I, Vampire #1 – Review

by Joshua Hale Fialkov (writer), Andrea Sorrentino (art), Marcelo Maidlo (colors), and Pat Brosseau (letters)

The Review: Every once in a while, you read a comic that just has that indefinable, special “something” where everything just clicks.  This is one of those books and despite being semi-retired from WCBR, I had to come back for it.

With Catwoman, Red Hood, and Voodoo all coming out over the last two weeks, a lot has been made about the sex and violence that’s present in the DCnU.  For many, things like Starfire’s sex drive, Catwoman’s various states of undress, and Voodoo’s stripping constitute “mature content.”  I, Vampire is a book that makes such a definition of “mature content” appear laughable.  This, my friends, is quite possibly the most “mature” of the DC new 52.  There’s off-screen sex, there’s dead bodies galore, there’s violence, and there’s blood.

But unlike those other DC titles I mentioned, not a bit of this content is sensationalist or exploitative.  None of it is done purely for its own sake.  This is “mature content” that lives up to its name, where the violence is meaningful and emotionally laden and hence, all the more horrifying and affecting for it (there are a couple panels, a vampire attack in a subway station, that will surely haunt any reader).  The sexual tension between main characters Andrew and Marie is sincere, gripping, a relationship that is completely character driven.

There’s a strong argument to be made that Mary may be the sexiest female of the new 52.  She manages this without ever contorting her body into strange poses or showing off her lingerie.  Rather, it’s all in her words.  Mary’s dialogue is absolutely riveting.  Her sexuality is palpable, one psychological weapon in a mental toolbox for a character that is brilliant, sadistic, sociopathic, and utterly manipulative.  Fialkov has managed to fashion a character that leaps off the page.  Moreover, he’s made Mary into a character that is at once attractive and repulsive.  It’s clear that she’s evil and twisted as hell, and yet there’s no denying her charisma.  In fact, she’s such a seductive character that she seduces the reader almost as much as she does Andrew.  Her words, her playing on Andrew’s guilt and their shared history, her sadistic and sickening playfulness, all lead to an absolutely fascinating foil for Andrew.