Written by: Danny Lore
Art by: Karen S. Darboe
Colors by: Cris Peter
Letters by: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover art by: Karen S. Darboe, Cris Peter
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: March 8, 2023

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #2 finds Brielle Brooks coming to terms with her newfound abilities, while a fellow classmate shows more experience with monster hunting than anyone suspects.

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Is It Good?

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #2 is better than issue #1, so progress is good.

When last we left off with Briell, she foolishly decided to strike out solo as a monster hunter without any idea how or why she has powers, how they work, or why she wants to hunt monsters in the first place. When she entered an abandoned house that looked to be a vampire nest (without explaining how she knew), Brielle ran into Whitney, the new girl at school who happens to be an expert monster hunter.

Now, Whitney gets the wrong idea about Brielle, and the two fight to a stalemate. The next day, the girls decide to call a truce at a school and buddy up as a monster-hunting team at night.

Compared to issue #1, the pacing is better, the dialog is better, and the character moments feel more organic.

That said, the plot reads like bad Buffy the Vampire Hunter fan fiction. Why is Brielle not talking to the one person who knows what’s happening to her – her mother? Why is Brielle putting more faith and trust in another student she just met? Why does Brielle not spend any time or effort understanding her powers before taking up a life of monster hunting (without reason or motivation)?

In other words, Lore assumes all the history and character work is already done, so Brielle can just move forward in the plot. That’s not how stories and character development work, so you’re left with an issue where Brielle is spasmodically leaping from one conflict to the next without thinking about what she’s doing or acting on any established motivations.

How’s the art? It’s fine for what it is. The story is written with a very YA-ish tone, and the art equally reflects a YA kids’ book style. It’s unclear why a YA book is set in the main Marvel continuity, but it is, so if you want a YA comic to go along with Blade’s adventures in the Vampire Nation., this is it.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Final Thoughts:

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #2 is a mild improvement over issue #1. The pacing and dialog are significantly better, and the story is moving, but the plot is amateurish and completely lacking in character motivations or setup.

6/10