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Mild Mannered Reviews - DC vs. Vampires Comic Books

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DC vs. Vampires #7 [of 12]

Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 5, 2022
Cover date: September 2022

"DC vs. Vampires"

Writer: James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Otto Schmidt
Cover: Guillem March
Variant Covers: Leirix and Francesco Mattina

Reviewed by: Craig Boehmer
Click to enlarge

The story begins by detailing the vampire conquest of the world. After the Batfamily fell the vampires defeated the remaining heroes. They then destroyed the forests creating a layer of smoke that blocked the sun, leaving the earth in perpetual darkness.

We catch up with Adam Strange and Director Bones leading a convoy of human refugees to safety. They are ambushed by vampires who quickly defeat the heroes. Firestorm attacks Director Bones, when a mysterious figure kills him, the ensuing detonation hits with the fury of a nuclear bomb. Director Bones is reduced to a skull and spine. The mysterious figure introduces herself as Jayna, she straps Director Bones into one of the cars and they continue towards the safe zone. The safe zone is protected by Killer Croc at the bottom of the Hobs River, it is the bottled city of Kandor. The Atom emerges to help them to Kandor, he also opens up the trunk of the car where, to Jayna's surprise, a depowered Supergirl is hiding.

In Kandor the last of the heroes are regrouping and planning their next move. Steel, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Batgirl, Constantine, Dr. Fate, and Big Barda are all shown. Green Arrow wants to shut down a human farm in Smallville, Batgirl wants to kill Dick, and Supergirl wants to remove the smoke that is blocking the sun. The team is still undecided as to how to proceed, when the story cuts to a tower in Kandor where Professor Pyg is operating. One of the Professor's patients is a chained-up Harley Quinn who is vowing revenge.

4Story - 4: Here's the things I loved about this comic. The ambush scene verses the vampires was thrilling. The explosion of Firestorm was visually cool. Supergirl getting smuggled in the trunk of a car was funny, but not as funny as seeing Director Bones, a skull and spine, belt buckled into the car. Having the survivors hiding in an empty Kandor was a creative use of the DC universe.

I did not care for the inevitable inclusion of Harley Quinn in the story. I do not like Harley Quinn as a character, I do not find her interesting or entertaining. 


Overall though, the story was very good. It delivered some cool turns that have me excited for what comes next. Tynion and Rosenberg are allowing these C list heroes to take center stage, and I am really enjoying it. It has turned out different then I pictured early on, which has been pleasing.

2Art - 2: The art is kind of all over the place on this one. I was expecting a lot better after having a month off. But we get beautifully rendered action pieces, showcasing the brutality of the vampire war. Then we get ugly faces. This is particularly perplexing because for the most part there are no backgrounds that need to be drawn. All of Schmidt's time and effort are put into the character drawings making it very frustrating when they look poorly drawn. The muted colours often make it difficult to distinguish what is going on in the story. The dark reds, oranges, and purples, that dominate this book, all blend together. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it falters. I expect better art at this point.

1Cover Art - 1: The colour palette looks washed out, Supergirl has no eyes, and even though all of the DC heroes are vampires March chose to make the vampires on this cover indistinguishable outlines. If I saw this on the rack, I would not pick it up because the cover doesn't look good.

2Variant Cover Art A - 2: This one could have worked. As I have said, I'm no fan of Harley Quinn's, but even worse than the character choice is the fact that the image is so dark you can't see anything.

2Variant Cover Art B - 2: Why? Why with almost every DC superhero a vampire would you choose generic vampires? If you like manga, you may like this cover. Black Canary has a very manga influenced design here. But come on, she could be fighting Superman, or Wonder Woman, or Hal Jordan...

Mild Mannered Reviews

2022

Note: Except for digital first releases, the month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.
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