For decades, Atticus Sloane has been in the business of turning humans into vampires. Through his blood-sucking transformations, Atticus has benefitted from the birth of these ‘Sips’ as he builds himself a life of luxury. Now, the First Born Council, a group of born vampiric elites, has made it clear that Atticus has a month to find all those he turned… or face the consequences.
Blood-Stained Teeth #2 wastes no time picking up where issue #1 is left. Atticus immediately begins his search for the dozens of Sips he has turned, and his first target is none other than a cage fighting Sip vampire, Duke Ellis. Christian Ward does an excellent job setting the stage; an intense fight night between an apex cage fighter and an immortal vampire duking it out for survival.
The social commentary between the fight runs deep. It can come across as the familiar ‘strong versus the weak’ but Ward gives more context to the socio-economic status of the people who turn to Atticus, desperate for an advantage in their personal lives. Right from the start of issue #2, it’s clear that Atticus is seen as an inspiration, a second chance at life.
With this backdrop in mind, the bloody, violent brawl evokes a confronting remark on the division of society. The creative team behind Blood-Stained Teeth builds such an engaging world where even vampires care about prestige and cultural positions, with Atticus and his transformed Sips representing all of the nuanced layers.
All of these concepts are pushed to the next level thanks to Reynolds and his edgy line art as he masterfully captures visceral and hard-edged fists of steel. The gritty textures and emotional facials all remind us that it is a brutal world. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering also complements the vicious brawls as you visually imagine the sound of cracking bones, blood-drenched punches and gasping breaths. Even in quieter moments, Otsmane-Elhaou’s letters add character and distinction between everyone in the plot.
And Moore’s coloring accentuates these dynamic panels with hypnotic, neon colors. There are splashes of bright pink, red, blue and yellow that create such a colorful world, but somehow do not diminish the realism or nightmares that are found on each page. Almost every panel is a howling monster that visually jumps out of the page and bites you.
Blood-Stained Teeth #2 continues to build a tense and exceptionally fresh vampiric world. Issue #2 marks the beginning of Atticus and his desperate attempt to annihilate his beastly creations. If this issue is anything to go by, then the search promises to be an exciting journey. But what’s more promising is seeing the creative team utilize classic archetypes and continue to build a horrific and remarkable take on the vampire genre.
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