The Webcomics Weekly is back in your life, bringing with it the tides, the circulation, and lots & lots of horny Victorian era people. Gothic lit is my jam, people, and I am very excited to dig into this week’s newest comic “The Blood Moon.” Thanks to Manta for giving us an advanced review!
The Blood Moon
Episodes 1-4
Updates: Mondays
Story by Ruru
Storyboarded by Sanho
Line Art by Miza & Nezi w/ NZ
Colored by Max & Tabun
Translated by Jellyfish
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
Gothic romance and the Victorian era are so deeply intertwined, I think it’s nearly impossible to separate the two. The matching of vibes is just too powerful. It helps that the historical romance genre is, too, quite enamored with the modernity of the era with respect to the Kingly & Queenly sort without it being so modern as to be contemporary or post-royal. Now, maybe it’s just coincidence since the last two gothic vampire tales I’ve read, this and “House of Hunger” by Alexis Henderson, are set during that time; I’ve seen patterns where there weren’t before. I just think there’s something more going on.
I should also clarify I didn’t go back and read the prologue. From a quick glance, it seems like the mysterious white haired character from the promo art makes an appearance.
Anyway, I bring the comparison up because “The Blood Moon” is playing in a very familiar sandbox with a very familiar set of tools. A young woman, a commoner, with a tragic past is sold by her caretaker who saw her as little more than a servant to a rich aristocratic family with dark and terrible secrets and she must now learn how to navigate this new social world or she’ll meet a fate worse than she could ever imagine.
Everyone is varying levels of super romance webtoon/shojo manga hot and there’s plenty of steamy side-eye and questionable power-dynamics. Nothing I haven’t seen before, besides the hook that the family are vampires and that the patriarch actually looks like an adult and not a very pretty 20-something.
Moreover, Linnea isn’t the most compelling protagonist. She’s very reactive and her “tragic past” looms large over every action and thought she has. It’s not bad by any means, just very little to hold onto by the end of episode 4.
And yet I found I couldn’t really put the comic down.
Of course, some of that credit has to go to the art. As with many webcomics produced by studios, it’s slick and on-model, but it’s also got charm to it and manages to retain those qualities without feeling stiff or floaty. Characters are well-integrated into the backgrounds which in turn feel like real places. I also love when the comic goes full Shojo with flower backgrounds like a bundle of thorny roses. Perfect mood capture right there without overwhelming the foreground.
It sounds like damning with faint praise but you’d be shocked how often I find comics that struggle to make the art be more than present and serviceable. “The Blood Moon’s” art is safe but within that safety, it successfully does what it sets out to do with a bit of flair on top. The same is true of the characters themselves, now that I think about it.
I said before that Linnea is a reactive character, and she is, but as the comic rolled on I found I was compelled by the ways she tried to assert whatever modicum of control she had in every situation. There’s a promise of more from her, of development and of intrigue. Because of her “tragic past,” there is no going back and she embraces this. So the question remains: what does she want? How will she get it? What risks will she take and just how far IS she going to go for this new family?
Another positive the series has going for it is that the creators are clearly aware of the deeply uncomfortable nature of the genres they’re playing in, using that to great effect. Dread permeates every scene, from the mundane to the actually sinister, without oversaturating the art or the writing. Chapter 1 does this really well, dialing up the “something is definitely not right here” meter only after going through a bunch of brightly lit, bouncy, somewhat standard romance comic motions. There’s only a hint of apprehension in Linnea at the start, one which grows and reveals itself as not your average nerves.
This is where the comic will live or die in the coming chapters. If it cannot make Linnea or the slowly growing list of potential love interests compelling and sell us on the danger, that’s a problem but one that can ultimately be overlooked if the mysteries are deep enough and the plot thoughtful enough to keep my interest. However, if it ends up having nothing to say, no desire to dig into the vampire metaphor or any of the red flags it’s so clearly waving, if it has no teeth, then it becomes another fine, generic, but not must-read gothic romance comic.
If it can though? This might be one cup I can keep drinking from.
