Is It Good? ExSanguine #4 Review

Exsanguine #4 (Dark Horse)

Exsanguine #4 is a typical Exsanguine issue, in that people are killed, something confusing happens relating to a vampire, and a lady wears a short skirt. You can thank Tim Seeley for the lady in the skirt part.

I think…yeah. I think that stuff just kicked in…

Apparently the vampires in Exsanguine can not only change into mist, but can change their appearance. Maybe I wasn’t reading carefully? I had no idea this was a thing vampires could do. I thought that was shapeshifters? This vampire, named… honestly, I have to look it up every time. Hold on…named Saul, (thank you Google) also can control animals, like rats, and dogs. Damn conflicting supernatural mythologies…

Vampire by night, dog trainer by day.

The vampire design is interesting. One of those enlarged face type vampires, rather than the subtle, “oh look my teeth are pointy now,” kind. It’s an interesting look. The vampire’s face gets pink when he changes sometimes too. Like wee little baby.

The colors are similar to those found in Billy the Kid, and are done by Carlos Badilla. A neon palette, as it were. A mix of shadow and bright colors; it’s an interesting aesthetic choice.

The plot is split between Tim Seeley and Joshua Scott Emmons. I’m assuming Emmons does most of the leg work, as Seeley also does the art. It’s an interesting plot, a nice little mystery woven into some very obvious excuses for a vampire and a hot serial killer woman to make whoopee. At least these characters are characterized, if only a little bit. It makes you care a little more about them. And they’re very interesting people, well, an interesting person and an interesting monster in human appearance I should say.

Final Score: 7.0

• Good vampire design
• Colors and shadow are great
• Compelling characters

• Confusing things vampire does never explained ahead of time
• What seems to be a needless twist

So, is it Good? Yup. Check this series out, as if you start on this one, you’ll probably be kind of confused. It has a twist ending, and while I’m interested to see where this new turn takes the plot, I’m so sick of twists. Can we just have a plot? Does it have to be, oh wait, and, A TWIST! I think in this day and age a real twist would to be have none at all. People would lose their shit, and be all “oh man, did you see that twist? Yeah, they didn’t do anything! It was exactly what I expected, and it was done well, so I still like it, and it didn’t have to pull some hamfisted flip out of its ass that consequently ruined the continuity!” Dude, you have a serial killer writing strange symbols in blood, who befriends and sleeps with a vampire, and won’t the reveal of why she is killing and writing with her victim’s blood be enough of a twist. Do we have to double twist?