Hinterkind was a recent Vertigo "ongoing" series that made it as far as 18 issues (ending in May, 2015). There are three TPB collections. When I read the first one in January I commented:
After reading the first issue via Comixology months ago, finally getting to Hinterkind Vol. 1: The Waking World (Ian Edgington, writer; Francesco Trifogli, artist). It's a great dystopian concept, with humanity the endangered species. The mutated wild animals are bad enough, but the real threat comes from the ancient magical creatures (faerie, trolls, ogres, goblins, fauns...the whole nine yards).
I like the way that ties the series in with classic Vertigo like The Books of Magic. Trifogli's art even reminds me a bit of Peter Gross, but rougher. Some of his facial expressions don't ring true to me, which is distracting. Maybe it will grow on me; I've only read two issues so far.
This weekend I read Hinterkind Vol. 2: Written In Blood, so I guess I was intrigued enough to see where the story went. I have to report up front that Trifogli's art never did grow on me. It's really rough, so much so that some panels look like unfinished layouts that were left unfinished and colored and lettered that way. Fortunately his panel layouts and general storytelling skills are good, so the story carried me along anyway. With the second collection the tone of the series clearly settles into a kind of medieval political/military struggle, with magical creatures in place of human nations.
The major power players are the Sidhe (the faerie) and the Vampire Nation (invaders from Europe, because the North American vampires were dispersed before they could organize). The fay also have a major internal court political struggle to deal with. So there are a number of players, even though the focus always shifts back to two groups with humans that are on the run. They are trying to reunite, as well as warn the others about the looming danger.
I'm interested enough to read the third collection to see how it all comes out. But I have to say that the series is hampered by a profusion of unlikeable characters. The magical ones tend to be selfish and brutal: and they all regard humans as nothing more than cattle, which is unattractive from the human perspective. The humans are somewhat heroic, but they're basically pawns in larger events.
Has anyone else been reading this?
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Hinterkind Vol. 3: The Hot Zone wraps up the series. It opens with the titular two-issue story arc, which finally explains how the Blight that nearly wiped out the human race began. Those issues are so interesting, and move so fast, that it's a shame the story waited until Issues #13-14 to be told. If more of the series had been like this, it might have had a longer run.
After that it's a bit of a mad dash to the series conclusion. This shows mainly in the Vampire Nation being relegated to a mention near the end. Clearly the creators had intended to do a lot more with those characters, given their significance in the previous collection. The war that erupts is between the Sidhe and the brutal Skinlings, a confederation of rougher Hinterkind like ogres and trolls.
Things aren't going well for the Sidhe, but they have a secret ally, Tiamat, the last dragon. When candidates for Dragon Rider are mentioned, the human girl Monday is nominated by the fairy queen--as she explains why, she reveals one last secret about humanity's survivors.
Then the classic storybook ending: the day is saved, followed by some quick "happily ever after" wrap ups. Although it may be a tad rushed, it's a satisfying series conclusion, and one that feels appropriate to the fantasy basis of the story.