Vault Comics 2017
Written by Donny Cates
Illustrated by Dylan Burnett
Coloured by Dee Cunniffee
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
There's Weep, your average machine-gun-wielding teenager raised on an Earth overrun with vampires. There's Poli, who landed on Earth with the mission to kill every damn vampire there. And then there's King Luc's heavily fortified blood farm. You do the math.
Alright folks if I haven’t been able to convince you to jump on the Vault bandwagon by now hopefully I’ll wear you down until you give in. This is one is by Donny Cates and unless your living under a rock the man has quite the impressive resume already. He isn’t sticking to one genre and he’s proving he’s got the chops and imagination to bring literally anything and everything to life. This here book is no exception and there are those that I already loathe, love and left on the fence.
So it has that tenuous science fiction element in the fact that there’s a mech suit being used and at least one is man from another planet. Well that and the citizens of Earth have abandoned the planet to the Vampires, and leaving behind plenty of humans too from the looks of things. So I’m going to go out on a limb and say those taken we’re members of the upper crust of society. That’s will something that will have to be explored because there’s no way the President, whom I loathe with a passion, isn’t getting the attention needed.
Actually while I’ve loved everything he’s done so far I think the characterisation here is some of the best he’s done. I’m impressed with the structure of the book, the way we meet the characters and how being in the middle of a story can be done with the right introduction. I mean trying to rally the troops is nothing new but to hear Poli tell the story and have Weep interrupt him makes the whole thing easy for us as new readers, because all of us are new readers, to settle in and not feel like we’re left out or lost in the middle. Then to use that opening and have it transition into the action was done brilliantly. If this is the transition Donny is making and with each new series he does he’s better, stronger and seemingly more talented then good grief Charlie Brown.
I’m still not the biggest fan of stylised artwork, why can’t it all have this wonderful attention to detail in every aspect? Demons, vampires or what-have-you’s, the armour that Poli wears and the mech suit itself all lack any real detail to them that make them seem functional, exciting or dynamic. That’s a big shame too I mean this is a sci-fi horror story and it could have been creepy as all get out or American Manga-ish because either of those would make this work better, of course that’s just my opinion so you are welcome to disagree with me but for what I think of this story it should have interiors that are just as good as the words.
Not gonna sugar coat what I think and feel because that’s just doing a disservice to everyone but I will also say that Donny’s story, how it’s written and executed are beyond worth anything that I may feel is wrong with the artwork. The great thing is is that art is subjective to each individual so if you’ve seen what I do and don’t like and compared with your own opinion then you can form your own opinions.
The idea, the premise and the execution here is so gosh darn good and keeps my opinion that Vault Comics is fast on the rise and could end the year as best new publisher of the year.