R.F., Sue, and Big Jack are up to their armpits in tarantulas and vampires! But the true, ghastly secret of the Blood Feud has yet to be revealed. In order to save the town of Spider Creek–and the world–they’ll have to make a terrible sacrifice.

Blood Feud #5 marks this miniseries’ last issue, and thus the story concludes. It ends in the way it begins, with violence, and vampires. However at least it reveals the origins of how the vampires came to be. However be warned the ending that writer Cullen Bunn has come up with isn’t a happy one.

The art by Drew Moss and Nick Filardi is dark, grim, and of course filled with shades of red. However the Master Vampire image, does bring to mind a lesser known foe of Batman, Manbat. Just a more twisted, vampiric, and fearsome one. While despite its much darker origins, you can see the obvious differences.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Drew Moss, Nick Filardi
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Oni Press provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

The sleepy little town of Spider Creek is overrun with vampiric demons! R.F. Coven, Sue Hatchell, and Big Jack have to fight their way through a horde of nightmarish beasts in order to save their community. Along the way, a tragic realization points our heroes toward the hideous master of the undead!

In Blood Feud #4, writer Cullen Bunn is finally beginning to bring the story to a climax, as the vampiric demons spread through the small town. Finding a small safe place in the church in town, they manage to find the remains of the uninfected townsfolk. Like traditional/classic vampires these monsters share the weakness of sunlight. Honestly, I ‘m curious to see how it ends.

The art team of Drew Moss and Nick Filardi get to change things up a bit. It’s nice to see the town in the light of the sun, free of the vampiric demons. The town seems tranquil compared to it at night despite the danger. By the end of the issue the town is partly in-flames as the vampiric creatures are exposed to sunlight bursting into flames.

It all adds up to a nice contrast from the dark atmosphere of the previous issues.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Drew Moss, Nick Filardi
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

Oni Press provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Blood Feud #1 is great. Falling into the horror side of things, which is usually not my cup of tea, this debut issue from writer Cullen Bunn along with artist Drew Moss and colorist Nick Filardi had me grinning from ear to ear as I read through its pages that will have fans of Evil Dead, Phantasm and Shaun Of The Dead whooping with glee. As horror tinged as this is, there were several subtly funny touches here.

So what’s the comic about? From the press release;

I’ve got a story to tell—a story about how me and a couple of poker buddies squared off against the very legions of Hell… and maybe even saved the world. Like all good yarns, this one has its share of action, adventure, mystery, and romance. As for how it ends, though, you’ll have to judge for yourself. Me, I’ve always been partial to happy endings—the singing cowboy riding off into the sunset—but I reckon that just ain’t the way of the world. This story’s got vampires, too, loads of them, but not in the beginning. It began, for us at least, with spiders.

I’m pretty sure I read at least two Cullen Bunn comics a month, if not more, but this is one that has risen above the rest.Whether it was because I went into the comic not knowing what to expect, or whether it’s because for some reason my expectations were lower than they should be, this story knocked my figurative socks off. A good part of that was down to the superb artwork from Drew Moss, which is rounded out very well by Nick Filardi‘s colours. The art suits the style of this story ever so well, and the details provided by Drew Moss line work is spot on; the creepiness factor of several scenes would have been pretty good in black and white, but the colouring takes it to the next level, really giving a sense of impending doom that’s highlighted by the internal monologue of R.F. Coven as he tells the tale.

Cullen Bunn has written some great dialogue here that really highlights the long-standing friendships of the three characters featured on the front cover, giving them each a distinct feel as they’re talking about the good, and the bad, in their lives.

Blood Feud #1 took me by surprise, and (as you can probably tell) I really enjoyed the comic; I’ll be adding this to my ever-growing pull list when I next go to my Local Comic Shop. Hopefully you’ll do the same.

Writer: Cullen Bunn Artist: Drew Moss Colourist: Nick Filardi
Story: 8.75 Art 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

Oni Press provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy for review

There is something to be said about the horror movies that came out in the 80s, they were campy, cheesy, gory and a whole lot of fun. At no time, watching these movies, you felt that any of those situations, were actually plausible, as they were so farfetched, that the absurdity is what made them so enjoyable. As the horror movie genre, evolved, the goal was to scare the viewer, which it did in movies like the Saw franchise and The Strangers, but the fun which viewers came to enjoy from the movies in the 1980s were, for the most part, gone. Eventually, the genre, devolved into what some called” torture porn”, with the exception of some films like It Follows.

Now there have been some attempts to recapture the fun in those movies, like the brilliant and underrated Cabin Fever and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, but for the most part, it has been hit and misses on the big screen. On the small screen, it has been exceptionally more successful, in shows like True Blood, The Strain and Hannibal, as each of these, strike a perfect balance between gore, clever reengineering of genre tropes and well told storylines .So when I heard, that Cullen Bunn, was doing his own twist on the genre, I was immediately interested to see, what he would come up with. The story he creates is one with a wink at all the genre’s tropes but doesn’t sacrifice good story for a quick payoff.

Within the first few pages, the reader is introduced to the town of Spider Creek, a town in the Deep South, which the one of the main characters call a “one horse town”, where the reader is introduced to some familiar looking characters in the genre, including some good old boys like the main characters, RF, Cecil and Jack and college girls like Sue Hatchell. You are also introduced to the outcasts in town , the Whatley Clan, which seems like a bit of foreshadowing, but I believe will eventually play a big part in the story. Then the trouble starts with some tarantulas scattering, dead zombie looking frogs frolicking , blue jays flocking and a blood moon which eventually leads to a mutilated man, who gets caught up in a blood feud, between the Whatleys and the Stubbs, two of the biggest families in town. The issue ends with the biggest twist thus far, where you find out that one of the families is filled with vampires.

This book is filled with twists at every corner, and some you even see coming yet a strong series that can easily be a TV show. The story by Cullen Bunn is departures from everything we have seem from him before, which is at times off-putting but shows his skills as writer who can tell superb stories no matter the genre. The art by Drew Moss and Nick Filardi is exceptional from their character designs to the intricate settings. Overall, a great entry into the genre, which looks to ramp up the action in future issues.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Drew Moss and Nick Filardi
Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

Oni Press provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review