Broken Frontier

When someone starts hunting vampires in London, the vampires are prepared to strike back. Only one seeks to find the truth… and maybe some peace.

Blood Psi is a one-shot, complete story from British writer Andy Winter. Mixing horror with a mystery-thriller format, he manages to craft a story that is both supernatural and noir at the same time.

Ruby is one of the vampires of London. For the most part this vampire community is just like the rest of humanity – some are good, some are bad, some are harmless, others are not. When one of the harmless ones is brutally killed by someone with all the earmarks of a vampire hunter, the rest of the community is up in arms. Some are ready to hunt the hunter but Ruby stands alone in her determination to understand the murder… and the murderer. Using powers granted by her vampiric nature she sets out to unravel the case in hopes of achieving peace and understanding. Where the case leads her, however, may leave her more unsettled than she ever thought possible.

Winter does a wonderful job with this story. He crafts an entire world for these supernatural creatures within just a few pages and he does it without ever being heavy handed or overly expository. In fact, the dialogue throughout the story feels real, natural, and easy. The complex relationships here all live and breathe and read like ones that everyone can understand: Lovers, those friends who always make you laugh no matter what, those other friends who are completely crazy, the people you trust, and the people you fear. The supernatural trappings merely add an extra layer over what is truly a human drama.

Keith Burns, the artist for this title, also brings in a unique style. He utilizes angles and planes to give many panels the appearance and feel of abstract art. Even more interestingly, he really utilizes the white space of the page. Many artists working in a black and white medium choose to play around with shadows and black spaces but Burns reverses that, using the white in interesting and different ways. It provides a nice surprise since, with the horror subject matter; you would tend to expect more black. His figures and designs are eye-catching and, with only one exception, never stretch the bounds of anatomy or objects.

With the recent upsurge in horror comics, it is nice to see something that reads a little differently. Blood Psi is a vampire story where the taking of blood is not the main focus, where it is not about a battle between good and evil but rather a struggle for understanding, for love, and for forgiveness.

If you want something a little different and unique in your reading library then this title is certainly worth a look.