Die!Namite: Blood Red #1 Review

 

Writer: Fred Van Lente

Artist: Marco Finnegan

Colorist: Ellie Wright

Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry

Cover Artist: EJ Su, Godtail, David Cousens & Will Robson

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Price: $4.99

Release Date: November 5, 2025

 

Jennifer races through the ruins. When she reaches a fence of sharpened wooden poles, she utters a desperate cry. Warriors spring into action. The women attack the males transformed into shambling corpses with a taste for Human flesh. They rescue Jennifer and bring her inside. What will the newcomer find in this enclave of healthy Humans? And what of the inhabitant who isn’t Human? Let’s grab our weapons, leap into Die!Namite Blood Red #1, and see!

 

Story

When the X virus struck, it attacked males, cutting short Humanity’s future. As in Y: The Last Man, healthy males are in short supply. Women must stick together to defend themselves and protect the few males who can ensure Humanity's survival. But preserving these remnants of civilization demands ruthlessness wielded by an iron hand.

 

In Die!Namite: Blood Red #1, Vampirella’s voice guides us through this apocalyptic tale of Deadmen hunting, swarming, and hungering for their next meal. Inside the enclave, Vampirella hides a dark secret. She was an ambassador for her planet. Now, she is a refugee, forced to take on detective work to survive.

 

Fred Van Lente’s story puts Vampirella on the back foot. She needs the safety of Purgatori’s enclave to survive. Yet she wants to protect someone from her ruler’s harsh justice. So Vampirella plays things cool. She asserts her importance by pursuing investigations vital to the enclave’s future. Vampirella knows that if she displeases them, her hosts could throw her outside to become the Deadmen’s next meal. Or worse, she could lose her last link to her homeworld in Die!Namite: Blood Red #1.

 

Art

Dark figures stumble down a broken road between tilted telephone poles. Crumbling tower blocks rise in the distance, their exposed infrastructure a reminder of the collapse of civilization. The Deadmen stumble or crawl after a woman fleeing in jeans and a string top. A small purse holds her few possessions. When she reaches the gates, a diesel truck with a grapple bucket on the front roars into view. Warriors cling to each door, while a third fires the roof-mounted machine gun.

 

While Marco Finnegan reveals the essentials of this brutal world, Ellie Wright lavishes bright colors on the silhouettes and thick inks in Die!Namite: Blood Red #1. The colors glow as the women radiate vitality in this dying world. The face of their benefactor emerges from a smudged, dirty billboard rising above the barbed wire barriers. Vampirella’s cosmic route back to civilization juxtaposes with a glowing gladiatorial arena.

 

Jeff Eckleberry fills these spectral glimpses of the wasteland with black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Words grow bold for intonation. They swell and threaten to burst balloons when danger threatens. Sound effects fill the hazy air and silhouetted backgrounds in this Mad Max zombie apocalypse. Yet Vampirella strides through it all in her long red coat and dark boots, seemingly impervious to the dangers surrounding her, in this futuristic sci-fi noir. Thanks to Dynamite Entertainment for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

In a bleak future, an alien who can never return home helps her foreign hosts eek out each new day of existence, so that someday, somehow, a brighter future can dawn in Die!Namite: Blood Red #1.

 

Rating 8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Blood And Thunder #1 Review

 

Writer: Benito Cereno

Artist: E J Su

Colorist: Msassyk

Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cover Artists: E J Su & Msassyk; David Lopez; Andie Tong & Rex Lokus; Bernard Chang; J Scott Campbell & Tanya Lehoux; Erik Elizarrez

Editor: Nachie Marsham

Logo Design: Andres Juarez

Publication Design: Jillian Crab

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: May 7, 2025

 

The Interplanetary Peacekeeping and Penitentiary Force protects everyone regardless of status, income, or species. The IPPF keeps you safe from anyone who means you harm or dispenses lies. But who protects you when the IPPF falters in their duties? Let’s grab our AI guns, leap into Blood And Thunder #1, and see!

 

Story

Bounty hunters tackle the IPPF's more elusive troublemakers in the satellite city of Metro 1. Blood Bledsoe washed out of the Academy. She honors her father's memory by apprehending wanted perpetrators as a bounty hunter.

 

In Blood And Thunder #1, we see Blood tracking down Herp. She doesn't know what Herp did. Most likely, he was involved in trading illegal goods. Still, a job's a job, so she's bringing him in. The person who helps her hunt down Herp The Perp is Thunder. But her partner also hamstrings her efforts. Thunder generally follows Blood’s suggestions. Still, that doesn’t mean Thunder will let her end Herp’s life.

 

Blood And Thunder #1 follows the hunt for a fugitive in a densely populated, multicultural city. Benito Cereno's story also puts Blood's past under the microscope. Although she wanted to join IPPF, she didn't follow in her father's footsteps. Blood keeps everyone at an arm's distance. People on the streets know better than to get in her way when she's chasing down a perp. Not even her father's best friend calls her Akeldama. Only her partner calls her by her name. To everyone else, she is Blood Bledsoe, a licensed bounty hunter. And she likely knows more about you than you do about the person next to you.

 

Art

Metro 1 bulges from a chunk of rock orbiting its nearest planet or star, transforming the disk-shaped asteroid into an enormous diamond. Within, vehicles roll along roads or fly above them. While Humans stroll along the pristine streets of Tier 1, less-well-dressed people and other species occupy the sidewalks and streets of the lower levels. Some areas lack sidewalks and paving. Residents shelter in tents and store their valuables in stolen shopping carts. But clean streets and sidewalks, neon lights, and smiling, multi-faced prostitutes await visitors to the red-light district on the Floor.

 

Even with Msassyk’s rich colors adorning E J Su's detailed art, Blood Bledsoe stands out. Despite her high forehead, Blood's abundant hair hovers like a storm that rages inside her in Blood And Thunder #1. It's easy to see why people step aside when the blue-and-purple-suited bounty hunter tears down the street. Herp's green skin makes him stand out when the reptilian with upside-down features flees Blood's wrath. But then, who wants to get cuffed and tossed onto the back of her hoverbike?

 

Rus Wooton fires uppercase words into white dialogue balloons. The words grow bold for intonation, rarely shrink, and change to symbols for alien chatter. Thunder speaks mauve words into rounded ivory boxes surrounded by smaller mauve, green, blue, and purple rounded rectangles. The Fulminator 2.0 speaks lavender words into white balloons surrounded by purple circles. Sound effects help us hear Blood kick obstacles out of her path, different types of firepower from Thunder's four muzzles, and the dining habits of a prisoner some of the most seasoned IPPF officers fear to feed. Thanks to Image Comics and Skybound for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

The only person Blood Bledsoe trusts is Thunder. The bounty hunter refuses to trade her AI gun for a newer model. But then, Thunder may be the only thing preventing Blood from spending the rest of her life in a maximum-security prison cell. That would be a shame, as the IPPF needs her assistance in protecting the streets of Metro 1 in Blood And Thunder #1.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.