Advance Review: "I, Vampire" #1

Yes, it's true! I've been remiss in my reviewing activities. If you must know, I'm writing a book here, and preparing for this year's New York Comic Con that hits in a few short weeks. In answer to your unspoken questions, I've been reading quite a few of DC Comics' "New 52" projects this last month. Why, you ask, have I not reviewed any of those books? Simply put, I haven't found any that have compelled me to put pen to paper (or, as the case may be, fingers to keyboard). But that's changed. Oh, ye gods, how that has changed...

Early on, it was the most derided of all the series DC announced. If it wasn't "DC, how could you try and cash in on the Twilight craze?" it was "DC, why in God's name did you bring that book back, out of all the old books that could've been relaunched?" People didn't "get" why they would bring back Andrew Bennett, who'd been on the scene in the horror anthology House of Mystery for all of two years prior to its 1983 cancellation. They thought, well, obviously we're going to get "emo" vampires, because they're so de rigueur today.

For those who've caught my previous references to this series, as far back as 2007, this one's for you. For those altogether unfamiliar with the first incarnation, this one's also for you. You want to be here for this. You really do...


I, Vampire #1
"Tainted Love"
By Joshua Hale Fialkov, Andrea Sorrentino, Marcelo Maiolo, Pat Brosseau,
Wil Moss, Matt Idelson & Jenny Frison
"Four hundred years ago my vampiric kiss transformed the woman I loved into a soulless thing called Mary, Queen of Blood! Today an unholy order follows her evil designs, and the blood they spill is on my hands! Thus I must stop her...I, Andrew Bennett...I...Vampire!"