The DC reboot/relaunch/revamp has one of it’s goals to bring the DC universe up to modern times, a bit edgier.  With that, they’ve decided to shine a light on the dark side of their world with their “dark” line.  The first of these were decent, but we see two heavy hitters this week released, one of those being I, Vampire #1.  I was able to get an early peek at the comic and I must say, it’s really good.  The story:

For hundreds of years, vampire Andrew Stanton kept mankind safe from the horrors of the supernatural world, thanks to a truce he made with his ex-lover Mary, the Queen of the Damned. But now the truce has reached a bloody end and Andrew must do everything in his power to stop Mary and her dark forces from going on a killing spree – and she plans to start with the heroes of the DCU!

The comic is told from two perspectives, Andrew kicking ass against vampires and his debate with Mary.  It’s an interesting mix, one is a quiet and subdued debate and the other is some cool vampire slaying (though that too is also a lot more subdued than I expected).  The comic is all about the mood and that’s set by Joshua Hale Fialkov.  Fialkov has shown he can do horror/thriller/creepy with Echoes from Top Cow/Minotaur.  The comic is that fantastic work crossed with some of his recent stuff like The Last of the Greats.

The art by Andrea Sorrentino is fantastic, taking Fialkov’s setting and adding the creepy.  His writing is important, but Sorrentino’s art magnifies the mood ten fold.  This is a great team-up of writer and artist and thinking of the previous three weeks, one of the best pairings.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this and was/am totally unfamiliar with the characters.  I knew Fialkov’s past work, and had hope.  After getting through the first issue, I’m pumped.  I anticipated this first issue, now I want the second and third.  The real test will be when the vampire world clashes with the greater DCU and that’ll be the big test.  But, on it’s own, the series is one of the best of this relaunch.

Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

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