Comic Book Review: Ex Sanguine #1
Image via Dark Horse Comics
Looking at the cover of Ex Sanguine #1 out of Dark Horse, you know you can pretty much expect some gory vampire action. But Tim Seeley and Joshua Scott Emmons actually start this series off with something more along the lines of psychological thrillers, in the vein of The Bone Collector and Along Came a Spider.
Oh, you get the vampire action, don’t get me wrong. But Ex Sanguine #1 focuses more on a couple of FBI Agents (one of whom may or may not have some low-level psychic abilities) as they try to figure out just what the hell is going on.
As far as a horror comic is concerned, the pace of Ex Sanguine #1 seems a bit slow and drawn out. There are a lot of characters that need to be introduced and plot points to get set up, but it leaves the reader underwhelmed.
I think the weakness of Ex Sanguine #1 is the cover. It sets up the expectation of gore, but the vampire doesn’t reveal himself until two-thirds the way through the comic. Instead of violence we get internal monologues and conversation between the various characters.
There are two saving graces for Ex Sanguine #1. The first is the beautiful artwork. It’s believable and doesn’t distract from the story. This is what you need in a horror comic. Art work that draws you into that world.
The second saving grace is the introduction of another character late in the story. I don’t want to give away any story plot points here, but this character promises much potential in future issues of Ex Sanguine. What I look forward to is a very nasty cat and mouse game between the FBI, our resident vampire, and the third character.
So as far as Ex Sanguine #1 is concerned, it’s not a great comic straight out of the gate. But it does have potential enough for me to keep checking it out in the near future.
And hopefully it finds it’s feet and quickly grows into the potential I can see for it.
