- 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: June 21, 2023
Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #5 brings the mini-series to a close as Brielle heads for a final, fateful confrontation against Whitney and Deacon Frost.
Is It Good?
Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #5 ends about as well as it could and about as well as you would expect – with two mid-level fights, emotionally validating speeches, and a happy ending. Whether or not that sounds like a rousing, satisfying finale is up to you.
When last we left Brielle and her Buffy friends, they learned Whitney is actually the adoptive “daughter” of a clone of longtime villain Deacon Frost. Deacon intends to use Blade and Brielle in a blood ritual that will boost his vampiric powers. Now, Brielle and her Buffy friends fight Whitney to bring the backstabber down before heading off to save Blade from Deacon’s ritual.
At a basic level, Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #5 is a solid issue and a respectable finale (except for three points I’ll cover in a minute). Lore’s pacing is relatively smooth, the plot progression and scene transitions are solid, and the ending is quintessential “Happily Ever After.” If you wanted a satisfying end to the Marvel version of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer story, this is as good as you’re going to get.
The first down point is the nonsensical explanation of Whitney’s role and motivations as the villain. She acts like she hates monsters, despite being mentored by one of the most vicious, destructive vampires in the Marvel Universe. Whitney apparently carries around enough cognitive dissonance to make her head top-heavy, which is why she loses her fight. How do you create a villain with an intense, burning hatred for the hero because the hero is a less-dangerous version of her “father”? Whitney needed a better setup than this.
The second down point is the awkward, clunky, Whedon-inspired dialog. It’s awful.
The third down point is in the art. In all truth, I’ve not been a fan of the art style since issue one. Blade is a formidable character, so to see him, Brielle, and everyone included in this story neutered down to a passable YA kids’ book felt off. That said, the down point isn’t the art style but the art choreography. There are several spots in both fights where the choreography doesn’t make sense. Stakes are interchanged with swords without changing the result of the attack (you can’t slice somebody’s head off with a stake).
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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Bits and Pieces
Bloodline: Daughter of Blade #5 ends as well as it could for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer knockoff with awkward character work, truly awful dialog, and YA-grade art that doesn’t fit the characters or situation. The plot threads are wrapped up neatly with a happy ending, but the quality of this mini-series never managed to achieve minimum Marvel standards.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 