Comic Review: Vanity #1 (Scout Comics)

Vanity #1, new from Scout Comics’ Black Caravan imprint, delves into the horrific back story of the legendary Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory.

Writer Jurii Kirvnev escorts us to the happenings in Csejte, (in today’s country of Slovakia) away back in 1614. It’s a dark and stormy night, and Snoopy is nowhere in sight. However, two gravediggers are en route via horse and carriage to dig up and relocate the body of Our Elizabeth Bathory.

Artist Natalia Tsarevnikova (with upper and lower case letters by Joel Rodriguez) sticks to a nine-panel grid for the most part, with a few larger panels here and there for variety. It’s a restrained and claustrophobic choice, with the dialogue running dubstep with the artwork in small increments. Small changes occur between panels, a small limited view of the surroundings is revealed, as we learn just how nasty the young Elizabeth Bathory’s upbringing was. Raised in captivity, confined to a limited sphere of influence, influenced by those with opaque agendas, Elizabeth becomes a rather callous and strong-willed non-believer.

The story is interesting enough, but there are no abrupt shifts of pace, nothing disturbs the pace of the goings-on. We track along the muddy way, learning just how rough and tumble it all was back in the 1500s and 1600s. The telling could be more powerful, it could be more explosive and its pace more frequently interrupted, but we respect the choices of the tellers of this story and gamely sit back and hear the tale, the tale of a fateful trip, which leads us into dark lands, into dark hands, and ultimately, to dirty deeds done dirtily cheap.

The artwork is in a hand-hewn, non-decorative pen style, bordering on primitive woodcut illustration. Tsarevnikova’s choice of dark figures, low lighting, and small panels is underlined by a choice of muted browns and greys, creating a smokey, environmentally grim backdrop to this horror tale. Vivid cover art by Joseph Schmalke.

Bonus LONG introduction into the ‘real-life legend’ of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, written by Mark Rein-Hagen Tbilisi.

Scout Comics, Black Caravan imprint, $4.99 for 33 pages of content. Mature