Saturday, January 09, 2021

Killadelphia Volume 1: Sins of the Father – review


Author: Rodney Barnes 

Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander

First published: 2020 (TPB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: When a small town beat cop comes home to bury his murdered father-the revered Philadelphia detective James Sangster Sr.-he begins to unravel a mystery that leads him down a path of horrors and shakes his beliefs to their core.

The city that was once the symbol of liberty and freedom has fallen prey to corruption, poverty, unemployment, brutality...

...and vampires.

But the mystery goes even further when Jimmy's investigation leads him to uncover the source of the outbreak is long-thought dead President of the United States John Adams--a man secretly biding his time as he builds an undead army to start a new and bloodier American revolution.

There's a reason they coin a phrase, “you can't go home.” Welcome to Killadelphia.

Collects KILLADELPHIA #1-6


The review
: What to say about this graphic novel? Set in Philadelphia it tracks what is hoped, by the character of the centre of the conspiracy, to be the start of the vampire apocalypse. The patient zero is 2nd US president John Adams and he believes that America has fallen so far, this is the way to rescue it from itself. Pitted against him is a small-town beat cop, James Sangster Jr., whose father has been murdered on the job (he was a Philly detective) and the medical examiner who, with Sangster Snr, had uncovered the vampire menace – neither of them able to tell their superiors as they wouldn’t be believed.

There is a viral aspect to the vampirism with a strain of yellow fever detected in victims. But, despite this, we are talking a supernatural state and there is a story thread about a mystical book that Adams had entrusted to him but has been unable to have translated.

The writing is tight, the story fairly simple but with a nice level of characterisation around the primary protagonists. What made this for me, more than anything, was the artwork; atmospheric, gorgeous and it complemented the story totally. This is not a one-shot and volume 2 is expected towards the mid of 2021 but it can certainly be read, and enjoyed, as a standalone. 8 out of 10. My thanks to Sarah, who got me this for Christmas.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

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