DC vs Vampires: World War V #12 review

1 month ago 25

Thank God this series is coming to a close.

Don’t get me wrong, it had its moments. While the sequel to DC vs Vampires has long given up any attempt at horror, it was occasionally entertaining as the equivalent to a B-grade, low-budget action flick. But those are usually good for cheap thrills and not much else.

With 12 issues (and a special…somehow), this series was bloated beyond measure. As such it employed far too many padding techniques over its 12 issue run (again, a special…somehow).

The problem with that was the padding worked so well, that they may have forgotten to stop doing it at some point. That’s why this last issue ends up feeling like it has three issues worth of material stuffed into one.

So the vampires and humans have allied themselves to fight Darkseid and the New Gods, sealing their pact by killing vampire Damian Wayne. Unfortunately, Damian Wayne hadn’t fulfilled his plot requirements and still had a role to play. Which leads into the plot of this issue which I will briefly summarize.

The vampires work with the humans to create a machine that would infect the New Gods with vampirism…which won’t turn them into vampires but kill them outright. But because Darkseid is a special boy, he needs to be killed in a special way. And this is to be accomplished by the half-vampire daughter of Scott Free and Barda, now aged into an adult and trained by Damian Wayne fulfilling his contractual obligations. And if you were wondering how Darkseid did not realize that the baby had been swapped or when it happened…look this series has never cared about making sense. Did you think this would change in the last issue?

Of course, naturally the vampires being the bloodsucking bastards they are, immediately turn on the heroes. However, unlike last series, we do get a more definite ending this time. Which is nice, though there could always be the chance to turn this series into a trilogy if the higher-ups feel that they are in trouble. Given that we saw the first DC/Marvel crossover in over 20 years last week, I do wonder how well the industry is doing right now?

I wish I had more to say about this series but I really don’t. There are some attempts at emotional catharsis in the last few pages. But this series hasn’t earned that right in a long time. Otto Schmidt’s art has long stopped feeling suited to this series since the focus on horror stopped and the whole thing just looks like a jumbled mess of characters in the fight scenes and group shots. But that’s just how this series has been for a long time.

Score: 3/10

Oh wait, there’s a backup. Why is there a backup in the final issue?

Backup: Heartland

Jeb and the Haunted Tank try to find their way in the vampire infested world. He loses his purpose but sees people in danger and remembers that he’s a hero and can still save people. It’s the most basic hero-finding-out-they-still-care cliches out there, that only people picking a comic up for the first time would find original. But who is picking up this issue as their first?

Score: 4/10