Blood Stained Teeth Vol. 2: Drip Feed
Christian Ward, story/creator; Patric Reynolds, art/creator; Mack Chater, guest art Ch.1; Heather Moore, colors; Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, letters
Image Comics, 2023
The main action in the present takes place at Dr. Beverly Phelps' hospital (where she is using vampire blood to cure cancer). But much of the narrative is done as flashbacks. We learn why Phelps decided to get bitten and turned into a vampire: she did it to help her daughter who was sick with cancer, perhaps the only selfless act by one of Atticus Sloane's clients in his Mr. Bite persona (at the end she asks him why he did not charge her at the time, but as usual he dodges sentimentality by claiming she must be misremembering). The Pensmiths have a much longer history as the First Born's enforcers–even the current story's heavy Mister Tooth hates them–and one of them manages to worm her way into Atticus' circle. The climax involves a standoff that could only happen in a vampire story: the bad guys have to give up and head for cover before the sun comes up. Despite Atticus' long-held dislike of humans, it turns out that he has a strong weakness for human music, which leads him to stick up for them. As series endings go, the story is a bit unresolved. It leaves the First Born and Dr. Phelps' group locked in the same stalemate they started with. But our hero Phelps and anti-hero Sloane both survive. I can imagine a sequel, but I don't think that one is planned. Like the first collection, the art here is really hallucinogenic, especially the wild coloring. The book concludes with an extensive Cover Gallery (it's nice to see them all full-sized).
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