What's worse than losing your girlfriend and your life? Getting both back, courtesy of vampires, as seen in One Bloody Year.
Randy:
There's always something simultaneously intriguing and worrying about vampire stories in any medium. Intriguing because of stories like Dracula, Blood and Water and Lost Boys. Worrying because of everything else. It does tend to be a great success or mediocre and familiar failure proposition.
Don:
Vampire stories are a much mined genre, that's for sure. Fortunately, writer/artist Michel Lacombe taps into a rich vein here. (Hmm, an unintentional combination mining/blood vessel metaphor in one shot... I'm in a good place right now.)
One Bloody Year: Fall
written & illustrated by Michel Lacombe
based on an original story idea by Dan Villeneuve
Don:
Geoff Connor has had a horrible year. His girlfriend has left him, and his career as an artist is no career at all. He's broke and he's miserable. He sees only one way out, but a face from his past else points him -- rather unwillingly -- down a different path. Geoff has been transformed into a vampire, but the gift of parasitic power and immortality is not meant as a gift at all, but rather as a means to exact a petty revenge.
Randy:
One Bloody Year: Fall is about vampires, but more than that, it's about how messed up people can be in their relationships, and it's really the story of our protagonist coping with a couple of really bad days. Lacombe has created a vampire subculture that is full of willing debauchery and inhuman cruelty, but what makes the book resonate is how human they all seem. The vampires in Lacombe's world aren't the tortured immortals of Anne Rice or Bram Stoker, nor are they the down-to-earth free spirits of Judd Winick's Blood and Water. Instead, they're like sociopaths given immense power, and that makes them seem incredibly dangerous and horrific, even if they're not smart enough to be as threatening as Dracula or Lestat. The central story in Fall is that of Geoff, a young man who tries to commit suicide when his girlfriend leaves him, only to learn that she has been enthralled by a vampire that was once a human who was obsessed with her.
Don:
Lacombe's story is about what happens when pettiness is combined with power. The vampires in this story are spoiled brats, children without a bedtime who are dipping into the cookie jar with abandon. By the end of the book, the creator's point is clear: happiness is not to be found through hedonism. The key to the story's success is that the reader identifies more with the villain of the piece than the protagonist. We've all felt excluded, awkward, alone, and we've all wished for a small measure of revenge, all yearned for popularity and power.
Randy:
What really makes One Bloody Year: Fall stand out for me is the characterization, as Lacombe really crafts believable and interesting people in these pages. Geoff could easily have come off as unsympathetic, given his attempted suicide, but given the depraved individuals he falls in with, his own small moments of nobility come through much stronger. He quickly decides not to kill his intended first victim, and indeed goes to great lengths to get her out of harm's way, for instance. Lacombe also fills the pages with interesting dialogue, making sure to hit the important balance between plot-necessary information and dialogue that makes the characters seem more real. In particular, the speech patterns of Geoff's sister, or of Geoff and Sarah (pre-vampire encounter), ring very true.
Don:
Personally, I think the artwork is what stands out as the book's greatest strength. Lacombe's work here reminds me of the styles of such detailed artists as J.H. (Promethea) Williams III and Jerry (Wonder Woman) Ordway. There's a strong sense of realism at play here, but a dark, moody atmosphere as well. Lacombe knocks the reader off-balance occasionally with some twisted and angular points of view, and that approach reinforces the unsettling tone of the story.
Randy:
In terms of artwork, the book is remarkably impressive. Lacombe's style is very similar to the photo-referenced look of Michael Gaydos, Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev, and indeed he has a list of models who he photographed for the characters. This heavy photo-reference can look a little stiff and artificial, but Lacombe's work instead is very expressive, reminiscent of the work of Tim Bradstreet or Blood and Water artist Tomm Coker. The heavy shadows and detailed characters, along with very photo-realistic backgrounds, helps to bring the whole thing to life, and give it a certain level of reality which makes the vampire elements all the more horrific.
Don:
The only real problem with the book is an extended sequence that's presented entirely in French. Now, as a (relatively) bilingual Canadian, this didn't pose too much of a problem for yours truly, but wider audiences might find themselves scratching their heads, left out of the loop by the Quebecois creator's desire to bring his francophone culture into his story.
Randy:
One Bloody Year: Fall is but a part of Lacombe's greater design, which is planned to end as a 160-plus-page graphic novel. While I admire his ambition, I think that is the one downfall of this book. The characters and situations here are engaging and well realized, but there's not really much of a conclusion to the story in these pages. This wouldn't be a problem if the book were monthly, but instead the promise is to expect the next part in June 2005... a little under two years from now. This is worth a look, especially for those who enjoyed the recent Vertigo hit Blood and Water, but be aware going in that enjoying the full story is going to take more than a little patience from the reader.
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