Thursday, 22 January 2015

#CBR7 Book 5: "Ex Sanguine" by Tim Seeley and various artists

Page count: 110 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars

Ah, the joys of reviewing something you read in about an hour about two weeks ago and that didn't make that much of an impact. I'm sorry, but I have to once again resort to the lazy/forgetful reviewer's trick of using the Goodreads summary:

One's a natural-born killer - a remorseless hunter gleefully prowling the night for victims to quench an unnatural blood lust. The other's a vampire. His centuries of existence have left him world weary and detached, until one day his thirst i reinvigorated when the deadly and intricate work of the Sanguine Killer catches his eyes. 

Saul Adams is a vampire, whose long life means he doesn't remember anything he doesn't write down everything in a notebook he carries with him. He can turn into mist (which is convenient for getting into locked places) and he appears to actually be able to change his facial features if necessary. I really liked the detail about his memories fading.

 The big twist (which is revealed right there in the blurb) of this comic is that Saul is of course not the serial killer that the FBI are hunting. Someone is murdering people and leaving cryptic messages in code painted in the victims' blood at the crime scenes. The young female agent, whose past contains dark horrors, is convinced that there is a supernatural connection to the murders, and after they knock on Saul's door the first time, she is determined to prove his guilt.

Saul wants to track down the real killer, to see who appears to be setting him up, and ends up temporarily teaming up with the killer. Some might say there is a romantic subplot here, but I don't think there was much romance involved in a crazy serial murderer and centuries old vampire hooking up.

There were some interesting ideas about vampires and some fun plot twists (the reveal about the female agent's past was especially good), but the fact that I'm struggling to remember much about this comic less than two weeks after I read it means that even if this wasn't what appears to be a self-contained mini-series, I would be unlikely to track down any more of it. Not bad by any means, but really nothing remarkable either.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

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