Demon Knights #19 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (story), Bernard Chang (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: It’s a pretty bad economy when even the devil fears losing his job.*

The Review: I don’t think I’m unique in liking creators who can surprise me, particularly if they can do it without resorting to cheap tricks or totally groundless gimmicks.  If you expose yourself enough to any medium of fiction, you eventually catch on to most of its patterns, formulas, clichés, and tropes, rendering many stories too predictable to enjoy.  A writer who manages to spring some genuinely unexpected moments through all that deserves some credit.

Venditti manages to surprise you in precisely this manner several times in this issue, starting with one that quite impressed me from the opening: Vandal Savage revealing that his recent animosity towards Jason Blood is due to Etrigan nearly cutting Savage’s immortal life short in the title’s last arc.  “I’m immortal, but the demon dragged me into the afterlife anyway,” he states coldly.  The moment he says it, it’s like a switch flips on in your head: of course—makes total sense.  Yet you probably didn’t think of it until Venditti wrote it.

Demon Knights #18 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (story), Bernard Chang (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Xanadu and Etrigan resume their “Are they or aren’t they” relationship.

The Review: If I’m going to commend DC for keeping a title like Dial H around, then they deserve another (smaller) show of gratitude for the continuing presence of Demon Knights.  While I certainly don’t see the fantasy series as on par with Dial H in terms of craft and importance, at the very least it breaks the monotony of superhero comics inundating the mainstream comics market, and that’s definitely something worth preserving.

Where else are you going to see Amazons versus vampires?  Not exactly high-concept, I grant you, but no less the interesting for it, right?  Now, if there’s any group of folk built to face the undead, it’s got to be the warrior women of Themyscira.  After one bout with the bloodsuckers, they’ve already caught on to all the tricks: pierce the heart and behead for a permanent kill; get ‘em in the sun to slow ‘em down; and finish off the bitten before they can add to the ranks.

Demon Knights #16 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (story), Bernard Chang (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: It’d be nice if these reunions could happen anyplace besides a dungeon cell.

The Review: I’m always a little wary after a writer I admire leaves his title for some unknown to take his place—unknown to me, of course.  I’ve only heard vaguely respectable rumors about Venditti from my subconscious internet browsing, but I still had my doubts as to his ability to step in Paul Cornell’s shoes.  That’s still a step up from where Peter Milligan stood when he took over Stormwatch from Cornell, however; I didn’t even give Milligan a chance to prove himself.

As you read this issue, it soon becomes clear that Venditti definitely brings his own taste to the title, but he tries very hard to remain true to the blend of playfulness and ambition Cornell brought.  The specter of fate surrounding our group remains the same, as does the tense camaraderie of the characters.  Most importantly, perhaps, Venditti does not go out of his way to shake up the status quo or change the cast’s core personalities.

I, Vampire #7 – Review

By: Joshua Hale Fialkov (writer), Andrea Sorrentino (artist), Marcelo Maiolo (colorist)

The Story: Apparently, magic is the high-potency acid of the vampire world.

The Review: In some ways, I don’t find this series groundbreaking as I find that it breaks away from the preconceived notions it invites you to make about it.  Think of the first time you heard the premise: a slender vampire with heartthrob looks pitting himself against his own lover, whom he turned himself.  Who knew you’d get a story about two individuals with incompatible views on life, yet who are attracted to each other all the more even as they vie for each other’s deaths?

Even more appreciably, the series has avoided all the usual nail-biting brooding you usually expect from these semi-romantic vampire tales nowadays, focusing more on the more violent, morally questionable qualities of the creatures.  In this issue, Fialkov truly dabbles in angst for the first time as Andrew uses the luxury of non-existence to reflect on his actions: “I’ve done more harm than good.”  But even here, Andy doesn’t ruminate for long, rejecting the notion that he’s destined for greater things with a dismissive, “Destiny is for teenage girls.  I spew death.”

You might wonder whom he’s scoffing at so boldly, but not even death-spewing Andrew can get that answer.  We can deduce a few things by simple observation.  This off-page voice must have some prime role in the balance of the universe, since he recounts the primordial origins of Cain (“Before there was light or dark or heaven or earth, there was blackness.”) with authority.  And since he can keep the slain Andrew from whisking off to the afterlife, and hints that he can restore Andrew to the world of the living, he must be pretty powerful as well.

Yet for all that, we still don’t know how Cain and Andrew’s lives are tied together, considering the former predates the latter by eons.  We only get a hint that an “army of great mystical warriors,” most likely the Demon Knights, had something to do with using Andrew as the “seal” on Cain’s imprisonment.