Last week, I went on holiday, which of course meant I didn't really have time to write a blog post as I try to do every week.
However, what I did mean was that I got the chance to read just a few more comics. In fact, the first night allowed me to read an almost entire five issue mini series. Of course, by the end of my week away I had managed to read the equivalent of 36 single comic issues ...
... However, here and and now I'll just focus on that first night.
So, to start my vacation I read These Savage Shores from Vault Comics. Created by Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone,Aditya Bidikar and Ram V, which told the story of Alain Pierremont, a Vampire who had barely escaped with his afterlife from a Vampire Hunter and found himself forced to flee to the hot, sunny shores of India. However, when Alain ignores the warnings from the Prince of Zamoria and his 'friend' Bishan, his following actions find him killed and his brethern from back acros the seas arriving to seek retribution. However, while these Vampires may a dangerous creatures in Europe, they are soon to discover that there are some monsters even more deadly within the savage shores.
I had picked up The Savage Shores during a Comixology sale just before New Years (and their subsequent transfer to their current format). Like many Vault comic series, this was a title which had made it onto my wishlist, though only because of the amount of praise it had received. I, personally, had some reservations about the title, mostly centred around the notion I had heard that it was a horror comic and this is something I more often than not struggle to gel with.
However, I'm glad to say that I should never have doubted Vault for selling anything but a winner, because These Savage Shores was exactly that in my eyes. I absolutely loved reading this story, with the tale that Ram V spun really engrossing me more and more as the series wore on. I think that one of the things that helped hook me on this was the setting, as (thanks to my love of the Bernard Cornwall 'Sharpe' series) I'm a big fan of the India trade era that this series was set in. Because of this, as well as how apparently detailed the landscape came across in terms of battles fought and even the various royal families (like the Tipu Sultan (psst, I know how he dies ... in another fictional world)), it really helped get me hooked in far more quickly than I think it would have done otherwise.
That said, it wasn't plain sailing as I found myself a little lost regarding a couple of aspect of the plot. It was nothing big but it mostly centred around the question as to why vampires were the main antagonists as well as what exactly of Mysore beast was (was he a Werewolf or something from a different folklore)? I guess that, for me, the series was about 1 issue short, with some parts of exposition (maybe?) missing due to space contrainsts. I also wondered if there was some greater message within this series which I missed? Maybe the idea that there's always a bigger fish (as Qui-Gon Jinn, famously stated way back when). Still, regardless of all these ... quibbles. The plot rarely, if ever left me feeling entertained.
It's the art, however, which really clinched it for me. Sumit Kumar and Vittorio Astore (both of whom I'm sure I recognise their names but can't place the titles I saw them on) created artwork which was truly and unquestionably gorgeous. With a style that reminded me of Matteo Scalara's work on the great Black Science series I love so much, I thought the art in this series was brilliant, with every panel (well, those set in India) almost literally emanating the scorching heat of its setting from the page. Meanwhile, the night scenes, while not as harsh, felt like as the tagline stated, that the night was full of teeth (I maybe paraphrased there).
In the end, I'm gonna go all out and say that These Savage Shores was an incredible way to start my holiday reading. While it has plenty of horror elements to it, it is less of a horror stories I worried it would be and more of a dark, brutal love story. It's just a shame that there wasn't more of it.
Oh, and before I forget ...
Now, the review itself will go in depth as to all my thoughts but, in short, I really loved this comic. I thought that Russell Hillman really captured the vibe of the genre he was paying homage to and the art by David Gallart matched this tone perfectly.
There was one thing about this story which I didn't include in the review and it was how almost entirely throughout the story, it felt to me like the protagonist was a character fighting an internal battle with herself (ergo making her femme fatale a figment of the protagonists imagination). However, having spoken to Russell, this theory of mine has been debunked.
Nevertheless, My .22 Always Works was a really great read and reading it really made me glad I pledged.
The second review that went up was West of Sundown #1, a new horror series from the ever reliable Vault Comics as the creators Tim Seeley, Aaron Campbell, Jim Terry, Triona Farrell and Crank tell a story about a vampire and her human familiar who are forced to travel to the place of her Rebirth after an attack leaves her weakened.
Now, again, much like the review lays out (in the end you should all just read the review really), I certainly liked the issue and found myself very interested in what would happen in issue two. Indeed, while certainly more of a slow burn story, it continued to keep me hooked, especially with regards to the mystery surrounding the lead characters.
Also, I absolutely loved the art which had this appropriate Victorian look to it but then seemed to morph into a Francesca Francavilla style (which I have loved since Black Panther: Man Without Fear) at a moments notice.
By the end, West of Sundown continued Vault's winning streak with me (albeit maybe slightly tempered) as the issue had me interested enough that I'll deffo check out the trade of this when it comes.
So, with that comes the end of my holiday's first day of reading. I still read plenty more after that with another six days worth of comics left but that will all be for next time.
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