Bleed Them Dry: Vol. 1 (2024)

A sub-par vampire story that, for some unfathomable reason, felt the need to throw ninjas into the mix when they added precisely no extra value to it all.

The art was great and reflected the futuristic setting well, but no amount of pretty covers and great character design can make up for a lacking plot. This graphic novel's take on vampires attempted to be original but ultimately failed, which was, in fact, worse than if it had been unoriginal to begin with. The plot started off with the idea that maybe vampires weren't the bad guys which certainly flipped the script on what the usual narrative is when it comes to the fanged creatures of the night. However, it couldn't have dared to be too unpredictable and so of course, the most obvious plot twist in the world occurred and it was revealed that vampires actually were the bad guys, as per usual. The wasted potential was as clear as day.

What's more, there was no one to root for. If vampires are the bad guys then shouldn't there be a human protagonist to stand behind? Or an underdog vampire at the very least? But all the main characters were vampires and they ranged from unlikeable to downright despicable. I found the cat that appeared for one panel to have the most likeable characterisation and it said nothing beyond the word "meow"!

The protagonist, Harper, had as much personality as a vacuum in space and the other protagonist, Toyo, had backstory in lieu of a personality. Their tentative alliance was random because there was nothing to bind them together; they had no similar motives nor reason for sticking around each other beyond using each other in minor ways—only to complain about that later. And the real sticking point was that Toyo’s goal was so laughably impossible that everything that occurred felt pointless. Even by the end, the small reference to his goal to kill an entire city full of vampires alone looked pathetic enough that you’d be left either feeling sorry for such a deluded character or irritated at the stupidity of it’s inclusion in an already inadequate story.

This should have been better than it was. A thousand years from now, vampires live with humans in the megacity Asylum. There's a serial killer on the loose. However, none of that matters as the story shifts to some unexplained nonsense with two killers. The book just devolves into fight sequences with no story to back it up. Nothing is explained as far as what the bad guy's plan is. The gist of the story seems to just be let's have vampire ninjas fight and kill stuff.

3.5 stars. This was pretty solid. The year is 3333 and vampires and humans live side by side. From the start, we follow these two detectives who are now tasked with solving this new case, someone is going around killing vampires. Not too far into the story, one of the detectives, Black, has found the killer……maybe. At this moment, a big event happens and our two detectives get separated. Here we learn some new revelations about detective Black and Detective Harper learns about her new self and an eye opening new truth about the city/world they live in. This was a fast paced quick read with some nice action and a few twists. Artwork was solid throughout as well. This ended up being pretty cool.

Now, I've read my fair share of vampire stories. Horror vampires. Romantic vampires. Sparkling vampires. Erotic vampires. Prepubescent vampires. Angsty vampires. Lolita vampires, Space Vampires. But I can't recall that I have ever, before now, read about ninja vampires, let alone futuristic, dystopian ninja vampires. This was a trip. I enjoy it, though. I loved the art. I liked the characters and the world. I did find the villain a little over the top and cliched. Plus, I was never quite sure if he was The Big Bad of the world or just the big bad to the characters. All in all, however, I'll be looking for more.

Vampires, ninjas, a futuristic sci-fi setting with a tech-noir feel? Sounds like it shouldn’t work but it does on every level

Bleed Them Dry reminds me of why I love comics. Great art, fantastic action-packed story and a cool sci-fi dystopian horror concept all blended together perfectly. This is the first thing I've read from Vault comics but it certainly won't be the last.

3,5

Je to neskutečně rychlý akční béčko o policistce kterou zradí její upírský parťák a z ní se stane štvanec a to vše ve futuristickém světě do kterého se upíři dostali z vesmíru !!! Zní to skvěle že ?

Bohužel by to Eliot Rahal (Který chvilku psal i skvělý run u Quantuma a Woodyho) nesměl brát tak vážně. Akce je tu správně górová a rychlá, prakticky celý příběh má rychlé tempo a nenechá vás vydechnout, což je fajn...JENŽE !!!

Na to jak se příběh tváří vážně a snaží se o nějaký world building, tak to moc nefunguje, jelikož se na všechno jde až moc rychle a postavy nemají dostatek prostoru. O to více pak nechápu poslední sešit, který dostal najednou humornou injection a já se u toho několikrát srdečně pousmál.

Což je fajn, ale nechápu to v kontextu minulých sešitů kde se to bralo vážně a najednou Rahal otočí a udělá z toho až v posledním sešitu tu pravou nahláškovanou vtipnou béčkárnu.

Oukej, užil jsem si to, fakt tohle mělo tak obrovský potenciál (navíc i kresba je čupr). Jenže to ukáže svoje karty až úplně na konci a to už je trochu pozdě.

Pokud máte rádi upírské krvárny s trochou sci-fi, tohle si nenechte ujít !!!

In the year 3333, the Earth is still recovering from being taken over by immortal vampires. Humans and vampires cohabit peaceful among each other until someone is murdering vampires. Harper Halloway is a detective who is in charge of finding the killer.

While Harper investigates the murders, she stumbles on a dark secret and she starts to question everything she believes in. She crosses paths with a ninja vampire hunter, Toyo, who is on a mission to save Earth from the vampires. Will Harper and the vampire hunter be able to work together to find the truth behind the vampires?

The graphic novel was an entertaining read filled with gore and action. However, I felt that the story was underdeveloped. The story hinted that there might be two murderers but, they never went anywhere with that nor did they ever explain the motives of the vampire hunter's antagonist. I am also not sure who the bad guy is or which character I am supposed to be rooting for. If I was reading the graphic novel for just the action and graphics, this was a solid graphic novel. If you are looking for a graphic novel with a story line, I would look somewhere else.

Una historia de ciencia ficción y vampiros, un futuro lleno de oscuridad y mentiras. Mortales, Inmortales e Híbridos coexistiendo, un asesino en serie de inmortales y una investigación policial. Con mucha acción, un dibujo sucio y oscuro que le va genial y un guion interesante, me ha gustado bastante esta lectura.

Blade meets the Promised Neverland. What a dynamic premise with great visuals.

Vampire and ninjas and a lgbt main character? I was sold. Interesting storyline. Way in the future, vampires and history rewriting? Fun. Is there more?

Pretty fun!

When will people learn? Taking an oft-repeated and oft-successful manga/anime plot and trying to adapt it into American comics almost NEVER works. This is no exception. And putting something 1300 years into the future while depicting the world like the 1950s imagined 2023 to be, really isn't helping.

The art is pretty, the action is nice, but the comic is entirely skippable.

Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Seguramente lo comparte con la edición española.