Review: I, Vampire Vol. 3- Wave of Mutilation

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline is as fun and entertaining as the whole series has been. Andrew and Mary’s relationship is handled very well and provides the book with a number of emotional moments. The first half of the book looks great.

Cons: The secondary character’s storylines end up feeling completely unnecessary. The second half of the book doesn’t look that great.

Overall: In the final volume of the I, Vampire series, the craziness and chaos of the past is dialed down in order to tell a more serious and sentimental conclusion to the series. Andrew and Mary’s past and future becomes the book’s highlight and allows the book to become more emotional than ever before. Paired with this is an epic story of suspense and thrills that will keep all readers entertained. All of this comes together to give the series a worthy ending that nearly everyone will be satisfied with.

Story

While the previous installation of this series was a exploration in over-the-top action, this one is a more serious and melancholy look at the plight of our main characters. I, Vampire Vol. 3: Wave of Mutilation is where Joshua Hale Fialkov says a bittersweet goodbye to the series and gives the main characters the resolution that they deserve. This book isn’t all tears and heartbreak though, there is still plenty of action and humor within these pages. Overall, this is another example of the steadfast level of quality present in this series and a solid way to end things.

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This entire collection revolves around the fallout from the previous one. Andrew Bennett has turned evil, after killing all of the vampires, and is now working to wipe out all of humanity. Meanwhile, Mary Seward has be cured from her vampirism and is now working to save all of humanity. This causes the two to gather forces and face off against each other a few times throughout the collection.

In this way, the story is very entertaining. Andrew seems to constantly be a few steps ahead of the heroes and almost appears to be unstoppable. His sheer power and overwhelming supremacy put the prospect of a “happily ever after” in a major state of doubt and constantly leave the reader questioning how the heroes will manage to get away. This creates a book that is full of suspense and that will keep readers guessing the entire time.

However, in many ways, this is not a book about magical fights and unbelievable circumstances, it is a book about a pair of tragic lovers. The story of Andrew and Mary’s relationship is significantly expanded upon here; from their backstory in England to their trials in the previous two volumes, this book makes it clear that these two have been through a lot. Thus, the conclusion to their tragic tale is filled with emotions. I’m not typically a big romantic but I ended up thoroughly enjoying Mary’s final sendoff and thought Fialkov handled it very well.

In a sharp contrast to the book’s main characters, nearly every one of the book’s secondary characters is treated rather poorly. Both Tig and John have played a large role in this series, yet their characters have remained rather unexplored. I assumed this was done so that a more significant dive into their personality could provide a pay off in the future. However, in this collection, John is unceremoniously killed while Tig runs away to who knows where. Maybe if this series lasted longer than three volumes, their characters would have become interesting but, as of this volume’s end, they feel more like cheap plot devices than anything else.

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Art

As always, Andrea Sorrentino kills it when it comes to artwork. This is a great looking book with characters and settings that perfectly match the dark tone of the text. Nearly every page Sorrentino works on looks incredibly and reflects all the praise we gave in our reviews of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of this series.

Only about half of this collection is done by Sorrentino though, most of the rest is done by Fernando Blanco. Blanco’s artwork loses the darkness and edge found in the rest of the collection and is a sharp deviation from the tone of the series in general. The work seen here is more “standard” for superhero books, a genre I, Vampire has typically managed to skate around. A lower level of quality and a dramatic change in tone make this second half less than desirable and are a big negative for this collection in general.

Continuity

I, Vampire Vol. 3: Wave of Mutilation continues the story from I, Vampire Vol. 2: Rise of the Vampires (Review).

The I, Vampire series ends with this volume. Andrew Bennett makes later appearances in Trinity of Sin: Pandora #14, collected in Trinity of Sin: Pandora Vol. 2: Choices (Review), and Batgirl #29, collected in Batgirl Vol. 5: Deadline (Review). However, his appearances significantly die out after this volume.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Cain mentions a prior encounter with the Demon Knights organization. The events of Demon Knights Vol. 3: The Gathering Storm (Review) could be what he is referring to.
• John Constantine’s ownership of the House of Mystery was established in Justice League Dark Vol. 2: The Books of Magic (Review).