The Bloody Dozen #1 starts off by exploring the lives of three seemingly disconnected people. Greta Hill is an astronaut who’s never seen the stars. Her daughter Glory is spending her life chasing after her next hit. Her father George is enjoying a leisurely retirement in Florida. All that ends when a representative from the mysterious Shrouded College approaches them with a job to fly into space and break into a mysterious space station. Said space station happens to be carrying a legion of imprisoned vampires.
This is the sort of high-concept storytelling that kicked off the Shrouded College saga with Charles Soule and Will Sliney’s Hell To Pay – take a familiar concept (cursed treasure for that comic, vampires for this one) and use it as a metaphor for the everyday horrors mankind face. In this case, Soule – who returns as to write The Bloody Dozen – uses vampirism as a method of addiction. Greta is chasing after her own high of traveling to space, George is addicted to the glory of his former youth, and Glory’s is more literal. Sure it takes a while for the actual plot to be set up, but this type of character development is worth the investment.
While The Bloody Dozen #1 may be slow on the action, it looks absolutely gorgeous thanks to Alberto Jimenez Albuquerque. Albuquerque’s artwork brings a larger than life mentality to everything he draws. A castle in a flashback towers over everything in its path, even the snow-covered mountain that it’s a part of. The space station our trio of characters are supposed to break into is dwarfed by the sheer mass of the sun. When the action does happen, it’s fast, ferocious, and delivered with intent, making sure this comic lives up to the “bloody” in its name.
What really makes Albuquerque’s work pop is the color art from Rachelle Rosenberg. For a vampire book, this happens to have some fairly eye catching colors. Warm, bright ones to boot; most of the action takes place in Florida, which is known for its sunny weather. Speaking of the sun, its fiery glow casts a rather ominous shadow over the entire book – it may be keeping the vampires at bay but it’s still a terrifying (and somewhat) amazing thing to look at thanks to Rosenberg.
The Bloody Dozen #1 continues the tales of the Shrouded College with a slow-burn approach to its high-concept tale. If nothing else, give it a try – or check out Hell to Pay. Good horror isn’t just limited to the movies or TV; you can find it in the pages of comics like these.
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