Comic Review: Blood-Stained Teeth #1

Blood-Stained Teeth #1

Publisher: Image Comics

Writer: Christian Ward

Art: Patric Reynolds

Colors: Heather Moore

Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

I remember seeing the announcement for this comic and going: “Hooray, another vampire comic” in a sarcastically boring monotone. However the cast we have for this one really inspires a lot of confidence actually – said a more reasonable and pleasant part of me. This week Cristian Ward’s and Patric Reynolds launch their vampiric tale to the world of comics via Image Comics.

The first issue, as usual, is responsible for laying down the basic rules of this universe, introducing us to our protagonist and putting them in a bad place. Blood-Stained doesn’t bring us much novelty in the structure. The contents, however, bring things home. 

Right on the first page we’re presented with the universe’s rules: Vampires can be born (a.k.a. First Born) or they can be made (a.k.a. Sips). But only those who are born can make some more. Except that’s forbidden. Straight forward enough. Then, we meet our protagonist, Atticus Sloane, as he is claiming another victim. Only the woman he bites is not a victim but a client. Sloane makes an immortal living out of turning humans into vampires. He charges quite the price but as it’s pointed out by himself: “Immortality isn’t cheap”. He’s a cool dude who just wants to live his eternal life wealthy and without any worries. However, Atticus is then shown to attend a First Born Party. In this party, Atticus’ turning business is exposed and now he must deal with the consequences of his actions.

I’m a huge fan of Cristian Ward’s work. Initially I knew him for his artwork (which are stunning, such as the cover for this comic). But his plots always tend to draw me in. I asked my editor for the Machine Gun Wizards to review. I mean, look at that title! In this new release, Ward hasn’t let me down. Not only do I like the plot a lot, I really enjoyed the pacing and non-linear narrative which gives the comic (along with the introduction cards) a Guy Ritchie/Tarantino movie feel. Sloan is a downright jerk who has a seemingly nice friendship with his Familiar, Joey. Therein lies a bounty of hilarious dialogue.

I absolutely adore the artwork for this book. It’s not that many of the artworks of most of today’s comic books aren’t already great. But as I laid my eyes upon the first page of Blood-Stained #1 I felt refreshed. Hell Yeah! Let’s do a whole comic all out of pop art. It is bold, it is marvelous and it sets the mood of the comic so nicely.  Illustration, by Patric Reynolds and colors, by Heather Moore mingle together perfectly and they portray the pop style in a beautiful approach. The realistic depictions with gently saturated colors are just gorgeous to look at and I’m so happy.

Last I reviewed Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering, it was awesome, plain and simple. Again he delivers some fresh sound effects which, again, are a match made in heaven with the comic’s choice of art style. I assume the title cards for each character are also his and for that I salute the guy by giving Bram Stoker a cool introduction.

This comic stuck with me. Not only because of the plot, the characters or the artwork but how well it is so much better than the sum of his parts. I highly recommend this, especially for fans of Vampire the Masquerade who need to fill the void of a cool vampire secret clan.