Weekly Comic Book Review

From Husk til Dawn by: James Asmus (writer), Tom Raney (art) & John Rauch (colors)

I’m Gonna Stake You, Sucka by: Christopher Sequieira (writer) & Sana Takeda (art)

Rue Blood by: Peter David (writer), Mick Bertilorenzi (art) & Lee Loughridge (colors)

Survivors by: Rob Williams (writer), Doug Braithwaite (art) & June Chung (colors)

Letters by: Dave Sharpe

The Story: A series of short stories showing various X-Men coming into conflict with vampires.

What’s Good: Anthologies can be a lot of fun.  They give the reader a chance to see short stories centering on characters that are rarely front-and-center in the main X-books (Husk, Dazzler) or give us a chance to explore story ideas that (for whatever reason) were not selected to be the central theme of the main Curse of the Mutants story line.  Anthologies are also a great opportunity to see new writing and art talent playing with characters you love OR a chance to see a big name (Peter David) spend a short amount of time in a different part of the comics world.

This anthology features four short tales.  Two focus on misadventures of Husk and Dazzler and were quite enjoyable because they are both useful characters in their own way.  The Husk story was almost interesting enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing a writer try to use her a little more.

The last two stories in this anthology focus more on the eternal nature of a vampire.  Are they alive?  Do they yearn for the same things that they wanted in life?  Do they still recognize old friends?  If you are remotely interested in the overall vampire mythos, you’ll enjoy these two stories.

And what a variety of art you are exposed to in this book: Everything from Doug Braithwaite’s very realistic style, to Sana Takeda’s fuzzy realism to Mick Bertilorenzi’s more cartoony characters.  All of the art is solid in this issue.

What’s Not So Good: There was nothing “bad” about this issue, but having 4 solid stories is almost disappointing in an anthology.  Often there is one story that has a really cool concept or stunning art that makes the reader wish for more.  Or, there is just an awful story that makes it crystal clear why that creator has never been allowed to play in the X-books before.  None of that is present here.  All of the stories are solid, slightly-above-average tales.  None of the art is spectacular, none of it is bad.  None of the stories grab you and make you want more, but none of them are stories that you only finish if you must write an online review of the issue.

So, this issue gets a slight demerit for “failing to have a great story”.

This anthology also includes a reprint of Uncanny X-Men #159.  While this is a vital tale of the X-Men’s history with vampires, who is in charge of recoloring these archive materials at Marvel?  The problem is that the original printings were done with different printing/paper.  They were NEVER this vibrant.  This creates a problem when it comes to backgrounds.  It seems plausible that a colorist circa 1982 could get away with coloring a wall orange, the floor yellow and the furniture green because they knew the newsprint printing of the day wouldn’t explode off the page in a riot of colors.  It seems like it would make sense to mute these backgrounds a little bit when they are used with modern technology.  This certainly doesn’t make me want to buy a Marvel Masterworks.  I’ll stick to back issues.

Conclusion: An enjoyable anthology that misses only by failing to have an exceptional story.  But, a worthwhile read if you are enjoying the Curse of the Mutants storyline.

Grade: B

- Dean Stell

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Christopher Sequieira, Comic Book Reviews, Curse of the Mutants, Dave Shar, Dean Stell, Doug Braithwaite, James Asmus, John Rauch, June Chung, Lee Loughridge, Marvel, Mick Bertilorenzi, Peter David, review, Rob Williams, Sana Takeda, Tom Raney, vampires, Weekly Comic Book Review, X-Men, X-Men vs. Vampires, X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS - X-MEN VS. VAMPIRES, X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS - X-MEN VS. VAMPIRES # 1, X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS - X-MEN VS. VAMPIRES # 1 review