DC vs. Vampires #6 [of 12]
Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 29, 2022
Cover date: May 2022
“DC vs. Vampires”
Writer: James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Otto Schmidt, Simone Di Meo, Danielle Di Nicuolo & Rex Lokus
Cover: Otto Schmidt
Variant Covers: Francesco Mattina
Reviewed by: Craig Boehmer
The Batman family is regrouping from the previous attack at the Batcave, all except Batgirl who is working with the Suicide Squad to take down some vampires. While they regroup Hal and Diana enter the room. A fight quickly breaks out, the Batfamily is able to tie Diana up in her own lasso, meanwhile Alfred chops Hal’s ring arm off. Across town Batgirl finds Joker’s dead body, drained of blood. She learns that whomever set this up knew the details of the Bat-family enough to send them on a wild goose chase. With Hal and Diana down, Ollie learns that Hal is not the vampire king either, and that now, with Superman a vampire, the war is essentially over. It was also nice to hear that Superman turning into a vampire was Batman’s fault… some tactical genius. Ollie then kills Hal while Batman receives a call from Batgirl revealing that Dick is the King of the Vampires. He immediately kills Batman and with a freed Diana kill Jason and Damian and drives the remaining heroes away. Dick immediately signals the vampire army to unleash, destroying the White House and forests of the world.
Story – 5: Ok, so they wasted Superman’s character, but at least they acknowledged that it was Batman’s stupidity that led to Superman being changed. I thought the moment of Alfred chopping off Hal’s arm was a great moment. As well, when Ollie kills Hal, that is such an emotionally resonant moment given their history and friendship together. The final fight in the issue between Dick, Jason, and Damian was fantastic. Damian losing his temper over his father’s death worked really well in the context of the story as well. Great issue.
Art – 4: I like Schmidt’s art, and he delivers some great panels. But there are some figures that are too angular for my taste.
Cover Art – 5: This cover is eye catching and fantastic. I like the outlined vampire approaching Batgirl from behind. I also think Schmidt did a fantastic job of showing Batgirl’s realization dawning across her face.
Variant Cover Art – 5: Vampire bat Nightwing looks really cool. Mattina does a great job on these variant covers of creating these creepy images merging DC heroes and elements of vampiric lore.
Check out the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.
