Review of Vitriol the Hunter #1

Vitriol the Hunter is a vampire comic mini-series co-written and pencilled by Billy Martin of the band Good Charlotte. Vitriol has been a long time in the making… a long time. The comic was first announced in July of 2009 with a targeted release date of February, 2010, and well, instead it came out last month February, 2013. Only a few years late. But it’s here now… unfortunately.

Vitriol the HunterDescription:

“They own the night… they yearn for the day! In this gothic sci-fi adventure, Billy Martin (guitarist of Good Charlotte) and Brent Allen bring a new grisly horror to life! As Basilika City’s last great hope, Vitriol stands as the only force that can stop Lord Barthus and his heinous vampire regime from overtaking the city.”

Story by Billy Martin, Brent Allen
Art by Billy Martin, John Wycough
Colors by Jeremy Treece

Here’s my break down of Vitriol the Hunter #1.

Artwork: 3 out of 5
I had such a love/hate relationship with the artwork in this comic. In the end it was simply too cartoony and juvenile. It reminded me of the artwork I did in high school while I was bored in math class. I loved the coloring though. Major props to Treece on that front. Had the colors been flat then the artwork rating would have been lower. But a good coloring job couldn’t save this project. The artwork simply didn’t match the tone of the story. It’s the type of art you pair up with a children’s comedy, not a futuristic war zone.

Story: 0.5 out of 5
So bad… just, so bad. So awful that I am going to make a bulleted list of the many things wrong with Vitriol.

  • The writing was painfully repetitive. One should not read the same word over and over and over again on a single page. Especially in a comic! Comics don’t have that many words to begin with. Repetitiveness wasn’t the only issue though, the writing was terrible all around.
  • The overall story was shockingly unoriginal. There was a record high amount of irritating vampire tropes thrown in. It was a big sack of cliché.
  • There wasn’t any logic or intelligence to the story. They were clearly trying very very hard to be deep and intellectual, but the attempt was cringe-worthy.  It was sad. So sad that it made me feel sad for the writers. It was as if I was reading the writings of a ditzy drunk trying to sound profound. Awful.
  • The characters had zero personality. They were very-cookie cutter. You have the “hero” who pops pills and hates the world and then the chick who tends to his wounds and tells him to be careful. Blah!
  • Little side boxes explaining things that the reader should see in the art. Kind of defeating the purpose of comic book art by telling readers what they should see.
  • Main character wears a half-cape. Enough said.

And I’ll stop there. There was so much garbage in this first issue, I don’t even want to know what’s going on in the next.

Honestly, I didn’t want to finish reading Vitriol the Hunter. I had to force myself to finish it. I’d stay far away from this comic if I were you. Maybe they should have put it off a few more years so that they could work on it some more.

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

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