We jump in right where we left off last month, in the clutches of a vengeful vamp.  Jonathan Maberry knows how to end an issue. He had me going for a minute, I thought that would be the last of Lolly but turns out her blood left a bad taste in the mouth of that vampire. As you can guess the whole experience was pretty traumatizing for Lolly especially since she envisioned these immortals as glorious beings. Okay, maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself for those of you who haven’t read an issue of Bad Blood. Maberry brilliantly fabricates a story about a college kid with cancer who has had some horrifying encounters with a vampire; which has led him and his vampire enthusiast friend trying to hunt down these creatures of the night.

Now the two of them even resort to putting out a craigslist ad for anyone who might know something about vampires. After sorting through replies from seedy characters they come across a Jonas Vale. He is a feared hunter among the vampire community and has now enlisted the help of Trick and Lolly. Looks like Maberry has a war brewing for the next few issues.

Tyler Crook’s haunting artwork leaves an unsettling feeling that compliments this eerie story. I am always impressed when I see his work on Bad Blood. His rendition of vampires is so unique; they don’t look like these alluring immortals but like monsters of the night.

Bad Blood has come to be one of my new favorite comics but this issue was a little lost on me. I mean the plot progressed well and I think I like were Bad Blood is going to take us; Maberry’s storytelling is always spot on but I guess I found some things to be a bit problematic. For example, I like Lolly’s character but I feel that she’s not as deep as Maberry is trying to make her. Besides the vampire fetish, her backstory isn’t very creative for reasons that I’ve talked about in other reviews. [TW] Let me just leave it at: the sexual violence perpetrated on female characters is not creative, it perpetuates rape culture and desensitizes a society, and it’s just shitty for writers to constantly use it to define a character. If you are going to make a story about sexual violence make it a compelling survivor story not filler and put a fucking trigger warning on it.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Jonathan Maberry Artist: Tyler Crook Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 3/5/14