A Bloody Good Time: A Review of Avengers #14 to #17, "The War of the Vampires"

written by Jason Aaron
drawn by David Marquez
colored by Justin Ponsor and Erick Arciniega

In the run-up to Marvel's next big event, War of the Realms, incumbent Avengers writer Jason Aaron delivers a mini-event of sorts, a four-issue story arc pitting the Avengers against a group of vampires who murder vampires, and who apparently have their sights set on killing the biggest one of them all, Dracula himself. To win the day, the Avengers will need the help of a renowned vampire slayer, none other than Blade. But, will even the help of Blade be enough to help them against the Colonel and his powerful allies, who even have the power to commandeer even the mighty Ghost Rider? Also, when the fleeing Dracula seeks refuge in nearby Russia and comes begging to the Winter Guard, how will they respond? The answers may shock! One thing's for sure, though; the Avengers are in for a hell of a fight.

After feeling disappointed with Jason Aaron's inaugural story arc on this book, I felt he'd recovered pretty well with his next few issues, specifically the ones in which occasional Avenger Namor returned to his roots as an antagonistic character, and it was gratifying to see David Marquez take over the art duties. These issues still weren't quite as satisfying as they could have been on the whole, though, because the Namor storyline ended on what felt like a distinctly anti-climactic note, and the story itself only lasted three issues in all, even as it teased the story I'm about to review now.

This story marks the first arc since this run began to run four straight issues with only one artist, the ultra-talented Marquez. He and Aaron manage to deliver an engaging, if occasionally flawed story from start to finish.

I've never been much one for vampire-related stories, and this particular one doesn't really change that, but there was something satisfying about having the Avengers fight a more down-and-dirty set of foes than the gigantic Dark Celestials from the first six issues, and foes who were pretty formidable at that. If I had any objections I guess it was that the heroes never felt like they were in any status-quo-upsetting peril, and that the vampire-on-vampire violence was so rampant throughout the series that after awhile I felt a bit desensitized to it, taking a bit of the edge off the ultimate stakes (pardon the pun). Still, Aaron does managed to impress upon me an overall sense of the threat, not necessarily to the Avengers themselves, but in terms of the people who may be endangered should they fail to contain them. And I liked how Aaron, if only briefly, hints at the peril that awaits the team if Robbie Reyes, a.k.a. Ghost Rider, ever loses control, setting up possible future stories. The story leads to a fairly predictable conclusion; suffice it to say, the door remains wide open for more vampire stories.

The star of this particular story, though is definitely David Marquez, who gets to illustrate a full four issues for his arc as opposed to the two and a half that he drew for the Namor story.

With War of the Realms hitting stores, the events of this story seem pretty trivial in comparison, but it was still a worthwhile read overall.

8.5/10