Art: J Alexander
Release date: 2005
Contains spoilers
The Blurb: The United States is locked down against a terrible threat. However, the barbed wire and border patrols aren’t there to keep an enemy out, but to protect the rest of the world from a devastating plague that’s transformed the nation’s populace into bloodthirsty nocturnal predators.
This land is their land… …from sea to shining sea.
Now, a team of scientists trapped somewhere outside of Buffalo claims to have found a cure, and it’s up to a Special Ops unit sent from the President’s current headquarters in London to retrieve it. Little do they know, not everyone wants to see America back on its feet.
From writer Andrew Crosby, creator of UPN’s Haunted and the Sci-fi network original series Eureka, and Eisner-award nominated artist J. Alexander comes a vampire thriller with surprises under every manhole cover, and the dark truth that not all monsters fear sunlight.
The review: Some blurbs are rubbish but this one actually takes the entire need to describe any of the story found within this graphic novel. A recommendation from Halek, this is another post-apocalyptic vampire story. However this is unusual in that the outbreak has been contained in the US and so the other Nations are still up and running.
After a brief prologue, sourcing the outbreaks origins, we follow the Black Ops run into the country, to rescue scientists who claim they have the cure. The blurb actually spoils the twist, I think, but it wasn’t one that you’d not see coming anyway.
We actually see little in depth with regards the vampires. Sporadic, violent attacks occur from twilight. UV rays attack the virus and so they emerge not when it is dark but when the sun is down. They are violent, driven, feral creatures.
The artwork is superb throughout with J Alexander really capturing a mood. However, my main gripe is the story, not in what is there but in what is missing. The book is thin; it felt we had just moved into a vast arena when it was all over. Clearly it was aiming for a sequel (the virus is mutating) but it could also have put some extra padding through the story we got as well. The brevity of the book keeps the score down but it was still worth a read. 5.5 out of 10.
2 comments:
I pretty much agree. The art saves it, but the story is a bit thin.
I would have liked to see more of the mutated vamps. Maybe we will in the movie adaptation, if that ever goes into production.
cheers,
Halek
The art is lovely... and I got the feeling that they wanted to do more story-wise, why they didn't, of course, I don't know - however cheers for mentioning it to me,I don't regret getting it, I just wish more had been done with the premise ;)
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