Authors: James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Otto Schmidt
First Published (THB): 2023
Contains spoilers
The Blurb: The nightmarish second arc begins! The Earth is now cloaked in darkness as the victorious vampire empire has taken full control.
Pockets of humanity can still be found, and they struggle to live but hope fades with every darker day. The leaders of the last surviving resistance force-Green Arrow, Batgirl, and Supergirl-hatch a desperate plan to save the world…or die trying!
The review: If you have not read Volume 1 then please note this review will contain major spoilers to that volume.
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Enemies have become allies, both amongst the survivors of the vampire apocalypse and amongst the vampires under the vampire king, with most of the vampires obedient to his will.
At the end of Volume 1 the king was revealed to be Nightwing during a devastating attack on the Bat Family, with Batman slaughtered. With Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Superman all turned it seems the war has been lost before it begins. Burning off forests to cause a particle cloud cover that has turned day into night Sugergirl has lost her powers.
Humans are being farmed and the meta-human survivors might have a strange alliance but are also at odds with one another. Constantine is looking at the bigger picture, Green Arrow is determined to focus on an individual level and liberate a blood farm in Smallville and Batgirl wants to penetrate Gotham to kill Nightwing in his capital. There is a plan afoot to get Supergirl into space allowing her to regenerate and then clear the atmosphere, meanwhile Harley’s blood has been found to be poisonous to vampires. Finally, not all vampires are loyal to Nightwing and Robin wants to see his father’s killer dead.
So, as you can see the graphic novel packs a lot in. The action is brutal and there is no guarantee of survival for any established character – indeed volume 1 saw many turned and many others dead. The writing is sharp and on point and the artwork is of the highest quality. It jumped some points that could have done with being fleshed out. For instance, an attack on the House of Mystery is about to initiate and then we see the aftermath – that the survivors had their memories scorched answers why, but for the reader it was a jump. Likewise starting volume 2 after the fall of Earth is understandable for brevity and the fact it was a limited comic run but the fall could have been addressed more. Without being explicitly tagged as such, this is clearly an Elseworlds story and there is a further side-volume due (All Out War) that may fill in some of the gaps between volume 1 and 2. 8.5 out of 10.
In Hardback @ Amazon US
In Hardback @ Amazon UK
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