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KILLADELPHIA #21
IMAGE COMICS
STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Jason Shawn Alexander with Germán Erramouspe, Sherard Jackson, Nicole Palmquist
COLORS: Luis Nct
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: Jason Shawn Alexander
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Paul Azaceta
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (April 2022)
Rated “M/ Mature”
Killadelphia and Elysium Gardens created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander
“The End of All” Part III: “The Truth”
Killadelphia is an apocalyptic vampire and dark fantasy comic book series from writer Rodney Barnes and artist Jason Shawn Alexander and is published by Image Comics. At the center of this series is a police officer caught in a lurid conspiracy in which vampires attempt to rule Philadelphia, “the City of Brotherly Love.” Colorist Luis Nct and letterer Marshall Dillon complete Killadelphia's creative team.
Killadelphia focuses on James “Jim” Sangster, Jr. and his father, revered Philadelphia homicide detective, James Sangster, Sr., thought to be dead. He is actually a vampire. Now father and son lead a ragtag team comprised of a medical examiner (Jose Padilla), a dead president, and a rebellious, but special young vampire (Tevin Thompkins a.k.a. “See Saw”) in a bid to save Philly from an ambitious and murderous former First Lady, Abigail Adams.
Killadelphia #21 (“The Truth”) finds Jose and the Zubiya werewolf pack out on a supply run. The streets of Philadelphia may be mostly empty because of its vampire apocalypse, but those desperate enough for supplies are out in these streets. In a ransacked pharmacy, Jose meets some of them, and before long, she the peacemaker between two packs – werewolf and predatory humans.
Meanwhile, See Saw is at a crossroads. The young vampire is tired of dealing with all the lies he's been told. Now, George Washington has brought someone who can tell the young blood a new story. Meet Aelio and hare his tale of “the Eterna.”
THE LOWDOWN: We are in the middle of Killadelphia's fourth story arc, “The End of All.” It is outta sight, and individually, so is Chapter Three, which resides under Jason Shawn Alexander's Gustav Klimt-inspired cover.
Writer Rodney Barnes is a writer and executive producer on HBO's event series, “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” In Killadelphia, he plumbs the depths of America's original dynasties, in all their layers of secrets, lies, sins, and hidden truths. One half of issue #21 offers what feels like a much needed happy ending. The other half presents one of those wonderful Killadelphia histories – an alternative history of magic, mysticism, and secret things. The truth, as Barnes gives it to us, is always fun to read, although this is the kind of thing that will eventually get Killadelphia labeled “CRT,”
… or woke … or politically correct...
I am always happy to see series artist and co-creator Jason Shawn Alexander and his team draw werewolves. I may have stated previously that Killadelphia and its connecting series have some of the best drawn werewolves since the late Bernie Wrightson drew them for Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf.
Overall, the graphical storytelling here is quite good. Here, series of still illustrations come together and flow like moving pictures of shifting moods and settings. Even within the back story and history, the art gives a sense of change and of time passing. The heart of Killadelphia is the changing story and the mercurial narrative, and in that, Killadelphia will tell its the truth … or maybe many truths.
Read this issue, dear readers, and discover why other readers are finding their way to Killadelphia – loving it and thirsting for it.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of vampire comic books and of exceptional dark fantasy will want Killadelphia.
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DARK BLOOD #6 (OF 6)
BOOM! STUDIOS
STORY: LaToya Morgan
ART: Moisés Hidalgo
COLORS: A.H.G. with Allison Hu (pp. 18-21)
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Dafna Pleban
COVER: Valentine De Landro
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Juni Ba; Valentine De Landro; Tiffany Turrill
24pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (January 2022)
Dark Blood created by LaToya Morgan
Dark Blood is a six-issue comic book miniseries created and written by screenwriter LaToya Morgan (AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” “Into The Badlands”). Published by BOOM! Studios, the series is drawn by Moisés Hidalgo and Walt Barna; colored by A.H.G.; and lettered by Andworld Design. The series focuses on a Black World War II veteran who discovers that he has strange powers.
Alabama, 1955. After leaving his job at the diner, “Hardy's Eats,” Avery Aldridge, also known as “Double A,” has a fateful encounter with a racist. Double A is a highly decorated World War II soldier, a former fighter pilot, a member of the soon-to-be-legendary “Red Tails.” He is expected to act like a boy … when he is actually a very powerful man. But this is “The Night of the Variance,” and everything is going to start to change – even the things some don't want changed.
Dark Blood #6 opens in 1955 – late into the Night of the Variance. Avery confronts Dr. Carlisle and Dr. Marshall, and he learns that he is the “Variant,” the one who responded “positively” to their formula (apparently dubbed "Formula 687") and treatment. Now, his powers are raging, and powerful as he is, it comes with a devastating cost.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Wright has finally caught up with Avery. If Avery wants to see his wife, Emma, and daughter, Grace, again, the racist lawman insists that he must play by his rules. But does he? Can Avery make sure that no one ever goes through what he has? Can he protect his wife and child? Will it cost him everything to do this?
THE LOWDOWN: I recently learned, via “CBS Evening News,” that the United States Air Force museum had been keeping a secret. In 1949, a team from the famed all-Black “Tuskegee Airmen” won the first “Top Gun” contest. This contest was a gunnery competition among pilots from across the Air Force. However, the Air Force's record book listed the winner as “unknown.”
The winners' trophy was hidden in the bowels of the Air Force museum until a historian discovered it in 2005. Now, the trophy is on display at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The Tuskegee Airmen have finally been recognized with Top Gun honor – 73 years after winning the first contest.
The “Red Tails” (the 332nd Fighter Group) were part of the Tuskegee Airmen, and in “Dark Blood,” Avery Aldridge” was a Red Tail. I didn't take this revelation as mere coincidence that I learned of it less that a week before the release of the final issue of the Dark Blood comic book miniseries.
In Dark Blood, television writer-producer LaToya Morgan (AMC's “TURN: Washington's Spies”) offers a comic book that is steeped in the history of African-American participation in World War II. Dark Blood is allegorical in the way that it references the “Tuskegee Experiment” (a study which observed the effects of untreated syphilis in Black men). The series also opens at the dawn of the “American Civil Rights Movement” (1954-68). Dark Blood has been historical.
Yet it was not until Dark Blood #5 that I realized how much this comic book is also a rip-roaring science fiction yarn. The series' narrative blood is certainly Black history and culture, but Dark Blood's DNA is pulp science fiction literature. Its pedigree is the world of weird science fiction and fantasy comic books that emerged after World War II. While reading issue #5, the sci-fi reality of Dark Blood came at me like a space rocket.
Morgan, artists Moisés Hidalgo and Walt Barna, and colorist A.H.G. have presented readers with a comic book series that looks and feels like it came out of the 1950s. In an alternate reality, I can see it as something that William Gaines would have published through EC Comics. Yes, Dark Blood would have been one more nail in EC's coffin, but Morgan's mixture of reality and sci-fi would have been a perfect fit for EC's mixture of morality and blood and guts genre.
Dark Blood #6 offers both – history and drama and also the astounding yearnings of golden age science fiction. The drama has a powerful resolution, and the super-powers are the fireworks of comic book magic. Superheroes and mutants – Dark Blood #6 promises readers an interesting future as the series comes to an end. Whatever may come, what we have now in Dark Blood, dear readers, it is a blast to read. And if you haven't read it yet, Dark Blood flows at comiXology.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of golden age science fiction and of super science fiction comic books will want to read Dark Blood.
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