Posted in: Comics | Tagged: action, captain kronos vampire hunter, dan abnett, Hammer Comics, horror, Titan comics, tom mandrake, vampires

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter #3 Review: Not as Good as #1, but Still a Strong Issue

Captain Kronos has run across Slake, the master vampire of the local hive. His followers have been shown to be resistant to the regular weaknesses of vampires, forcing Kronos to have to get creative.

Carla and Grost are not too far behind, knowing that Captain Kronos must be in trouble by the smoke coming from the battleground. Can they save their leader before he falls to the undead?

I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I greatly enjoyed the first issue. As such, I decided to revisit this one.

The first issue of Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter was a great mixture of action and horror, pitting the vampire hunter, Captain Kronos, against a horde of vampires. This issue follows up on many of those positives, giving an opening salvo of Kronos dueling the monstrous Slake and his hordes of followers.

Carla has some room to shine in this issue as well, showing herself to have a sharp sense of humor and unshakable determination. She is the one who leads the way in finding Captain Kronos in the vampire hive.

Grost is actually where the issue gets a bit shaky. He berates Kronos in the back half of the comic for being too reckless in his confrontation with Slake and his minions. He dredges up bits of Kronos' backstory and accuses him of having a death wish. Kronos counters Grost by pointing out that he had no idea of what Slake's vampires were capable, he didn't know they'd be active in the day time, and he is in his right mind. As a result, Grost comes off as a bit of a presumptuous jerk, no one really learns or changes, and the comic hits a bit of a plot cul-de-sac.

While that runs the story into a dead-end, it doesn't waylay the pacing too badly. The team get right back into the vampire hunting, and Kronos and Carla manage to maintain the energy with their determination and Carla's snark.

Tom and Sian Mandrake continue to be a solid art team, though this comic does have some less-than-stellar panels. Some scenes of Slake in action are a bit rough and overdrawn. This makes it harder to make out detail and weakens the kinetic energy. Thankfully, these panels are few, and the majority of the comic still looks good and atmospheric.

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter hits some bumps in the road, but it still comes out a good read in the end. The comic still has the dirty, gory, and high-energy vibe appropriate of its Hammer origins, the art is still solid throughout most of the comic, and I'm left intrigued as to where this comic is headed. I can still easily recommend it, and you should definitely check out this issue.

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