By Larry Jorash — Vampires content has been incredibly inspired as of late, from the ever-present retellings of Bram Stoker’s Dracula all the way to the soap opera-y teen fantasy of Twilight to TTRPGs/comics like Vampire: The Masquerade. Who can say why. There’s the lust for eternal life, the frightening intimacy between monster and humans, and the fear of death…they all stoke our interest in vampire fiction. The new comic Out #1 takes vampire stories in an interesting direction, setting its narrative in Nazi-occupied Europe.

The setting is a great choice, one that makes the book compelling and engaging at a conceptual level. The execution in this first issue is also very strong. The color work of Marco Lesko is something that stands out immediately. Without the advantages of jump scares and eerie music, horror comics are heavily driven by their art and color work, especially shading and the other touches that set mood and tone. The dark forests and gray skies of Czechoslovakia seem to get greyer as our protagonists approach their new-POW camp home.

Through these visuals, we can feel the cold, chill air even when reading in a warm room. The team of Lesko and artist Will Conrad just do wonders developing the scenes in this story. Despite this beautiful and effective shading, however, there is something to be desired in the character work. Will Conrad does an exceptional job at inking and penciling the setting but some of the ways the human characters are illustrated felt repetitive to me. Many of them display the similar grins or frowns across multiple pages in this book. Which is fine in some instances, but in other places, I found myself struggling to tell characters apart, which took me out of the story.

In the end though, Out #1 is a perfect story for this spooky time of year. October begs for quality, fresh horror, and this one certainly provides. It’s an interesting story that pairs the evil of the Nazi regime with vampiric forces. So pick this one up and enjoy the cold, lonely blasts of white and blue as the winter freezes harder…along with the blotches of red that horror fans know and love.

Overall: Suspenseful, witty, and pretty to look at, Out #1 is a great vampire comic for the Halloween season. 7.5/10

REVIEW: Out #1

Out #1
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Will Conrad
Colorist: Marco Lesko
Publisher: AWA Studios
Price: $3.99
In the waning days of World War Two, with the Allies advancing, a desperate Nazi officer unearths an ancient force of evil that he hopes will turn the tide of battle: a vampire. To test the power of his secret weapon, he unleashes the monster on an unsuspecting group of Allied POWs. It’s up to Nocona, a Comanche language expert, to communicate with the vampire to find out what it really wants...
More Info: Out #1

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Larry Jorash (He/Him) resides in Central Florida managing a comic book shop and coaching youth sports. In his spare time he enjoys ice hockey and reading. You will almost never find his hand vacant of coffee. Find him on twitter: (@theREALlarbear)