Tag Archives: vertigo

Mini Reviews: Alias: Red Band #1, Die Loaded #5, Bleeding Hearts #2, Sirens: Love Hurts #2

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Bleeding Hearts #2

Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Logan

Alias: Red Band #1 (Marvel) – Sam Humphries and Gerardo Borges‘ Alias: Red Band #1 is like the warm embrace of an old friend. It all starts with the visuals as Borges channels Michael Gaydos in his faded out, noir approach with the assistance of colorist Arthur Hesli. His double page layouts where conversations become fights that look like the newspaper columns of the paparazzi photographer that has it out for “the mayor’s wife” aka Jessica Jones. Alias definitely lives up to its “red band” billing with a grisly murder almost on page one, but the conflict is through debates between following the law and doing what’s right and trusting your gut not fisticuffs. A particularly heated argument between Luke Cage and Jessica particularly shows the powerless of power. Alias: Red Band #1 definitely doesn’t have any new tricks, but it brings the aesthetic of Alias to the current Marvel Universe where Jessica, Luke, and engaging third lead Typhoid Mary are worlds away from who they were in 2001. Overall: 7.9 Verdict: Buy

Die Loaded #5 (Image) – Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans expand the world of Die in this consequential, reveal-filled installment of the series. Sophie is still the POV character, but Chuck’s gaming-obsessed daughter Violet takes center stage as the new Master. Die Loaded #5 heads back into the trauma side of Die with Violet dealing with her father’s death through a gorgeous, yet dark island fantasy world. Also, Sophie continues to improve at Die’s mechanics with a side of her maternality as she tries to collect the party and go home. But this is hindered by the aforementioned complex trauma and bleed of Violet, who quickly becomes one of Die Loaded‘s most compelling characters. Throw in a mystery reveal, an Ursula K. LeGuin riff on par with the Tolkien one in Die, and some splendid colors, character designs, and high energy layouts from Hans, and I’m even more hooked on this series. Overall: 8.7 Verdict: Buy

Bleeding Hearts #2 (Vertigo) – Mmm, I love how Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian structure the sophomore issue of Bleeding Hearts. Our lovable zombie protagonist Poke appears in the beginning and the end and has a key moment. However, Bleeding Hearts #2 zeroes in on the potential victims from the end of the previous issue: a mother and her precious daughter named Rabbit. It lays out the difficulty of surviving in this zombified world with unrelenting narration from the mom, who focuses all her energy to giving Rabbit as normal a childhood as possible, including a stuffed animal. However, there are some super disturbing scenes, and Morian captures the trauma seared in Rabbit’s eyes. There’s an old school Frank Miller/John Romita Jr. quality to his figure work that lends the visuals darkness, but also unwavering humanity. By the time Bleeding Hearts #2 wrapped up, I cared deeply about three individuals in this comic and hope against hope for a bond of survival between them. Kudos to Camp and Stipan Morian doing something a little different and switching POVs to give a fuller picture of what this series could be. For old school Vertigo heads, this has Invisibles “Best Man Fall” energy, but with a happier ending. Overall: 9.3 Verdict: Buy

Sirens: Love Hurts #2 (DC/Black Label) – Sirens: Love Hurts continues to be one of the most fun current comics as Black Canary, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy encounter a red herring and uncover more evidence about Gotham’s newest killer of women. Tini Howard‘s script is laugh out loud funny (I’m not over “dick dizzy”), and Babs Tarr brings some fierce fits and even fiercer facial expression accentuated by Miquel Muerto’s dynamic color palette. I love seeing how comfortable Dinah is with her new villain/anti-hero friends especially compared with the boredom of pre-wedding activities. (I could read a whole comic where Dick Grayson plays a wedding planner though.) Astrology ends up playing a key role in the plot, but let’s say Sirens: Love Hurts brings more of a girl’s girl approach to the zodiac killer than David Fincher and company. Overall: 9.1 Verdict: Buy

Preview: End of Life #2

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End of Life #2

(W) Kyle Starks (A) Steve Pugh

THE HARD-HITTING NEW SERIES FROM KYLE STARKS AND STEVE PUGH!

Okay, so maybe hiding out in this podunk town with his sick father, estranged ex, and nauseatingly pleasant townsfolk was a bad idea. But Eddie has a plan to make things right. If he can just give back what he stole from the Raven, no harm no foul, right? His accomplices, the Murder Brothers, will help him out… right? Wrong, dog. Very wrong.

End of Life #2

Preview: Bleeding Hearts #2

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Bleeding Hearts #2

(W) Deniz Camp (A) Stipan Morian

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT FROM DENIZ CAMP, WRITER OF ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER!

A world overrun by flesh-eating zombies is the only world young Rabbit has ever known… and her mother, Cara, has done everything she can to get her ready to survive in it. But she never expected to meet a zombie who seemed to want to help her with this goal!

Bleeding Hearts #2

Dive into DC Vertigo with Humble Bundle

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Start February with a curated bundle of adult-themed titles from Vertigo by DC Comics! Dive into deep thinking and hard-hitting themes like V for Vendetta: 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition and Ex Machina: Book One that don’t dance around the sexuality, addiction, profanity, and horrific brutality of real life. Get all the amazing writing, character development, and art direction you know and expect from DC Comics—all for a price you choose. Pay what you want and help support The BINC Foundation with your purchase!

The titles in this bundle are available through Neon Ichiban. To access the content, create or log in to your Neon Ichiban account. Specific titles called out above are available for highest purchase tier, not all titles are included in lower tiers.

The Dive Into DC Vertigo Book Bundle features 26 items with a retail value of $356 and you can get it all for $18.

Dive Into DC Vertigo Book Bundle

Bleeding Hearts #1 by Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian Heads Back to Press for a Second Printing!

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Bleeding Hearts #1, the chilling new comic book series from DC Vertigo by Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian and Matt Hollingsworth has prompted DC to send the issue back to press for a Second Printing. A Second Printing of Bleeding Hearts #1 is now underway, ensuring continued availability as more readers discover the series. The Second Printing will arrive in stores on March 18.

In Bleeding Hearts, DC Vertigo returns to the kind of intimate, character-driven horror that defined some of its most memorable titles. The series follows two damaged souls bound by a shared trauma they cannot outrun, drawing them into a slow-burn descent where love, obsession, and monstrosity blur together. As their lives unravel, the story exposes the terrifying truths people hide behind their closest relationships, delivering a haunting, atmospheric debut that lingers long after the final page.

Fans can find the first printing ofBleeding Hearts #1 on shelves now, while supplies remain available, and are encouraged to reach out to their local comic book shops to add the series and the upcomingBleeding Hearts #1 Second Printing to their pull list so they do not miss what comes next after that jaw-dropping final page of Bleeding Hearts #1. As more readers discover the series and anticipation builds for Bleeding Hearts #2 on March 11, momentum will continue to build. Don’t lose your head (or anything vital) as you rush to jump into this new DC Vertigo series!

Bleeding Hearts #1 Second Printing will feature the original main cover art by Stipan Morian, updated with new logo coloring for this edition. DC Vertigo will also offer a Second Printing variant cover, presenting an inks-only version of Nick Dragotta’s variant artwork from the first printing.

DC’s Vertigo release End of Life #1 Heads Back for a Second Printing

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End of Life #1, the sharp-edged new thriller from DC Vertigo by Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh, is being sent back to press for a Second Printing. The Second Printing will arrive in stores on April 15, 2026.  End of Life #2 arrives to shops on March 18.

Eddie Stallion, a man-child hitman with very grown-up problems, makes a catastrophic mistake when he accidentally robs the Raven, a high‑ranking boss in the Menagerie assassin cabal. With a price on his head, he retreats to the last place anyone would look: Pluto, the small Midwestern town he once fled and where his estranged father is now dying. Instead of safety, Eddie runs straight into old friends eager to claim the bounty, Menagerie killers closing in, a cancelled newspaper‑strip creator turned local crime lord, and the childhood first love he never got over. As he’s pulled back into the town he abandoned, Eddie has no choice but to clean up the mess he’s made… the only way a hitman knows how.

End of Life #1 Second Printing will feature the original main cover art by Gerald Parel, updated with new logo coloring for this edition. DC Vertigo will also offer a Second Printing variant cover, featuring an inks-only version of Rafa Sandoval’s variant cover from the first printing:

The Peril of the Brutal Dark #1 finds its sea legs in the third act

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The Peril of the Brutal Dark #1

The Peril of the Brutal Dark #1 reads like a prologue and first chapter of a series thriller starring a protagonist with a three syllable name like Jack Reacher, Alex Cross, or in this case, Ezra Cain. Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips show Cain in action, set up a tantalizing MacGuffin, and probably the best part of this comic is its setting during the early days of World War II as Americans scramble to join the European war effort against Hitler, Mussolini, and Imperial Japan. On a micro-level, some of the scenes in The Peril of the Brutal Dark don’t really flow well, but by the time, Cain is meeting with a museum curator connected to his past as an anthropology student and especially when you reach the final page cliffhanger, the book remembers it’s a damn good crime yarn.

I’ll lead with the shortcomings. The cold open The Peril of the Brutal Dark takes place on the Greek isle of Lemnos where a mysterious group of men discover the anvil of Hephaestus featuring Indiana Jones style traps and a heavy red veil of mystery. I like the purposeful vagueness, and that Condon uses actual Greek words in his script, but the fight with the automatons is anticlimactic as the men flash some flame and the statues stand stiff. There’s no peril or suspense, and it just ends up being a fetch quest that connects to the book’s present day plot. Or I could be wrong, and these automatons’ activities could be vital to the overarching story. Let’s just say that I have a feeling that The Peril of the Brutal Dark will read better in trade paperback.

My other issue with The Peril of the Brutal Dark #1 is how one-dimensional its protagonist seems in the action scene where he tries to retrieve a briefcase and get paid. Later, through conversations with police officers, other citizens, and some press clippings on the last few pages, we learn that Ezra Cain is a community man, who is willing to go the extra mile that the police won’t even if that means using his gun. But this scene is just a basic shoot ’em up like something out of Grand Theft Auto. (Hell, I felt like I had a better handle on the characters in L.A. Noire before the shooting started so that’s why I didn’t use that reference.) Phillips is also better at drawing static and establishing scenes than fast moving action as he and Condon introduce new characters and figures will nilly before ending up with a bloodstained suitcase. Jacob Phillips’ color palettes are vibrant and emotion evoking from the reds of the discovery of Hephaestus’ anvil to the yellow lowlights of Cain’s office when something suspicious about to happen.

That being said, I would say that I liked The Peril of the Brutal Dark as a comic although it isn’t one of the best crime comics I’ve read recently. It combines noir elements with pulp adventure fiction, and Chris Condon has a good handle on the class, race, and political dynamics of the time period. There are elements of codeswitching in Ezra Cain’s behavior from playfulness with cops to wary intelligence with the museum creator and finally open love and protection with a character that appears towards the end of the book. Early on, he looks like a generic white guy, but once we get to see him in action and especially conversation, he seems like an interesting enough fellow to follow down a Greek mythology conspiracy rabbit hole.

Although, it features whispers of a labyrinth of conflict and violence and one and is centered around a genuinely cool artifact, The Peril of the Brutal Dark isn’t a knock it out of the park first issue, both storywise and visually. However, it finds its sea legs in the third act, and the cliffhanger and supplemental material are what make it a “Read” and not a “Pass” for me. I personally am giving issue two a shot, but if you’re not a big crime comic person, it might be worth sitting this one out or waiting for the trade.

Story: Chris Condon Art: Jacob Phillips Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Story: 6.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.8 Recommendation: Read

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

End of Life #1 is solid entertainment and feels like the action films of the 90s

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Professional hitman Eddie Stallion has messed up. He’s accidentally robbed the Raven, a high-ranking boss of the international cabal of assassins the Menagerie, of which Eddie is a member…or he was. Now with a price on his head, Eddie chooses to hide in the one place everyone knows he’d never go…the small midwestern town of Pluto, home of his estranged father and known hard-ass George Stallion. Looking for safe harbor, Eddie instead finds his resentful father dying of cancer, old friends looking to collect that bounty, Menagerie assassins who have wandered into town, a cancelled newspaper comic-strip creator turned local crime lord, and oh yeah, his childhood first love, too. Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh, the team behind Peacemaker Tries Hard!, present the story of a man-child assassin with some very grown-up problems. As Eddie grows more attached to the people of Pluto, he’ll have to step in to solve those problems the only way a hitman knows how!

Story: Kyle Starks
Art: Steve Pugh
Color: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Becca Carey

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Zeus Comics
Kindle

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Preview: The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #1

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The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #1

(W) Chris Condon (A) Jacob Phillips

New York City, 1941. Ezra Cain is a private investigator with a reputation for taking it on the chin if it means solving a case. But it’s his former life as an archaeology student that makes him the only man to track down an artifact that’s gone missing from the Museum of Natural History… an ancient anvil said to hold the power of the Greek god Hephaestus. If someone could harness that power, they could bend nations to their will. Science fiction quickly becomes Cain’s reality when a shadowy sect calling themselves the Brutal Dark appears in the city wielding resources that defy human logic. Now Ezra is the only thing that stands between them and their plot to overthrow America!

Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips, creators of the hit series That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre , introduce us to a private eye whose business is exposing our deepest secrets… but on this job, he’ll learn that some mysteries are better off buried!

The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #1
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