This month in Justice League Dark and I, Vampire we see the third part and the conclusion of the “Rise of the Vampires” crossover, which is one of the DCnU’s first crossover events. Last month we saw Cain, the Lord of Vampire’s origin, we saw him raise his army of Vampires and make them wage war against Gotham City, Batman, and the Justice League Dark. I had a lot of fun with the first two parts of the story last month, so I’m really hoping for a great conclusion.

Do the books deliver? And does JLD #8 give Peter Milligan a proper sendoff? Read on to find out!

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Justice League Dark #8

Ever since it was first announced, Justice League Dark has been a series that I just got really excited for. The concept was really cool, and the characters were awesome, and on top of it we had a really nice artist in Mikel Janin. However, Peter Milligan, in his first six-issue story, never quite delivered what I wanted in the series. It was never bad, but it was never great either as this “team” never really seemed like much of a team at all, but rather a bunch of characters who were haphazardly bunched together. 

This month marks the final issue for Peter Milligan as next month we see Animal Man and Frankenstein scribe Jeff Lemire take over, and honestly if that weren’t happening I’d have dropped the series after this issue. However, I have to say that Milligan gives this issue his all, throwing in plenty of great characterization and proceeding with the plot of this short crossover.

Deadman and John Constantine are trying to get Andrew Bennett to return to life so that he can defeat Cain, and back on Earth we see Madame Xanadu, Zatanna, and Shade trying their best to hold off the vampires in Gotham City. Not a single one of these characters is shorthanded in this issue as it seems Milligan tried his hardest to show his worth with this crew before he heads off the book. The highlight as far as character goes, however, would have to go to Shade. I’ve been wanting more from him during this whole run, and this issue really gave me a lot, however it also seemed like we won’t be seeing the character again - at least not anytime soon.

Milligan closes his run on JLD on a high note and he moves this crossover into its final part with great success, putting out one of his strongest issues on the series. However, as nice as this issue was I’m definitely excited to see what Lemire will bring onto the book come next month.

GO Rating: 4/5 

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I, Vampire #8

The finale of this crossover brings us a no-holds-barred issue full of vamp-on-vamp action as Andrew Bennett is finally resurrected so that he may deal with Cain. The issue itself is a rather quick read, that’s mostly just characters monologuing about why they can or will defeat each other, but as boring as that may sound, it was actually pretty damn awesome.

I think Andrea Sorrentino’s artwork really delivers a lot of what I love about this series, as it gives a really stylistically dark look to the characters and environments, and it makes the violence and monsters that are portrayed here all the more beautiful to look at. 

For the most part, I, Vampire as been one of the strongest series to come out of the New 52, and it’s sad because it’s also one of the lowest selling. There’s constantly strong character work featured in each issue, whether it focuses on the main character, Andrew, or any one of his costars. This issue continues a bit of that, but given that it takes the mission of closing off this action-packed crossover, most of the issue is just display of power by Bennett as he deals with Cain.

Overall, it’s not the strongest issue of the series, but being how strong the series has been that means it was still a great read. It introduces plenty of elements to make readers curious as to what will be happening in both the future of this series and in the future of Justice League Dark. I recommend readers pick up both if you haven’t already been reading either. 

GO Rating: 4/5

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