TrueBlood # 1 Comic Review
For the last few years, there has been an invasion of vampires in popular culture. Vampires are now trendy and hip, from Blade to Buffy to Twilight to the Vampire Diaries to TrueBlood. Vampires have gone from horror antagonists to sympathetic anti-heroes in a matter of years.
I have always been a sucker for a good vampire story, so it's no surprise that one of my favorite shows is HBO's TrueBlood. The show is created by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) and based off of the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.
When i saw that IDW had released issue # 1 of the new True Blood comic today, I only had to think for a second before picking it up. I don't often buy comic books (or books) adapted from TV shows or movies because the writers often don't get the already established voices of the characters right. Unless the writer of the show is the same as the books, it's tough to keep all the voices consistent, and that makes the writers job twice as hard. Not only does the writer have to tell a good story, but they have to stick to pre-established voices for each of the characters. Often times these stories take place in between seasons, so a sense of danger is often lost as well, since nothing can really happen to these characters (since they'll all be back to themselves for the season premier!).
True Blood # 1 is written by Mariah Huehner and David Tischman, neither of of whom I have ever heard of. Needless to say the voices of most of the characters are pitch perfect. The one gripe i had here was Eric Northman, the vampire sheriff of area 5 was far too passive. I take this to mean that he will not be the focus of this particular story, but it is a bit off-putting because if you've watched the show, he is anything but passive. The main cast is all here - Sookie, Bill, Eric, Jason, Lafayette, Sam, and Tara. Each of their voices is pitch-perfect.
The book is drawn by David Messina and Gaetano Carlucci, with colors by Giovanna Niro. A book like this relies a lot on the artistic interpretation of the character, and the artists often draw the characters to resemble the actors slightly, or it looks like they traced them directly from real life. The characters in this book look exactly like the real actors, and it's done well. The only exception to this is Sam Merlotte. When every character in the book looks just like the associated actor, except one, that one character stands out a fair amount. This is the case here. Sam is drawn well, and resembles actor Sam Trammell, but not in the same identical way that the other characters do. When you get past this, the art is beautiful, and for a dark comic, the colors pop.
The story itself starts off with a mysterious narrator, and ends with a bit of blood and a creature that seems to be more powerful then even the combined might of two vampires. It is still the first issue, but I want to see what comes next. I'll definitely be there for issue number two.
And at least these vampires don't sparkle.
3 out of 5 stars
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