Zenescope Entertainment 2017
Written by Chuck Dixon
Illustrated by Allan Otero
Coloured by Robby Bevard
Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
Liesel Van Helsing is the daughter of the famed vampire slayer Abraham Van Helsing. As both a genius inventor and a skilled hunter, she has taken on Dracula, Frankenstein, even the Mummy of Amun-Ra and survived. Now, her next battle begins against one of the deadliest of supernatural hunters to exist, The Werewolf.
Well now welcome to the world of Liesel, Chuck I’m going to enjoy your stay! Already we’re seeing something different than we’ve seen in the past. While we have had a great opportunity to see her become established in this world Chuck’s decided to expand her detective skills and kind of stealthy activity that is more fitting a cat burglar than Liesel but still also works just as well. I like seeing another side of her being fleshed out so that she’s constantly growing and evolving every time that we see here it keeps her fresh, exciting and a joy to read.
Chuck is also exploring other parts of the world right off the bat with this story. It takes Liesel to China thanks to a book well really nothing more than a codex for a much larger more detailed book which now has Liesel’s attention. Still I like how she acquires the information and how she goes about getting the information she’s seeking. Plus she’s halfway around the world from her native London or her NYC residence so she’s essentially off on her own.
We all know, or at least should know, Liesel’s history and being her father’s daughter how she’s THE vampire hunter around. However as we all know Vampires aren’t the only supernatural creatures in this world and after having faced Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and a Mummy it’s time to keep the Universal Monsters theme going. Now Red is leading her own team and comes from a Werewolf so we we aren’t strangers to them existing. So what’s going to set this encounter apart from what we’ve seen in the past? Offhand I’d say ferocity and violence in it’s attack and possibly it’s bloodlust but that’s just a guess.
I like the work Allan does on the interiors here as well. His eye for capturing detail and in using backgrounds is so wonderful to see. Plus Liesel and Special Agent Wu She Hao both are dressed like smart women and not sexualised, well more so than normal, which is delightful to see. His use of page layouts through their angles and perspective is done extremely well and I gotta say the way he’s framing the story and making it flow is equally as impressive.
Could Liesle and Agent Wu be after the same thing? Time will tell and could this sword that caught her attention really be used to help rid the world of the vampire plague or is there more to it than meets the eye? I wouldn’t mind seeing Liesel be some sort of modern day relic hunter searching out those relics that could be used to control the monster populations that are on the rise. It would give her direction and purpose after all the stuff she’s had to go though lately.
I’m in people, Chuck’s writing is something to savour and this is off to the kind of start that could boost her popularity even further.