Take Julius Caesar add vampires and mix both with a murder mystery and you get Ides of Blood #1.  This new six issue limited series from Wildstorm, written by Stuart C. Paul and art by Christian Duce is fantastic.

The year is 44 B.C. Julius Caesar has conquered Transylvania, and vampyres are Rome’s new slave class. But when rich mortals start turning up dead with fang marks on their necks, Valens, a vampyre slave-turned-Roman soldier, plunges into the blood-soaked underworld of Rome to capture the Pluto’s Kiss Killer. If he can prove himself, he’ll earn rank and riches beyond what anyone this side of the Tiber has ever seen! But if he fails, he just might find himself on top of the pile of bodies!

Don’t miss this crimson-red, 6-issue thriller that mixes the undead intrigue of True Blood with the brutal Roman action and political drama of Spartacus from newcomers Stuart C. Paul and Christian Duce!

I really enjoyed the first issue as we’re shown a world where Caesar has conquered Transylvania and now is the proud owner of a vampire sub-class of citizens.  Along with a murder mystery we also contend with a love story between the lead investigator and Caesar’s niece.

The story is pretty creative, I loved the writing and the art is fantastic.  I’m sure this is a comic you’ll overlook on the shelf, I know I would, but that’d be a disservice to yourself.  It’s really good and if you like Gladiator or True Blood there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this new series.  Pick it up, trust me.

Plot: This series is an amalgam of many things, Gladiator, True Blood, Rome and it mixes really well.  This is horror noir set during Roman times.  The characters are set up really well and you can tell there’s so much more going on than we’re lead on to believe.  Paul may be a newcomer to comics, but this is a hell of a start, because it’s really good.  Rating: 8.75

Art: I really liked the art of Duce.  It’s dark, but you can tell what’s going on.  The mood is set really well.  You get a good feel for the setting with a nice historical feel to it all.  Really nice to look at.  Rating: 8.5

Overall: This series came out of no where to me, I didn’t know a thing about it and didn’t even know it was coming out, but I have to say, I really enjoyed it.  It’s a great mix of history, fantasy and horror.  There’s a lot here and all of it is good and I’m looking forward to seeing where the next issues go.  Overall rating: 8.75

Recommendation: Buy

Page count: 32 pages    Price: $3.99    Release Date: 8/18/2010

Wildstorm provided Graphic Policy with an advance copy of this issue for FREE for review.