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Monday, July 26, 2010

True Blood #1 (IDW)

"It's a good thing that boy is pretty."~Lafayette Reynolds


Cover (D) by: Joe Corroney (shown)
Story by: Alan Ball with Kate Barnow & Elisabeth Finch
Written by: Mariah Huehner & David Tischman
Pencils by: David Messina
Inks by: David Messina & Gaetano Carlucci
Colors by: Giovanna Niro
Lettering by: Neil Uyetake
Edits by: Scott Dunbier


Based on the "True Blood" television series from HBO which in turn is based on "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" by Charlaine Harris


Comic Book Week: July 21, 2010

It's funny........I've always been a sucker for vampires (oops! no pun intended! lol!). Damon, Edward, Angel, Spike, Dracula..........yum-me! ;-9

So why do I prefer Sam Merlotte (♥!) to Bill Compton & Eric Northman (Sam's a shapeshifter btw)? Maybe I just want to leave them for Sookie I guess! 9,9

But this was a week of contradictions. I LUV (♥) True Blood the television show, currently in its third season on HBO in case you were wondering, & I bought a LOT of comix but nothing really stood out above the rest. So Kara's (my!) comic for this week is True Blood the comic book mostly by default.

And for a book with soooooo many writers (five!.....what is the difference between "written by" & "story by"?) why is it the art (by one penciller who does at least some of the inks too!) what  stands out?

The cover for starters was sooo pretty (even with no Sam ♥.......booo!........but Eric & Bill, & Lafayette, do look pretty good, I get a bit of a sick kick out of Jessica and I love Sookie's dress ♥!). This is only one of twelve (!!!) covers by all kinds of artists so I'm going to break a rule just this once & show you the checklist from inside the book:

You figure out which one you like best!

Okay.......on to the inside!

The artwork is great! It really captures the actors from the show while not being stiff & posed as is typical when an artist tries to draw from life. And the colors and letters pop off the page right along with the artwork.

The story, though is very short. It actually doesn't even have a title! The characters are very true (oops! I made another punny..... X-b) to the television show, as they should be since Alan Ball is the show's creator. The dialogue though is a little stilted, making sure we learn the full names of every character by getting someone to say their full names and a brief bio. Oddly, this almost works due to the nature of the characters.

Without giving the story away (I hope!) we meet Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin on the television show so you can get an idea of the quality of the artwork) who's the central character and a waitress at Merlotte's Bar and Grill in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's being spyed on by someone or something that will reveal itself before the end of the story. And in the story vampires are real and known to the general public ("True Blood" is like beer for vampires that is not real blood but that they can drink instead......meaning they can live with humans peacefully). There is pretty much a chance that every other monster and creature you ever heard of in stories and fairy tales is real too, but vampires are the only creature that people know about.

We then proceed to meet the rest of the main characters and the story ends, to be continued. And there's a nice pull out poster in the middle (its the twelfth cover shown above).

So short and to the point.......

RATING: 5.5 puppies out of 10 (psst! watch the show ツ)

If I've left you completely confused.........I understand! Sorry! 9,9

Here's a link to the HBO "True Blood" website that mite help to clear things up: http://itsh.bo/93nW7B

And to Charlaine Harris' official website for the original story: http://bit.ly/aPghgv

And one final present...........the "True Blood" theme song, "Bad Things" by Jace Everett (yah, I've never been a countrygirl, but Sam Merlotte (actor Sam Trammell) ♥ can do bad things with me anytime he wants!) ツ*:

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