I, Vampire #5

I, Vampire, may have the best covers of the New 52.

A train arrives in Gotham filled with leftovers from the Vampire Buffet. The vampires who probably did it have infiltrated the Gotham Police Department and turned a number of police into vampires themselves. Andrew and John and Tig notice about fifteen police cars zooming in the opposite direction as they enter Gotham City so they follow them to the train car and the scene of the murders. Andrew turns into mist and goes to investigate. As soon as he transforms back into dead flesh and coagulating blood, he meets DC's biggest star!

I get that it's Batman at night in Gotham City. But can we get some color in this thing somewhere?

I think the choice of color palette in this comic is so that when a vampire finally draws blood, the red of the blood will really stand out against the grays, blacks, and greys of the rest of the book.

Batman kicks Andrew's ass although I'm sure Andrew believed he was doing okay against him. But suddenly a light shines on Batman and Andrew just as Andrew is starting to have a dialogue with Batman. And before Andrew can warn Batman they need to leave and turn into mist, Batman has already disappeared. What a coward!

After a little more information, it turns out there were no bodies on the train. Literally! Everyone on the train had disappeared. The train arrived in the station and even the conductor was missing. Perhaps the Langoliers got them!

Andrew, being Mary's sire, can sense Mary's movements. He knows exactly where she and her vampire army are making camp: the old Gotham Courthouse. The infiltrate the courthouse to look around and end up face to face with Batman again. You just can't get rid of that guy! He should have called himself Bloodhoundman.

I really like the layout of this page and the facing page. And being that most of the New 52 are lucky to have four panels per page, this page has an above average number of panels!

Batman confronts Andrew again, determined to know what he is and why it is in his city. And Tig jumps all over Batman's side because that's the side that's going to win in any altercation!

Batman has a handle on the situation so he decides to work with Andrew for now since Andrew seems to know what's going on. Andrew tells Batman that in the first 48 hours, the transformation to Vampire can be reversed. Probably by killing the sire. Andrew also tells Batman he likes his cape. I think I sense another Romance about to blossom!

Batman and his crew take the elevator down into the basement of the courthouse where the old cells are. It's also where hundreds of vampires are! The elevator opens and the vampires begin to swarm in. But they're stopped by Mary's command.

I hope Batman has a plan!

And that's it for Vampires for another month. The pacing of this comic continues to be well done. The art works for the theme and genre and I really like some of the layouts of the pages. And five issues in, the story and characters have me convinced that this is one of the most solid titles of the New 52. It's well done and worth picking up alongside some super hero titles. Although I bet American Vampire is the vampire book I should be reading! I'll pick up the trades to that when I'm caught up with all of these dumb 52 books!