

The final chapter in the Strain Trilogy—by Guillermo del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan—begins here!

This issue of the last book in The Strain trilogy is about Mr. Quinlan’s past and his connection to the Master. The Master tells the story of how he served the Roman Emperor Caligula. For his payment, he is given seven virgins. Not for sex, but for their blood. But the last victim is not a virgin, and is with child. He wanted to kill the unborn, but got called away to help the emperor at the time, he returns to find the soldiers took her, but she killed two of the guards and escaped. She finds a cave, where she gives birth and raises the child, ignoring the call of her master. When Quinlan is almost grown up, his mother is killed by the Master and he escapes. Through years of fighting as a gladiator, he is eventually bought by a Roman senator who realizes what he is and who he serves, battling in wars. His being able to walk in the sunlight helps him. His life ends up serving the other Ancients against the Master until he helps the humans fighting the vampires in New York City.

This issue is all about a true badass vampire. He may not be handsome as many paranormal romances write vampires as, but he truly has an interesting past. He may not be stone-faced ass kicker like Blade, but he holds his own as well as that daywalker.

5 sheep

 

Pamela Kinney

Comic Review: The Strain, The Night Eternal issue #1

THE STRAIN: THE NIGHT ETERNAL #1Writer: David Lapham

Artist:Mike Huddleston

Colorist:Dan Jackson

Cover Artist:E. M. Gist

Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror

Publication Date:August 20, 2014

Format:FC, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price:$3.99

UPC:7 61568 19195 0 00111


It’s been two years since the Master’s plan succeeded and a near apocalypse coated the world in darkness. Now able to roam freely, the Master’s legion of vampires rule the world—a horrifying police state where humans are harvested for blood. As humanity despairs, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and an unlikely team of heroes continue their fight against extinction and hope to unlock the secret to the Master’s demise.
* The final chapter in the Strain Trilogy, by Guillermo del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan, begins here!

“A truly engrossing tale.”—Bloody Disgusting

“Great writing Lapham. I'm locked in.” —Comic Bastards

“A week ago, they invaded Manhattan. Now they will destroy the world. A vast conspiracy prevents the vampire epidemic from coming to light. A small force is humanity’s only chance: an alcoholic, a doctor, a pawnbroker, an exterminator, and a criminal. Can they prevent the Master from covering the planet in darkness?”

There be spoilers ahead!

This comic begins with Eph discovering that Nora and Vasily Fet are attracted to each other, by emails. He has been late getting back to Nora who is waiting for him in the hospital, so when Fet tells her in the email, to keep moving, she takes her mother with her and grabs a subway train. Meanwhile, Eph finds two vampires waiting for him, which the Master uses to communicate. When he says no and demands his son, the Master releases them, and the vamps attack. He kills one, but the other escapes. Looking out a window to the ground below, he finds the building surrounded. As for Zack, he hasn’t been for while with his father and is under the Master’s care. The Master has left him not Turned, still human and growing up. When Zack comes back from thinking on something, he finds his mother in the room with him, still a vampire, but almost like she was before her change.

As for Fet, he runs into a vampire not like the others. He is attempting to find the Occido Luen that had been the Professor’s. All this appears to set up for some excitement to the adaptation of the third novel.

The colors are dark and convey a dark, bleak world, ruled by the Master and his vampires. Humans appear to be acting as normal, as you see the crowds, but vampires walk among them. The Night Eternal 2 lures us to need to know the next chapter.

I give Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s the Strain, the Night Eternal 4 bloody sheep.

Pamela Kinney

TV Review: The Strain

The Strain (2014– )
TV Series - 60 min - Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

FX Sundays 10:00pm

The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of "Dr. Ephraim Goodweather," the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.

Co-Creators, Executive Producers and Writers Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan co-wrote the pilot script for The Strain, which was directed by del Toro. Emmy® Award winning Writer and Producer Carlton Cuse serves as Executive Producer/Showrunner and Writer. Gary Ungar also serves as Executive Producer. The series is produced by FX Productions.

Hell yeah! We have a winner. I haven't read the books, but have checked out the comics from Dark Horse and I was thrilled with those. I had pretty high expectations going into tonight's premier. 

I thought it was a very well made pilot with lots of suspense and just the right amount of gore. It is hard to truly creep me out, but they achieved it!

There is a lot more going on than mindless vampire like killing machines about to take over N.Y. This is going to be a must watch for me!

I got to mention my editor brain was having a hard time with some things and the scientist in me cringed a few times and it had nothing to do with the vampires. Seriously, would a CDC scientist reach out with bare hands to touch the unknown soil that might have killed 206 people? Also did anyone notice in the beginning when Dr. Ephraim Goodweather jumped in his vehicle to head to the airport, the steering wheel was on the right side? Odd for NY <G>

4.5 "I'm very cold" Sheep

Sharon

Comic Review: Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain, The Fall #8

The Strain: The Fall #8

Writer: David Lapham

Artist: Mike Huddleston

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: E. M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Publication Date:February 19, 2014

Format:FC, 32 pages;

Dark Horse

Trapped in a tunnel below the Hudson River, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather’s son Zack and Dr. Nora Martinez fight for their lives against an onslaught of vampires commanded by Zack’s mother! Meanwhile, though the Master’s evil plan has almost sealed humanity’s fate, his oldest enemy, Abraham Setrakian, may have discovered the key to victory.
* Soon to be a TV show on FX!
“A fun action horror comic.”—Geeks of Doom

“A week ago, they invaded Manhattan. Now they will destroy the world. A vast conspiracy prevents the vampire epidemic from coming to light. A small force is humanity’s only chance: an alcoholic, a doctor, a pawnbroker, an exterminator, and a criminal. Can they prevent the Master from covering the planet in darkness?”

In this issue, Professor Setrakian learns the truth behind the star maps and more in the book, there is a nuclear plant accident in China, and Eldritch Palmer learns you can not screw over the Master, demanding his being turned. Worse, for Zack and Nora, the train Eph put them on to get out of New York City has derailed and Eph’s ex-wife now a vampire and other vampires are pursuing them. Things appear dark for the heroes and humanity.

The artwork is superb and the colors of the comic reflect the growing darkness in this series of comics based on the second novel. The pacing is fast and terrifying. Who will live and who will die by the last comic of this second series? I can not wait.

5 sheep

Comic Review: The Strain: The Fall #4

The Strain, The Fall #4
Writer: David Lapham, Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist:E. M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date:October 16, 2013

Format:FC, 32 pages; Ongoing

Price:$3.99

UPC:7 61568 19185 1 00411
Preview
As a full-fledged war breaks out in Harlem, Gus’s heavily armed gang and an old luchador let the Master know they won’t give up their city without one helluva fight! It’s an all-out vampire brawl! Elsewhere, Fet makes a groundbreaking discovery about the vampires as Eph makes a fateful decision about his role in the ongoing battle for survival.

* Coming to the FX Network in 2014!

“The subtle build of tension and terror still peppers every page.”—IGN
“A week ago, they invaded Manhattan. Now they will destroy the world. A vast conspiracy prevents the vampire epidemic from coming to light. A small force is humanity’s only chance: an alcoholic, a doctor, a pawnbroker, an exterminator, and a criminal. Can they prevent the Master from covering the planet in darkness?”

Number 4 in The Fall series of The Strain has arrived for October. The first scene begins in Flatlands, Brooklyn, where the Professor is talking to Vasiliy about the pest exterminator turned vampire hunter returning to the tunnels where the strigoi are using to destroy them. The next one has vampires breaking into The Professor’s former digs. From there it hits fast and hard with explosions. Quick and short, readers won’t be disappointed. The only disappointment might come from how it ends and readers hooked into wanting the next installment. But they’ll have to wait until November for that.

The artwork is as good as always. The storyline is short, to the point, and with more excitement.

review: The Strain: The Fall #3
review: The Strain: The Fall #2
review: The Strain: The Fall #1

I give this 5 sheep

Guest Reviewer: Pamela K. Kinney 
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aka Sapphire Phelan
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Comic Review: (ARC) The Strain, The Fall #1

The Strain: The Fall #1
Writer: David Lapham
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Cover Artist: E. M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Publication Date: July 17, 2013
Format: FC, 32 pages;
Dark Horse Comics
UPC:7 61568 19185 1 00111

Preview

Dr. Ephraim Goodweather’s failure to kill the Master—the ancient vampire behind the epidemic infesting New York City—has led the former alcoholic to relapse as the city burns around him. It’s the end of the world, but Eph, beaten but not dead, has still got to protect his son Zack from his mother, who’s now a bloodthirsty vampire that craves her child more than any artery.* From the mind of visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and novelist Chuck Hogan.* Ongoing series continuing the story of the critically acclaimed comic The Strain.
“Essential reading.”—Bleeding Cool
“The subtle build of tension and terror still peppers every page.”—IGN

The beginning of the comic version of the next book in the series has Dr. Ephraim Goodweather's failing to kill the Master, creator of the start of the vampire apocalypse in New York City that began the week before. The former alcoholic goes into relapse as the city burns around him. It's the end of the world, but Eph, still needs to protect his son Zack from his mother. No longer human, but a bloodthirsty vampire, she craves her ‘dear one,’ more than any artery.

With “The Walking Dead” on television viewed by millions, zombie movies watched by fans, vampires have been forced back into the darkness, unable to come out into the light. But this series (both the books and the comics) are bringing fresh blood to the vampire story. No longer a monster wearing a black cape stalking crumbling gothic castles, is the Master using New York City to bring forth drinkers of blood en masse. It is a week after the plane had landed at the airport with the infected people and the Master. Now vampires are stalking the night, finding victims and drinking their blood, infecting them. An alcoholic, a pawnbroker, an exterminator, a criminal, and a doctor are all that stand between the end of humanity on earth, and that is if they can get their hands on a certain book, based on ancient Mesopotamian tablets discovered in 1508. It may reveal all about the Master and how to end him.

The artwork drawn for this horror story evokes the creepiness and desperation in this comic. I can not wait for the next installment in this saga. I give this five sheep—BLOODY sheep.

5 "BLOODY" Sheep

Pamela K. Kinney Website Blog Facebook
aka Sapphire Phelan
Website Newsletter Facebook

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

The Strain #11

Dark Horse 
Story by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Writer: David Lapham

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

Comic Review: Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain, Volume 1

Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain, Volume 1
Writer: David Lapham
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Dan JacksonCover 
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure
Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date:November 14, 2012
Format:FC, 152 pages 
Price:$19.99
Age range:14
ISBN-10:1-61655-032-5
ISBN-13:978-1-61655-032-5

When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Centers for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem suspects a darker purpose behind the event—an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness. Collects issues #1-#6 of the ongoing series.

“This is one of the scariest comics on the stands, as genuine surprises await the reader at every turn of the page. Usually, such big reveals are left to the final moment, but with The Strain there’s almost a cliffhanger every few pages and that makes this series a truly surprising, and enjoyable, read.” —Broken Frontier

“The plague has only just begun.” 

It starts out with a foreword from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. How pleased they are to see their novel in a different median; the graphic form. As they said, “This was not an echo of another work—this was a brilliant riff, an expansion, a retelling of the tale.” And yes, it was.

The comic begins with the younger version of Abraham Setrakian, as his grandmother tells the tragic and alternately horrifying tale of one Jusef Sardu, when the boy refuses to eat his meal. A nobleman who was a giant, Sardu also had problems walking and used a wolf-head cane. His father went hunting for a wolf, believing its meat would cure his son’s affliction. Something would, just not the kind of predator his father thought. All of the hunting party dies. Sardu enters a cave where he found the bodies. Much later, Sardu returns to his family’s castle—with strength now matching his size. After that, children begin to disappear.

Next, the comic goes to the twenty-first century, where we meet Dr. Ephrain Goodweather and his young son, Zack. Abraham is now an old man, living in New York. A plane has landed at JFK, and is suspected that all within are dead. But though most are dead, three are not. Thanks to the lawyer of one of the still alive, a rock star, they are released and allowed to go home.

From there things spiral out of control for the City of New York. A war is about to begin, one that will affect every single soul of humanity. This graphic novel ends halfway into the novel, with Abraham and Dr. Goodweather and Dr. Martinez from CDC killing the youngest victim from the plane now a strigoi and her father, a “dear one,” she’d changed, plus the arrests of the two doctors from the CDC. It leaves you anxious for more of the story.

The artwork was great. The colors were muted enough to give us the perfect atmosphere needed for a horror comic. I love when they used red, either as splotches outside of the plane which put me in mind of blood cells, though one could say maybe they might be lights from the emergency vehicles, a foreshadowing of what was to come. Even when they find the cabinet/coffin in the hold, the page and it are colored red. When the vampires are in full vampire mode, don’t expect a handsome count in a cape or even fangs, or even sparkle, but something far creepier. These vamps don’t want to make love with you, no, their reason is far more darkly terrifying in this tale. And with the nudity and adult scenes, plus the frightening vampire parts, this comic is not for children or the for the faint of heart.

If you like your vampires scary, ala shades of 30 Days of Night, then this is the graphic book for you. Just be sure to keep the lights on when reading this.

5 Sheep

Guest reviewer: Pamela K. Kinney

Comic Review: Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain, #1

Writer: David Lapham, Guillero del Toro, Chuck Hogan

Artist: Mike Huddleston

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: Mike Huddleston
Genre: Horror
Publication Date:December 14, 2011

Format:FC, 32 pages
Dark Horse Comics

Check out a preview at Dark Horse

When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Center for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem suspects a darker purpose behind the event-an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness

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

With these words splashed across the second artwork of what looks like a Nosferatu with something fleshy and creepy coming out of its mouth, we get a sense of doom. That the vampires in this first issue of the comic version of Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s first novel in their vampire trilogy won’t be sparkling in the daylight or making mad passionate love with beautiful women. No, you will feel the vampires have returned to their Dracula roots. I have read the first two books in the trilogy. I also understand how it is for readers of books when they see the characters from the printed pages on movie and television screens or as artwork in comic books for the first time. Everyone has their own imaging of how the characters look like. So sometimes, when directors and comic artists give us their vision, it does not always jive to what we see in our mind’s eye. But I admit that the characters in this first issue of the beginning of the book got pretty darn close to what I imagined in my head when I read the novel.

The comic begins with the younger version of Abraham Setrakian, as his grandmother tells the tragic and alternately horrifying tale of one Jusef Sardu, when the boy refuses to eat his meal. A nobleman who was a giant, Sardu also had problems walking and used a wolf-head cane. His father went hunting for a wolf, believing its meat would cure his son’s affliction. Something would, just not the kind of predator his father thought. All of the hunting party dies. Sardu enters a cave where he found the bodies. Much later, Sardu returns to his family’s castle—with strength now matching his size. After that, children begin to disappear. Next, the comic goes to the twenty-first century, where we meet Dr. Ephrain Goodweather and his young son, Zack. Abraham is now an old man, living in New York. A plane has landed at JFK, and is suspected that all within are dead. The comic leaves us there, a foreshadowing of issues to come. 

The artwork was great. The colors were muted enough to give us the perfect atmosphere needed for horror comic. I love when they used red, either as splotches outside of the plane which put me in mind of blood cells, or one could say maybe they might be lights from the emergency vehicles, but still, they were a foreshadowing of  issue #2 of the comic. Even when they find the cabinet/coffin in the hold, the page and it are colored red.

I enjoyed it, but if you rather imagine your vampires and the horror, read the novel. It is also available on Kindle for only $1.99. But if you love reading comics, this is a good, scary beginning to a series.

Guest Review by: Author Pamela K. Kinney