The Creators – Christian Ward – Writer, Patric Reynolds – Artist, Heather Moore – Colours, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou – Letters

The Players – Atticus Sloane, Joey, Bram Stoker, Mr. Tooth

The Story – Vampires live in secret, ruling the world from behind the scenes. Now they are starting to emerge and all of it through the fault of the born vampire called Atticus who will make a person one of the undead – for a price.

The Take – There have been a lot of vampire books throughout the history of comics and so coming up with a new concept is not always the easiest of things and yet Christian Ward and Patric Reynolds have done just that by creating the first chapter of a tale where rules matter, especially in a world filled with immortals. Lead character Atticus Sloane has decided to make anyone and everyone a vampire if they can meet his price and he has created so many in such a short span of time that he has forgotten just who they all are. This of course does not bode well with the elders of the race, those born to vampirism and so they send their spokesperson – Bram Stoker, to lay down the law. The story is interesting, to say the least as Ward and Reynolds set up a mythos and a hierarchy for their creatures of the night, making sure readers know the difference between vampires that are born and those that are made. Even more intriguing is the fact that the latter essentially serves the former though it is not always the case as substantiated by the actions of Sloane. While Reynolds provides some very serviceable and gritty artwork, it is a bit of a shame that Ward could not provide the pencils himself as the man is a fantastic artist himself which was in truth, part of the draw of the book leaving readers to find out that he would be limited to cover duty, aside from his writing it that is. That being said, Reynolds brings it all to life, painting a picture of horror that builds slowly throughout with the promise of more when Sloane is given the grim task of disposing of his Sips, those he sired. So it is that Ward ends this book on a bit of a cliff-hanger, readers knowing exactly what they are in for as it moves along though not every piece of the puzzle has obviously been spelled out. As a first outing, there is a lot to like and even more so, where it could be headed.

Worth It? – Yes.