You might scoff at stories that aren’t in continuity, but DC vs. Vampires has offered good character writing by throwing DC Comics heroes into a perilous situation. Vampires are taking out villains and bringing them into their fold — plus, a major Justice League member has died. Given the cover of this issue, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are now coming to blows, but who among them is a vampire? Batman aims to find out.
Following the events of the last issue, Flash has been killed and the Justice League needs to figure out who could have done this. Batman is on the case, but can he figure it out fast enough before the entire Justice League has been turned into vampires? The craziest part is, with vampires rising in numbers, can the Justice League ensure their own house is safe?
As the story progresses it’s quite clear this is a Batman-centric event with Barbara and Nightwing popping up and even an appearance of Penguin. There is a crossover with Green Arrow and his gang, which begins to show how this event is about the street-level characters. It seems to be asking that the world might be ending, but maybe the hero we need isn’t Superman?
Once again, the dialogue by writers Matthew Rosenberg and James Tynion IV continues to be great. These characters sound natural and true to themselves even given the high stakes and dangerous situation they’re in as Earth becomes inundated with vampires. Key scenes with Barbara and a vampire, or Black Canary and Green Arrow, work because the banter is spot on.
Art by Otto Schmidt is great too, with a heavy weight apparent on Batman’s shoulders early on. There is a lot riding on Batman in this story and you feel the pressure on him because of how he’s framed. Meanwhile, Penguin pops in for a comedic moment as he runs from vampires. This book knows when to not take itself too seriously and that’s largely thanks to Schmidt’s pencils.
Something that doesn’t quite work is two shifts in the story that don’t have quite enough to make them feel earned. The cliffhanger is a bit hard to believe given who is considered the enemy while the main hero falls to the vampires a bit too easily. Fans of this particular hero might find her turn too easy and could have used a bit more fight to it.
Ultimately this book knows it’s a fun excursion from the main universe, but also knows we care about these characters. That’s one reason why DC vs. Vampires works so well: it plays to how we know these characters, but throws them into an impossible situation an in-continuity story couldn’t do. We’re only three issues in, but DC vs. Vampires #3 keeps the pedal to the metal while capturing the heart and soul of its characters in a genuine way.
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