TRANSFUSION #1

TRANSFUSION #1 by G-Man

October 15, 2012, 9:38 am
Filed under: Comic Reviews, IDW Comics | Tags: 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, IDW, Menton3, Monocyte, Robots, Steve Niles, Vampires

A grim post-apocalyptic world is laid out by writer Steve Niles & artist Menton3 in IDW’s latest release….and with a tagline that includes ‘Vampires versus Robots’ – it all sounds pretty damn cool to me.

Having read Niles previous work on 30 Days of Night and Criminal Macabre I was pretty psyched to get my hands on this latest release and with Menton3’s Monocyte fresh in my mind there was a strong chance that I knew what to expect from this title and I wasn’t disappointed.  A typically imaginative and haunting cover leads us into a battle where robots run on human blood and the quest for survival that we see in the opening of this issue is made all the more realistic as a desperate search for food is underway.

All the while looking out for the hunter robots that are following their own survival quest as they search for humans, mainly their blood, which offers the gear easing help their insides need.  With the appearance of some vampires the fight kicks-off as robot meets vampire in a tug of war over the rewards from the latest hunt.

This opener is very light on narrative/speech but there’s enough here from the writer/artist combo we have – Niles’ has always been a master of building tension and horror and this title is no different.  What’s different here though is the muted tone of the art that’s been used – where the moody, gritty realism of the robots, vampires and humans all merge to give us a horrific world to be part of.  Much lighter than I’d have expected as the dark shadows from the evil hunting the humans continues it’s pursuit but this works perfectly in emphasising the brutality of the kills and the redness of the blood produced.  Grim reading where a glimpse of the vampires in the closing pages surprisingly sees me on their side….not sure if that was the aim but I’m sure issue #2 will expand on that further.

Exciting writing and beautiful art combine in Transfusion and I’m sure that Niles/Menton3 will keep things that way for the rest of this 4-issue run and hopefully we’ll see momentum pick-up and a more in-depth story grow from this strong starting point.

7/10

G-Man

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