Advance Review: Death Haunts The Vampires In `Blood Stained Teeth #5

Death and vampires go together like politicians and corruption. But it’s usually the vampires doing the killing, not the dying.

Not so in the latest issue of Blood Stained Teeth. This installment’s vampiric death toll starts with the blood-sucking prototype – Dracula – and approaches double digits by the last page. Some of that is to be expected. After all, this series is essentially a vampire of the month story, as protagonist and old-school parasite Atticus Sloane is forced to hunt down the “sips” he created for money over the years.

This issue, Sloane turns his sites on Everlyn Moon, the world’s biggest movie star. There’s just one problem. Moon has protection in the form of actual vampires who are more than happy to send Sloane to the coffin permanently. That means plenty of vampire-on-vampire action.

Writer Christian Ward continues to follow the template he set several issues ago, by introducing a sip, forcing Sloane into a difficult situation and then finally resolving the story so Sloane can move to his next victim. It’s not a bad formula, but it is getting old. Unless Ward comes up with some crazy twist or a new format, readers are going to get bored – if they aren’t already. Credit goes to Ward, though, for a few surprises, including one at the end of this issue, which could potentially change the direction of the series for the future.

Artist Patric Reynolds’ detailed illustrations, which feature heavy inking, are a perfect way to bring these characters to life – or undeath anyway. Heather Moore’s colors pop on every page and make Reynolds’ artwork stand even more. These two artists are a match made in Transylvania.

Hopefully future issues will give them the ability to show off their talents even further.

Blood Stained Teeth #5 will be available for purchase on August 17, 2022.