V-WARS VOLUME 1: THE CRIMSON QUEEN by Jonathan Maberry (IDW Publishing, January 2014) Trade paperback, 100 pages. ISBN # 1631300630 / 9781631400636.
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .
New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry takes you on a non-stop thrill ride of action, horror and suspense! Welcome to the V-WARS!
These all-new tales chronicling the early days of the Vampire Wars offer the first salvo in the battle between humans and hundreds of new species of vampires! No matter how it ends, the world is going to bleed.
My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
This is an original story based on the V-Wars novels.
Jonathan Maberry puts an interesting spin on traditional vampire stories. Global warming releases an arctic virus that activates dormant genes in humans, transforming them into mutations with vampiric properties.
Some exhibit very subtle changes and could pass as humans. Others grow pointed bat-like ears, sprout wings, or take on monstrous characteristics. Some of the transformed are not blood-driven and find ways to suppress their urges while others act like normal blood-sucking vampires. Some wish to blend into society while others want their kind to rise to the forefront and abolish all inferiors. Only a minority of these new vampires are hostile and dangerous.
However, the fear of the unknown and different results in society and governments branding them all as a threat and soon war between humans and vampires breaks out. While hate groups spread on both sides of the issue there are also forces on both sides that wish to find compatibility and peace.
One of the main characters is a professor considered an expert in vampire mythology and folklore who is recruited to accompany a government strike force team as a reluctant advisor. Another key character is a female news reporter privileged to get an inside look at vampire culture in hopes of more objective reporting. A congressman has the answer to peaceful coexistence but his message is suppressed and canceled out early.
Politics on both sides rears its ugly head and clouds the issues even further. Manipulation. Conspiracies. Splinter groups with cross purposes. Misunderstanding and prejudice. Hatred. It's all here in a fast-paced adventure that doesn't conclude but ends at an appropriate point. I'll need to find Volume 2 as well as the prose novels. Good reading ahead.
The art and color work is exceptional, brutally graphic in many places. The facial expressions exhibit a broad range of emotions quite effectively and help to emphasize the direness of the situation.
There are so many parallels to the current debate over immigration that our federal representatives could benefit from reading this. Maberry has a way of presenting opposing points of view with objectivity, empathy and fairness. This should be required bedtime reading for DJT.
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