Bad Blood #2 continues the story of Trick, a cancer patient who just discovered his blood is poisonous to vampires but at the terrible price of the prince of vampires killing those closest to him and vowing to torment him his remaining days. With nothing left to lose Trick has made his own vow and that’s to find the disfigured vampire and kill him in order to avenge the lives of those killed. So when Trick believes he finally found a vampire, his first lead, he’s not intimidated by her and makes a pathetic attempt to attack and instead ends up with a broken nose and pain below the belt. He’s lucky she’s not an actual vampire as she feels bad for him when she learns he’s sick and decides to help him after he passes out in front of her. And even though she has hopes of one day becoming a vampire herself, she doesn’t completely believe they exist and thinks Trick could’ve given himself those bite marks somehow and there’s just a serial killer on the loose. Her romanticized view of vampires is different from his actual experience with one, and besides how could Trick hope to kill one when he has no weapons and no preparation? Despite this, Lolly decides to be Trick’s guide to the world of the vampires, meaning places she normally goes and where she feels they might actually be and not places where she actually encountered a vampire. Can Trick and Lolly track down the vampire responsible for the death of Trick’s friend, or will it just be a wild goose chase leading to nothing but dead ends?

The first issue was an excellent start to the series as Trick’s story was introduced in a way that made him a likable protagonist in terms of understanding his life and struggle, and then subsequently wanting to see him succeed in what he vowed to do. And I loved the way it approached a real-life subject matter in a mature way and set the tone of the issue early on. And with the way the issue ended with Lolly appearing, I was anxiously awaiting to get my hands on issue #2. The tone was set early on in this issue too, however it was mostly one of false leads and dead ends similar to Lolly not being a vampire. Considering that my current assumption of the series is that it’s as much about Trick’s personal journey as it is about vampires, if not more so, then that’s not a completely bad thing as he and Lolly come to understand each other, potentially giving more meaning to life for both of them. It was a very interesting dynamic that Lolly escapes into the world of the “vampires” to feel alive and get away from her suffering while Trick is the only one with actual experience with a vampire and wants to enter into that world to get revenge on a vampire that caused more suffering and made him feel dead. This was used as a means for them to get to know each other and if this was an issue just about that then it would have been very good. Unfortunately the numerous dead ends only highlighted the fact that very little progress was made in finding any vampire, and reading how another group of people practically worshiped vampires but never actually met one became redundant. It’s akin to a horror movie being composed entirely of fake outs and realizing that half way through it. Remaining spoiler-free, I can say the ending almost guarantees that progress will be made on that front next issue and so my excitement for that remains high.

SUMMARY

Bad Blood #2 is an ok issue that focuses more on the views of those who worship vampires and believe them to be capable of lifting them out of their daily struggles than dealing with actual vampires. Since all they expressed was speculation it’s unclear whether any of it actually applies to the vampires in this series, and so parts of this issue felt redundant. However the growing relationship between Trick and Lolly, and how they come to an understanding of each others lives is what carries this issue as the event that takes place at the end of this issue promises to alter their lives permanently. And that should make the rest of this series very entertaining for readers.

Release Date: 2/6/14

Writer: Jonathan Maberry

Artist: Tyler Crook