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Dec 27, 2022
An excellent series overall, keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first issue to last.
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Dec 27, 2022
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD...
Personally? I found this to be pretty excellent. I've loved this series' combination of off-the-walls humour and ideas, horror and character moments of all kinds. It's DC meets unleashed Sam Raimi and/or Tim Burton at his most Tim Burton-esque (so Batman Returns).
Vampire Nightwing finally clicked for me as an antagonist in this issue. The reveal was pretty cool, but after that we mostly followed the heroes so he was too much out-of-focus. He needed that "sneaky-little-bastard" energy that he gets here and I like that his motivations feel even rational enough from his POV even though they're completely twisted. But if there's a prequel showing more of him, I'll buy :) He had this combination of pure evil and ch
aracter sincerity he needed finally. I lveod that moment where he tells Babs he loves her.
And, I don't know how controversial it'll be, but I actually liked Babs' character a lot in this. I'm a sucker for a good twist ending and I thought it worked well. She wants revenge on Nightwing at all costs and ultimately, the cost is her humanity. She couldn't have murdered him as a human, but as a vampire she has no such qualms, but then of course the price is that Vampire Babs takes his place. It's was a pretty good reversal and I get why it was "necessary" to make her the new queen from a narrative perspective, even if personally I would have prefered someone else (like Wonder Woman, I want evil Vampire Queen Wonder Woman)
I really liked their scenes on the tower and I loved that the story ended... Quietly. This second half was getting too much event-itis for taste and while I like action, I though it was the way to go. I'm not the biggest Harley fan and originally I didn't like that they seemingly gave her plot armor but man, I really liked her role in this. She's comic relief, the only sane woman (ironically enough) and ultimately an unwitting pawn.
I'm not sure how well the ending works as an ending though. It worked for me, it was a dark, twist ending with a sliver of hope. Though for others it may feel too much like a "to be continued". Which I wouldn't mind, I'm dawn (:P) for Batgirl v Supergirl, but I get some would want more finality instead of a dark version of "the evil and the fight never end".
I read that Tynion plotted the Birds of Prey/Babs story (which makes senses, it's where Punchline appeared) and Rosenberg added the Green Arrow stuff and, given how much it interacts with the Tynion-less spin-off, probably the Supergirl section as well, or at least its ending. This is pure speculation on my part, but I wouldn't be surprised if Tynion's original ending was simply a dark one (given his horror sensibilities) with Babs getting turned and Kara dying on the explosion, and then they added Green Arrow and Supergirl getting saved to soften the blow and perhaps get a sequel down the line.
I'm all for exploring more of this setting though, specially now it's become this Castlevania/Vampire Hunter D-esque world. And to explore other characters as well, the vampire side has admittedly been sidelined this second half.
All in all, an awesome series for me, from the beginning to the end. Well-paced, funny, tense, scary and surprisingly character-based, which is always a plus in my book. 10/10.
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Dec 27, 2022
I just binge-read this whole series today and I lvoed it!
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Dec 27, 2022
It's rare for me to find a comic that keeps me guessing *and interested* for more than a year, but damn, this did. Congratulations to the writers.
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Dec 28, 2022
wow. This was great.
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Dec 29, 2022
This was fantastic.
I don't know how popular or unpopular this opinion will be but, after this ending, I think I've enjoyed this second half more than I did the first, even though I know the first was super-popular.
The first probably was more fun issue-to-issue (with the speculation and the like) but gotta admit I only started to read this recently and read it in one go. And in one go, this second half is just incredibly well told (and actually gets complimented by the first in some very fun ways, including the fact that you can go back and see who are going to be the two main chraracters of this finale from the very beginning).
Something like say, Dceased, feels more like a traditional superhero story with some (tame) horror elem
ents (complete with character resurrections, cosmic villains and grand battles that take all the focus). This feels like a horror story (with comedy sprikled throughout) with superhero elements. The structure is smaller, intimate, it's not as interested in the grand setting as it is in the small moments and dark endings are always a possibility. I think both work well, but it was nice seeing this story escape from the shadow of the other one by trying something different.
And te fact that it managed to do so while balancing mystery, adventure, comedy, a big cast of characters and not falling into the pitfalls of grimdark fiction is nothing short of astounding.
All twists were fun but man, this last one wasn't just fun, it was actually very well prepared. I'm not going to spoil it here but it's the best dark rendition of a fairy tale lesson. Think the last part of Return of the Jedi.
I would like to have more but even if I don't, I feel pretty satisfied with this ending.
An excellent series agaisnt all odds (I mean, it's cape characters turned into vampires, there are more thigns that can go wrong than there are that can go right), go read it.
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Dec 30, 2022
Well, as I've said before, it feels refreshing to have an Elseworlds with actual creativity in its storytelling approach, and this issue is the perfect example. The apocalypse plot takes a backseat to finish three personal stories (personal stakes work better than higher stakes) and character elements that were introduced issues ago have a payoff in a way that feels natural and understandable for the characters, while still keeping the momentum of the drama and having had "episodic" worldbuilding before this.
This is how you do a serialized storytelling.
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Dec 31, 2022
This was fire.
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Dec 31, 2022
Holy sh*t. I really rally wasn't expecting that ending.
Tynion is f*cking awesome at making horror interesting.
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Jan 05, 2023
And so comes the conclusion to this fun, scary, tear-jerking and overall bizarre (in a good way) series.
First a note: Vampire Wonder Woman is awesome and I want to see more of her (and her doing her own thing beyond jsut popping up in other characters' plot). And I say this as someone who despises the other evil versions of the character.
Oliver's part is probably the most action-based, and he ends managing to do what he does best: help normal people. After this sucess, though, it's possible he may not be able to go back to his loved ones (see below).
Kara's part provides the hope necessary for this not go go completely dark. Against all odds (and after the cruel cliffhanger of the last issue) and with a ticking clock, she's back
and ready to save as many people as she can't.
And Barbara's part was... Great. Back in October I mentioned that she was trying to win while keeping her humanity. SPOILERS, she doesn't get to. I loved that back-and-forth in the Tower, I loved Nightwing in this. I loved how normal he made everythign feel ("Babs honey, I gotta drink people") and how their conversation is basically him trying every trick in the book to make himself more vulnerable and reasonable than he is. And yet, I can almost feel there was some sincerity in what he was saying. And the best thing about it is that... It doesn't completely work in his favour. Yes, Barbara can't bring himself to kill him. Same as Batman or Constantine, or even Green Arrow at first. It's more difficult when these people are so reconizable (instead of feral or "just possessed"). But in this series, vampires are left with the negative and selfish desires of a person, so after being vamped, turns out Babs had other priorities. All other characters were telling the Batfam (Babs, Damian, Steph...) that killing Nightwing wouldn't have that helpful because someone else would take his place, and to do so with this kind of ironic twist ending was great.
Will Supergirl manage to change the setting now that she's got her powers or do the vampries have a countermeasure now that Barbara, who was a leader of the resistance, is elading them?
What happens to the Batgirls, or Dinah, who were last seen surrounded and exhausted, and now their best friend and leader may want them by her side? Do Black Canary and Green Arrow end in different teams?
I want this to go on... more
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Jan 01, 2023
I actually enjoyed that swerve a lot.
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Dec 30, 2022
I thought this was very good. There's little to say that hasn't been said already but let me add one thing:
I've seen some reviewers say that that this isn't an ending, that's sequel bait or blah blah blah... I completely and absolutely disagree with that.
I'm going to get into spoiler territory so leave if you want to go unspoiled: We have three main characters with three personal objectives (rescue humans, get her powers back, take the king out respectively) that they *all* manage to accomplish, plot-points whose set up goes as far back as issue 1 (Lex Luthor's blood) have a pay-off and are closed-off, the main villain is defeated and one of the protagonists get irreparably changed. This is as much closure as you can have. The story
*has* an ending and if they ever continue, it'll be a completely different story with different players.
What we don't have is a "nice" ending, it's bittersweet at best and, due to the actions of some characters the setting continues mostly unchanged. But that's also a point the story is making. more
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Dec 31, 2022
I really liked and enjoy this little Elseworlds. It's a fun satisfying conclusion that met my expectations. The ending was a nice plot twist that the more I thought about, the more I appreciate. While this series hints at a sequel, for now the first series is a success to me. Dont know which one do I prefer, DCeased or DC Vs Vampires
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Dec 28, 2022
Oh, there's gonna be more huh?
And so the surprising blockbuster of the year comes to a close...
What an insane series.
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Dec 27, 2022
It's weird to say but Rosenberg did a much better job on All Out War than Tynion on main title.
In essence it's a generic story that isn't bad. And it's a good thing from DC these days. General premise, general characters, general predictable outcome of two lovers. Makes little sense and zero explanation why some vampires are completely evil and the others comoeltly good, but who cares. There is mindless action and it's fun.
But it can go more than 6. Maybe with a top tier artist it could be 7. Alas it is not. So decent. Just this.
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Dec 31, 2022
Unfortunately, this series really fell off for me after issue 6. I really wanted to like the latter half of this title, but ultimately it fell flat. It seems like James Tynion either wrote or had a majority of control over the first arc, then gave it off to someone else, which obviously looks to be the case as Rosenberg also writes this.
Granted, I do enjoy Matthew Rosenberg as a writer, and I have found myself following a few titles of his that I genuinely enjoy. Unfortunately, DC vs. Vampires and Task Force Z were two duds, ironically both in their second arcs for me. The concepts were there, but the execution wasn't.
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Feb 26, 2023
This sucks lmao
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Dec 27, 2022
For years, DC Comics has been going from Right is Might to Might is Right.
And here we see Evil Triumphant, which fits within the dystopia values of so many of the DC Comics editors, content managers, and writers. It is a great issue symbolic of the "Anti-Hero Age," where heroes and heroines are only painted into stories to fail, be crushed, and defeated by the all-powerful omnipotent forces of evil, anti-human rights and crime. This is truly the identity of so much of DC Comics in today's world, when you forcefully pull back the curtain.
It is not simply Barbara's surrender, embrace, and even CHAMPIONSHIP of evil.
It is DC Comics looking for opportunities to pervert values of law, justice, humanity.
Just like former USA CIA and DC
Comics propagandist Tom King's amoral vision that all that matters is POWER itself. The same thinking of Hitler's extremists, and so many extremists since. Might is Right. And like the corrupt and shameless in Tom King's CIA and so many other places: "The Ends Justify the Means" - always - when your goal is ONLY Power over others.
The former perversion of Dick Grayson, a character who pledged a vow to fight evil before God, in the dystopia "Anti-Hero Age," provides his Might is Right rationale for mass murder: "We have always surrounded ourselves with people who chose what was right and what was wrong, and used their strength to enforce their will." In the Anti-Hero Age, Justice does not matter, Dignity does not matter, Mercy does not matter, and of course LAW does not matter. All that matters is the blood-lust pursuit of power for the sake of power. That dystopian values are all that remains. The Anti-Hero Age in comics not only perverts the objective of heroes and heroines in comicis, it also seeks to take values back to most primative stage of humanity, and even then consciously erasing our conscience - like a Zatanna trick to make us all "forget."
In this twisted portrayal of the heroic Dick Grayson, Tynion and Rosenberg, have always made it to be HIS choice to pursue evil and champion evil, waving away his lifelong efforts against it, and his vow before God, a God that is mocked as not even existing in modern DC Comics.
To those who seek the victory of EVIL over good, who seek the demoralization and debasing of heroes and heroines, Tynion and Rosenberg have written this comics issue for you. It is not legal to use comics to actually promote and encourage criminal behavior, but Tynion and Rosenberg, and of course DC Comics community that they represent, sees a loophole to use comics to glorify the victory of Evil.
Some will believe it has a cliffhanger. I question that. It simply seeks to create a reality where hope is mostly extinguished and Evil is Triumphant.
It is perfect example of the Comic Book "Anti-Hero Age," which is their legacy.
(P.S. A lot of readers will hopefully be disgusted, so I don't expect a lot of people bothering to review this (or purchase this). That will give DC Comics false belief that most readers really enjoyed the mess that Tynion and Rosenberg did here with no coherency or organization in plot, simply story ideas only for $$$, with no concern on story coherency.) more
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/11.webp)
/12.webp "DC vs. Vampires #12")
