For those that enjoyed the short lived Blood Queen series last year, they likely would have been a little disappointed with the first issue of this new series.  The Blood Queen who was established as a complex enough character was reduced to a one-dimensional killer and Dracula was shown with all the depth of a historical anecdote.  In comparison of issue #1 to #2, it is a bit more evident why that was the case.  The second issue deals with a lot closer representation of the two, especially for the Blood Queen to her own presentation thus far in the short history of her published stories.

The story follows off from the end of the first issue.  The Blood Queen is presenting an association to Dracula, she serves as his wife and equal as they join their kingdoms and their power.  As will be seen later, some of this is well written as it comes off being a true battle of the wits, but some of it is poorly conceived, as characters say things about events which foreshadow a knowledge which they possibly couldn’t have.  The action then moves on to the Ottomans, whose mages are debating how to proceed after a dangerous vision.  It was a nice touch in the first issue to include the Ottomans as it made the tie to the real world a lot more evident, and this second issue does the same, even if they are bit less realistic with their use of magic.  The action then moves back to the combined envoy of the Blood Queen and Dracula.  This is where the two characters finally show their true marks, and fans of the Blood Queen from her original series will probably appreciate this series more after seeing this.

This series still has its flaws but it is at least proceeding in a direction which is more true to both characters.  The first issue might have left readers thinking that the series should be called “Blood Queen Marries Dracula”, but this issue puts the “versus” back into it, and in a dramatic enough fashion.  This series and this issue still have some problems, but at least it seems to be headed in a better direction after this second issue.

Story: Troy Brownfield  Art: Kewber Baal  
Story: 7.6 Art: 7.6 Overall: 7.6 Recommendation: Read

Dynamite Provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.