Blood And Water #5 - A Review

Written by: Judd Winick
Penciled by: Tomm Coker
Inked by: Tomm Coker
Colored by: Jason Wright
Lettered by: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Mariah Huehner
Publisher: Vertigo Comics

First rule of writing: your main character must be sympathetic to the reader. Even if the character is a right scoundrel, the reader has to want the main character to win. Judd Winick blows this rule right out of the water in this, the final chapter of Blood and Water, with a sudden and pointless revelation regarding the past of his main character Adam.

Adam is a double victim of Hepatitis A & B; the result of, we are informed by his internal narrative, food poisoning and his mother’s drug use while pregnant with him. In an effort to save his life, Adam is turned into a vampire by his best friends. The first three issues of this comic were a delight as we heard about Adam’s promise as a student, the collapse of his life thanks to his disease and his rebirth into a world as exciting (and often times more interesting) than any Ann Rice has introduced in the last ten years.

And then at the end of issue three, it happened. Adam’s friend and “maker”, Joshua, was killed by one of “The Tribe”. This “Tribe” is a group of vampires who fed on other vampires, went feral and had to be put down. But some of these vampires reproduced and birthed mortals who, if made into a vampire, will awaken all of the hibernating members of “The Tribe” and spark a mass killing of mortals and vampires.

Sadly, this battle between vampire factions seemed derivative of the movie Blade 2. And any sympathy I felt for Adam was killed by the aforementioned revelation that he caused his own destruction and that his Hepatitis A came from drug use; not food poisoning. The nice guy who had some bad breaks is revealed as a habitual liar who has come to the point of lying to himself about his past actions. This revelation only draws away any sense of tension when Adam goes to fight the awakened “Tribe” members. I didn’t care if he made it through the fight or no.

Still, Tom Coker’s art has been above par through the series. His characters are all uniquely designed and he is an excellent storyteller through action. His inks are dark, but not overly so serving only to make the rare lights and whites of the world seem all the brighter. I hope that Coker will find himself on a monthly book… but not a spin-off of this miniseries.

Overall, this series has left me disappointed. When it started, I thought it was a nice new take on the vampire genre that would be free of the angst that fills too many of the books in the field. But halfway through, it became exactly like every other vampire story I have ever read… even ending with a typical battle royal. And yet, my disappointment comes not from what I think this story was… but what I thought it was going to be and should have been; not another tale of vampires fight vampires, but a story of a man who becomes a vampire and adapts to it like it was any other life change, with a little help from his friends.

Blood And Water #4 - A Review

Written by: Judd Winick
Penciled by: Tomm Coker
Inked by: Tomm Coker
Colored by: Jason Wright
Lettered by: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Mariah Huehner
Publisher: Vertigo Comics

It has been said before, by myself and other critics, that Judd Winick’s strength as a writer lies in his characters, his sense of humor and his knack for inspired situations to base stories around. It has also been said that he is somewhat lacking in the ability to write good action scenes or natural exposition. And now I must say that nothing better illustrates this than this penultimate chapter of “Blood And Water”.

Until now, I had greatly enjoyed this series. I loved the concept, which gave us a look at vampirism as a blessing untapped by many genre writers. I loved the characters, who were active and enjoyed themselves as opposed to the more depressive and angst-filled vampire characters that permeate modern literature. And you couldn’t find many better gags these last few months than series hero Adam trying to fight off his friends with a sex-toy crucifix.

And then last issue, the plot kicked in. And instead of being a funny, cute story about a group of friend who just happened to be vampires and one man’s learning to cope with his new lifestyle choice, the book transformed into just another horror comic with an unseen monster awakening to start killing those nearest the hero. This issue, we find out just who and what the monster is, why it was awoken by Adam’s transformation to vampirism and why Adam is now doomed to become an outcast among his new “kind”. The sad fact is that this is nowhere near as interesting or entertaining as Adam’s hitting the town and using his newfound powers and the series suffers for it.

Thankfully, the artwork is still up to snuff, but it can’t help the “been there, done that, saw it rerun on ‘Buffy’ last week” plot. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy this issue. Far from it. But after the last three issues of something new and unusual on every page, the amount of repetition from older works in this issue is both shocking and depressing. Perhaps it will end with a bang. But right now, this book is like a part-time vampire. It kinda sucks.

Blood And Water #3 - A Review

Written by: Judd Winick
Penciled by: Tomm Coker
Inked by: Tomm Coker
Colored by: Jason Wright
Lettered by: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Mariah Huehner & Heidi MacDonald
Publisher: Vertigo Comics

In a week full of good Judd Winick stories (Green Lantern and Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day in addition to Blood and Water), this was the best. I’ve enjoyed the first two chapters in this series, in which we are introduced to Hepatitis-victim Adam, who is told his life can be saved by his friends Nicky and Josh. They can do this because they are vampires.

The vampires in the world spun by Winick bare little resemblance to the ones in horror movies. Sunlight, holy objects and running water do nothing to repel vampires. Oh, they are a lot more sensitive to light than most and human blood has the same effect on vampires as PCP… but for the most part, you can’t die and can’t get sick. And in this issue, after dealing with the problem of his body rejecting all the organs it no longer needs (with a method that requires a mop and bathtub), Adam is introduced to one of the other benefits of being a vampire. Sex.

Yes, the word is written on the cover. And tempting as it is to make a joke about “now that we have your attention, read this comic”, this issue does discuss sex. Yes, vampires can and will have sex in this reality. They also have the ability to make themselves more attractive to other people and Josh proudly notes he has not gone without since the night he became a vampire. And in a hilarious scene that seems to mock the tendency of some genre writers (Ann Rice in particular) to turn any male who becomes a vampire into a stereotypical gay man, Josh pranks Adam.

Now all of this is pretty interesting in of itself and good fun for those of us who enjoy a good vampire story but like seeing the genre made fun of, like with the now infamous dildo crucifix in Issue #1. Sadly, someone decided that there needed to be more to this than humor and character. Hence we are given a “plot” with some monster from Canada waking up and “hunting” our characters. After two references in two issues, we still have no idea what this creature is and why it has just now woken and traveled from Canada to California to kill vampires. Still, my curiosity is piqued and I cannot wait for the next issue.