MATT LOWDER'S Guest Review: DARK RED

EDITOR'S NOTE: Matt Lowder is a librarian by day, comics aficionado by night. As a participating member of the Run The Comics 5K group page on Facebook, sponsored by Captain Blue Hen Comics, he's an active comics reviewer. We'll be posting some of those reviews to this blog on an irregular basis. Read on to learn what Matt thought of this unconventional vampire tale . . . .

DARK RED Volume One trade paperback (Aftershock Comics, 2019) Writer: Tim Seeley. Artist: Corin Howell. Colors: Mark Englert. Letters: Marshall Dillon. Covers: Aaron Campbell. Reprints DARK RED

Issues #1-5

Description on the Aftershock Comics website:

Charles “Chip” Ipswich isn’t one of those coastal elites with a liberal arts degree and a job at a social media start-up who knows where all the best brunch places are…

No, Chip is one of the “forgotten men.” He lives in a rural area in the middle of the country where Jesus still has a place at the dinner table and where factories send jobs to Calcutta.

Chip is also a vampire.

Stuck working the last shift at a gas station, Chip is lonely and bored…and then his dull, bleak life is turned upside down when SHE comes to town.

Tim Seeley (BRILLIANT TRASH) and Corin Howell (Ghostbusters, X-Files Origins: Scully, Bat-Mite) bring you a contemporary and horrifying tale of vampirism in the heart of America – one that’ll make you jump right out of your boots.

Matt Lowder's review (4 out of a possible 5 stars) . . . . .

So let's jump right in and take a bite . . . . .

First, the subject matter isn't for everyone. Aftershock really earned their slogan here. A slogan on the back of every issue of their books: "Read Dangerously." It's not always earned, but, aye chihuahua, they did something with this short-5-issue-run which major publishers would have never greenlit. 

The writers are not promoting racist, anti-Semitic, or nationalistic ideology, but the characters and plot in this book hold a mirror up to these ideas and mercilessly deconstruct them. There's no hiding the very overt, bludgeoning commentary here about white supremacy through its antagonists. It could be more nuanced and poetically subtle, but, whew, it ain't! It is on thick - an allegory for divisive US politics, indigenous peoples, with Vampires and hunger for power and control and blood in small town America. 

It's a tough read if you're not in the mood for that kind of thing, but if you dig pop media, the recent election, vampires, nazis, and a lot of blood, grab this decidedly un-PC book. I wouldn't call this "fun" the way I expect Buffy is.

"Dark Red" is one of the more bold, striking, and dangerous books by Aftershock, and I've read quite a few thus far. (note: issues #6-10 (2019-2020) are out, and may soon be collected into a Volume 2).