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Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Feb. 5, 2014
Writer: Alex De Campi
Artist: Federica Manfredi
Cover: Francesco Francavilla
Purchase at Amazon
After giving us two 2-part stories in the first four issues of Grindhouse: Doors Open At Midnight, Alex De Campi approaches the next tale as a period piece of horror story in her latest tale “Bride of Bloodâ€. As with the other two tales in the run, “Bee Vixens From Mars†and “Prison Ship Antaresâ€, a new artist has been brought in to provide visuals for this new two-parter, an artist named Federica Manfredi. Two women telling a tale of sleaze, violence, and debauchery? Sign me up for a ticket to that.
A bride's wedding day couldn't be any more perfect for the sweet young bride to be, Branwyn. It's all there: family, friends, getting married to a lord…picture perfect. That is, until a group of reavers breaks up the ceremony for some apparent random acts of violence. Branwyn escapes with her brother Corrin (I wanna wear my armor, wahhh) and her mother, but there are all separated from one another once they get caught by the reavers. Corrin is to go find Branwyn's groom Lord Callyreath, who seems to have run off, being the coward and general douche bag that he is, while their mom orders Branwyn to go hide but she doesn't make it that far.
Corrin heads out and sees more of the Lord's rottenness than he expected, and befalls a fate that keeps him from sharing what he had seen. Branwyn and her mom become the objects of rape for the evil doers and suffer a lot worse than anyone else, but Branwyn survives. She knows the reavers and her ex-soon-to-be-husband are out there and she pulls a fast one on some nuns to get her plan of revenge rolled out.
For the first ten pages, the vantage point goes from the bride's point of view behind a veil, and then the more traditional angle of an outsider observing. At first it threw this reader for a loop, thinking something was wrong with the file. But after realizing what was being looked at, it's really quite interesting. Manfredi's artwork has a classic beauty to it and the way her panels are laid out, although pretty compact at times, not only help create atmosphere (such as golden, swirling borders during the wedding) but a real sense of chaos and urgency during the carnage. And the coloring by Dortea Gizzi complements Ms. Mandfredi's artwork quite nicely. The blood is bright and attention grabbing when it needs to be, and the mood created by the coloring helps to accentuate makes the story all the better. We can't forget to mention the cover, illustrated by fan favorite (well THIS fan at least) Francesco Francavilla. If you haven't check out his Black Beetle books, you're denying yourself some serious greatness. This is his third cover in the series and by far the best looking one. It has a 60s Euro horror movie feel to it, like something Mario Bava would have his name attached to.
De Campi's writing style, at least within the pages of her Grindhouse series, goes for the gut with great competence, and she has the ability to capture the essence of the movies she's of which she's paying tribute. Rape-revenge tales are usually so brutal and uncomfortable, and she puts that on the pages to great effect. The rape scenes (yeah there's a couple) are nasty without showing the nastiness all in your face which, to this reader, makes it even more uncomfortable. And that's a good thing. Part two is going to be a real treat once the main character gets slashing and castrating. It's going to be sweet.
