X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – X-Men vs. Vampires #1 – Review

From Husk til Dawn by: James Asmus (writer), Tom Raney (art) & John Rauch (colors)

I’m Gonna Stake You, Sucka by: Christopher Sequieira (writer) & Sana Takeda (art)

Rue Blood by: Peter David (writer), Mick Bertilorenzi (art) & Lee Loughridge (colors)

Survivors by: Rob Williams (writer), Doug Braithwaite (art) & June Chung (colors)

Letters by: Dave Sharpe

The Story: A series of short stories showing various X-Men coming into conflict with vampires.

What’s Good: Anthologies can be a lot of fun.  They give the reader a chance to see short stories centering on characters that are rarely front-and-center in the main X-books (Husk, Dazzler) or give us a chance to explore story ideas that (for whatever reason) were not selected to be the central theme of the main Curse of the Mutants story line.  Anthologies are also a great opportunity to see new writing and art talent playing with characters you love OR a chance to see a big name (Peter David) spend a short amount of time in a different part of the comics world.

This anthology features four short tales.  Two focus on misadventures of Husk and Dazzler and were quite enjoyable because they are both useful characters in their own way.  The Husk story was almost interesting enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing a writer try to use her a little more.

The last two stories in this anthology focus more on the eternal nature of a vampire.  Are they alive?  Do they yearn for the same things that they wanted in life?  Do they still recognize old friends?  If you are remotely interested in the overall vampire mythos, you’ll enjoy these two stories.

And what a variety of art you are exposed to in this book: Everything from Doug Braithwaite’s very realistic style, to Sana Takeda’s fuzzy realism to Mick Bertilorenzi’s more cartoony characters.  All of the art is solid in this issue.