Written and Illustrated by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman
To save Mei from her vampire curse, John Sargent sets out to destroy the infamous Shang-Ji. His first stop: Club G-Boss, nightclub, casino and notorious vampire hangout. But after being bitten himself, Sargent is forced to contend with a curse of his own.
Coming out next week is the second issue of Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman’s vampire action-fest, Undying Love, one of Image’s many promising new series. I was impressed by the first issue, but usually it takes two issues to determine whether or not I’ll stick with a title. Follow the cut to see if you should be picking up Undying Love this time next week.
As I said, I really enjoyed the first issue of this series. Our exclusive preview of issue #2 had me looking forward to the next installment, but I wasn’t expecting too much. This issue, however, has convinced me that this is going to be one of my favorite series of the year.
That’s quite a claim. So is saying that this issue may have exhibited some of the best comic action I’ve seen since The Immortal Iron Fist. Nevertheless, I stand by both. I read this issue once and had a lot of fun, but it wasn’t until I went through it a second time, fully studying it, that I came to truly appreciate it. It deserves the same level of attention as Frank Miller’s early work: it’s when you look at each panel, then look at the panel proceeding it, then the one following it, and finally observe how well they link together as a cohesive whole that you really see what Coker and Freedman have done, and – even more importantly – how they’ve done it. It’s so easy for creators to dumb down an action comic, film, book, or anything of the sort. Throw in an explosion here, a violent death there, and you’re all good. Coker and Freedman, however, treat their very brutal story with extreme delicacy, pulling their punches when they need to, and weaving a truly beautiful tapestry of destruction. This comic – or, at least, this issue – appears to be the John Woo’s The Killer of comics, in that it’s almost in and of itself a course on how to portray action in comics properly.
You can even see this in the segments where there isn’t much balls-to-the-wall action. Without any spoilers, the segment of this issue where the fight dies down and both sides lick their wounds still manages to keep the energy up: yes, there’s a momentary break from the violence, but it’s evident that danger is still present, and that the clock is still ticking. Not only that, but Coker and Freedman are able to fit in a good deal of expositional dialogue without killing any of that energy. The biggest flaw of many action-centric stories is that the “quiet” parts are – to use the cliche – too quiet; that is, not in a suspenseful way, but in a dull way. Coker and Freedman know that, and actively fight against it, and for that I tip my proverbial hat to them.
There’s really not much more to say about the art than I said about it in my review of the last issue. Coker’s line work and Freedman’s color are a nearly perfect combination, achieving the gritty tone that this story needs to thrive. While I wouldn’t say that the art in this issue is any better, per se, it’s still fresh and exciting, and some of the best of its kind on the stands right now. If neither of the big two snatch these guys up as soon as they’re finished, they’re completely bonkers.
While at first I carelessly labelled the book as senseless but enjoyable violence, my mind has changed with this issue. When reading Gil’s interview with Coker and Freedman, I was particularly intrigued by the comparison of vampires and their thralls to pimps and prostitutes, and I’m interested in seeing how that plays out further in the series. Most importantly, though, I’ve realized that the violence isn’t senseless: while many action books will shoehorn in a crappy romance, romance is the impetus for the violence of this comic. This isn’t just some guy killing vampires for fun, he has a reason, and a lovely reason at that.
These guys know what they’re doing, and they’re doing it incredibly well. If you missed the first issue of Undying Love, it is being reprinted and shipped along with the second issue next week. I said it last week, and I’ll say it again: that superhero book you’re buying simply for the action? This book does it better. Much better.
Final Verdict: 8.7 – Buy it!
