DC vs Vampires: World War V #11 review

Breaking Me by Topic plays in the background as I write this

Why is a comic like DC vs Vampires: World War V made? 

An intent to tell a compelling story? Doubtful, as I don’t remember too many people clamoring for a sequel after the way the last one ended.

A need to cash in on a hot property? Again unlikely, as I don’t believe this one’s predecessor sold amazingly well.

Contractual obligations? Perhaps, but I have no way of knowing that.

Publishing something just for the sake of having more product on the shelf? Another likely candidate, but one whose answer is also beyond my reach.

Now my patient reader, you may be wondering why I choose to pontificate about this series in its penultimate issue rather than waiting for its finale? Simple, I read 11 issues of this comic (and one special) and there are more developments in this one single issue than over the entirety of this series.

I tire as well Darkseid…

Someone switched this comic’s coffee with amphetamines

In DC vs Vampires: World War V #11, the following things happen:

• The humans and vampires ally to take on the New Gods
• That development lasts for a single page before Damian kills Barbara causing the two sides to fight
• The New Gods attack, prompting the humans to escape with the help of the Spectre
• The humans, robots, ghosts, and basically every non-vampire end up in a “safe zone” where they debate about what to do about Darkseid
• They plan on making a machine that will make all aliens go poof based on Harley Quinn’s directions
• And finally they decide to ally with the vampires again, this time under Diana who is now Queen, though not without a sacrifice from their side…

Compare this to the noteworthy events over the last 10 issues (not counting the special because it added nothing):

• Damian attempts to assassinate Barbara and fails (#1)
• Scott and his baby try to escape from everybody, with one or both of them “dying” at multiple points (#1-#10)
• Vampire Aquaman is seemingly acting as the Starscream to Barbara’s Megatron until he gets popped by a grape (#1-#6)
• Darkseid attacks and plans to cleanse this world (#6), the New Gods from New Genesis show up to help (end of #8), and betray the heroes (#10) to Darkseid

There’s also the Constantine and fake Batman sub-plots which show up every now and then but in a rather inconsistent fashion.

The point I am trying to make is that across multiple issues in the series we get maybe one major event or multiple smaller events in a single issue leading to a rather glacial pace. And then in this issue we get multiple major events all at once in succession making the whole plot feeling a bit rushed. I’m putting aside the inconsistent characterization and vampirism, and even then this story doesn’t work on a technical level.

Also Otto Schmidt’s art is just not suited for the story unfolding currently. It worked well for the first six issues of the first DC vs Vampires, helping to build a sense of dread. But that was a while back and now we have action and attempts at comedy (like drawing an off-model wavy Harley Quinn). The man’s talents are being wasted here.

Backup: Madness is a Thing with Feathers, Part Two

Well, we get part two of another rather pointless backup. As I have pointed out previously, whatever is happening in these stories is not canon to the main plot. So yes, while we have an interesting plot about using mentally unwell people’s blood to get vampires high, it isn’t that interesting to move the needle in this comic’s favor.

Recommended If

• You thought the backup about vampires drinking madness infused blood to get high was intriguing
• You like Killer Moth (the creative team surely do…or are setting him up to die in the last issue)
• You want the resolution to some plots (some being the operative word)

Overall

DC vs Vampires: World War V #11 sees several developments that should have happened over the course of the series happen all at once. While this is a correction to the slow pacing of the last few issues, it is an overcorrection. Reading this comic feels like the story ran out of time and stuffed itself to check off some boxes.

Score: 5.5/10

Disclaimer: DC comics provided an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes