Written By Kevin VanHook
Art by Tom Mandrake
Just in time for Halloween, DC Comics gives us those perennial favorites: vampires and werewolves. The days of the mainstream horror book are coming back and with it fun crossovers with our favorite superheroes. This comic and horror fan is quite thrilled about this. Bring on the monsters and candy corn!
The Book
Superman & Batman Vs. Vampires & Werewolves gives you everything you need in the title. Why would you not pick this book up! Its two great things that go great together. No it is four great things all at once. It seems that vampires are killing people in Gotham City and Batman is trying to figure out what is going on. While the first issue gives us no Superman, we get a Wonder Woman cameo that is really nice.
The storytelling is nice. I love the narrative style explaining minor characters before they reach their demise the hands of the undead. It adds a bit of Rod Serling or Cryptkeeper charm to the book. The Batman dialogue is spot on and fits the book perfectly. Batman is many things and in this book you will believe he is a killer of the undead. Plus, VanHook plays off of the Dark Knight Detective side of the character as well. Wonder Woman’s brief appearance has her character perfectly scripted and a great example of how to use the underappreciated Amazon.
The vampires are the Nosferatu ugly kind without any voice, save the main vampire Marius Dimeter. It is nice to see this approach since we have had a surge of aristocratic snobby vampires in recent years. VanHook writes Marius well however. While he is nice on the outside, the readers and Batman can see his vampiric nature.
9/10
The Artwork
I can’t praise this artwork enough. It’s as though Tom Mandrake channeled Neal Adams Batman and decided to add vampires. This art is amazing. Each character is detailed beyond belief. The artwork is actually the reason I picked up this title. Mandrake does a great job of setting the mood. I felt the book had a retro Marvel horror feel which I love. I can’t recommend the art enough.
10/10
Overall ( Not an Average) 9.5/1
The Review
The Story 9/10
The Artwork 10/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9.5/10