Broken Frontier

What began as a promising new vampire tale has sadly begun to drag its feet under the weight of poor storytelling techniques.  Both writer Tomm Coker and artist Daniel Freedman suffer from some major missteps in issue #3 of Undying Love.  

This installment serves to tell the tale of John and Mei’s initial meeting, sadly in the form of an extended dream sequence that runs on well past its welcome.  A conflict which should have taken a few pages ends up lasting the majority of the book, and is full of awkward character staging and unclear action.

The majority of this issue takes place in the Syrian Desert some months ago when John served in a private security detail called the PMC Rook group.  The Rooks are sent to investigate reports of unauthorized movement in their local sector and discover a group of Arabs speaking an unknown and ancient language.  The Rooks search the trespassers’ vehicles, but the situation immediately disintegrates into an all-out battle.  The ensuing firefight suffers from poorly scripted and drawn sequences.  It is unclear what instigated the initial Arab vampire attack on the Rooks, and as bullets fly and teeth sink into flesh, Freedman’s muddled and unclear artwork makes comprehension too laborious to enjoy.  When looking at the placement and staging of characters, moreover, it is uncertain where the characters are placed relative to each other, or where John was throughout the duration because each human’s face is drawn in such a generic manner.  

Beyond the art problems, Coker does little to legitimize or solidify Mei and John’s relationship.  Little true affection has been seen throughout the series, so the interactions that do occur are forced and unbelievable.  Seeing John, for example, immediately abdicate all of his responsibilities to the Rooks so he can dedicate his life to a woman he just met comes across as a cheap plot device instead of genuine love.  John and Mei’s entire relationship is based upon his love and sacrifice for her life, and it’s sad that the backbone of their history is based upon such one-dimensional character interaction.

Undying Love has all the ingredients necessary to create a great love story, but poor execution by both Coker and Freedman prevents this story from being believable.  Hopefully, they can salvage the series in upcoming issues.