Last month, I reviewed Dusk: Chapter One, a supernatural vampire comic story. It's the first installment in the Dusk graphic novel which is a collection of stories written by David Doub, and drawn in black and white by a variety of artists with a distinct manga style to the overall look of the artwork.
In Dusk: Volume 1, the plot revolves around a young mortal woman called Eve whose life is a dark and dangerous one as she chooses to stay in the service of vampires. This creates a problem for her master Ash who believes Eve is better off back completely in the mortal world, away from the darkness surrounding vampires. Ash isn't like your average vampire, since it's obvious he genuinely cares for Eve and treats her with compassion and care. Eve is struggling with her life and her current addiction to vampire blood when a major upheaval arrives in the form of an insurance agent. The insurance agent has tracked Eve down, but unfortunately for him, he's unaware of Eve's strength. After a confrontation, he admits that her former ex-husband Dwayne misses her. This frustrates and confuses her naturally, and she decides to visit Dwayne in hospital on an impulse but he's in no state to talk. This seems to be enough for Eve who wants to move on and think about other things. She has enough problems on her plate with an addiction to vampire blood and the dangerous and sometimes emotionally disturbing missions she has to carry out.
The artwork in this volume is very manga like, especially in the first chapter. It's done in black and white, although I felt the art was bolder and had heavier black inks at the beginning of the story. It seemed slightly inconsistent and sketchy later on too, which added a little confusion with certain scenes where I wasn't sure what was happening to the characters. There's a stark simplicity to the backgrounds which don't provide any details to the surroundings, but you can see that the dialogue is meant to be clearly the focal point. Sometimes I felt too much text was crammed into panels, so it barely left any room for action and there were times where the characters were having conversations that went on for a little too long. Apart from the slight inconsistencies in the artwork, it will still entertain and engage you in the story, particularly in the scenes where Eve shows her opponents just how strong she really is.
This graphic novel takes a look at Eve's past and present, showing you the high and low points of her character. It also explains how Eve ended up with Ash, who isn't her first vampire master. The first one treated her much more cruelly until Ash rescued her. If vampires are your thing, then I would recommend this to read. It's not quite like a horror story, but more of an emotional journey between the two separate yet close worlds. Check out this Amazon link for more information on the graphic novel, and visit the writer's ComicSpace account too for more Dusk-related stories. |
