After years of training to be an assassin, Damian Wayne (son of Batman) is on a path toward utter destruction of the vampire race…
As you may already know from the DC vs Vampires franchise, the vampire king is Dick Grayson, but the implications of this are explored on a lot of different levels in DC vs. Vampires: HUNTERS Pair that with Damian Wayne as a vampire hunter (albeit, he’s a vampire too… shades of Marvel’s Blade) and you get quite the family affair of sibling rivalry!
Yes, there is a high body count which kept me hooked, but that is far from the primary focus. Instead, readers are drawn into a far more personal tale.
Rather than being an ensemble piece, the focus in on Damian Wayne’s actions and this idea of his personal tragedy which is especially prominent in the latter half of the one-shot, where the costs of being a lone defender of humanity against a concentrated, monstrous threat become readily apparent, especially when the threat is led by a familiar face.
While DC vs. Vampires – HUNTERS #1 has little to no bearing on the primary comic continuity, the stakes (pun intended) are still relatively high.
A flaw of this comic for me, is that the vampires don’t really bother to hide themselves, making them out to be little more than bloodsucking monsters with one or two thinking individuals among them, barely any different from a zombie story. Yes, this could be to ease in new readers, but regular DC Comics fans may not enjoy the sharp change in tone.
Personally I think DC vs. Vampires: HUNTERS #1 is a great spin off, not just some cash-grab. It serves the purpose of flashing out characters and their storylines while adding new insights into the main villain.
Since this one shot is not 100% necessary to the progression of the main series,or at least it doesn’t seem to be, readers can choose to skip it but I have enjoyed it and would recommend giving it a go.
The Batman characters were a highlight in previous issues of the DC vs. Vampires main series and it’s nice to see a few of them explored more in depth here. Damian and Alfred are written well and their new mission makes sense which is why this one shot ends up feeling important Lacking scares but intriguing in its own way,DC vs. Vampires: HUNTERS #1 is a good way to bring in new readers to an ongoing Elseworld saga.
Are you a Damian Wayne fanboy? What do you think of the DC vs Vampires world? Let us know in the comments!
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