DC vs. VAMPIRES #7

Writer: James Tynion IV & Matthew Rosenberg

Artist: Otto Schmidt

Colorist: Otto Schmidt

what’s it about?

The nightmarish second arc begins! The Earth is now cloaked in darkness as the victorious vampire empire has taken full control. Pockets of humanity can still be found, and they struggle to live but hope fades with every darker day. The leaders of the last surviving resistance force-Green Arrow, Batgirl, and Supergirl-hatch a desperate plan to save the world…or die trying!

The Good

It’s always darkest before the dawn and for the DC Universe this is most definitely their darkest hour; both figuratively and literally as the Vampire King Dick Grayson and his vampire armada have choked the skies creating a perpetual darkness across the globe. I reluctantly picked up DC vs. Vampires for the first time over six months ago, worn out by gimmick comic themes like ‘everyone’s a zombie’ or ‘everyone’s an ape’ but drawn in by the writing of James Tynion IV and the art of Otto Schmidt. Needless to say this book has surpassed any and all expectations I had. Whenever DC digs deep into the thousands of fictional characters that populate their universes and pulls characters out of obscurity and brings them to the forefront I’m definitely a fan.

To see Director Bones and a kickass Jayna (of the Wonder Twins) fighting side by side is definitely worth the cover price. This series is a little over half way through but if you missed any issue don’t fret because DC released issues one through three in one book called the DC vs. Vampires Coffin Edition and issues four, five and six as DC vs. Vampires Crypt Edition both for $5.99. A great price for a great series and a perfect opportunity to catch up on the madness and mayhem.

The Bad

DC vs. Vampires took a brief hiatus to let us enjoy some side quests in the form of one-off issues titled ‘Killers,’ ‘Hunters’ and ‘All Out War’ so it was good to be back with the main series and start the second arc of this amazing run. I’m a big fan of the Superman family of characters, including Supergirl, but I was hoping this series, more than others, would rely less on Supergirl to save the day and focus more on the multitude of characters that populate their Universe.

VERDICT: 9.0

Characters like Doctor Light seem like they would be perfect in this storyline. Unless I missed his demise, which is entirely possible, because, despite the presence of some cool obscure DC characters, Tynion uses them mostly for cannon fodder. I’m happy I got to see Wild Dog team up with Adam Strange and Director Bones but that lasted for a few panels at most. Supergirl is a great character so if you’re a fan, you’re going to be thrilled. If you like Superboy… you may want to skip page 2 of this book. My grievance with underutilization of the deep end of the DC character pool aside, this issue was a homerun for DC and its creative team.