This was another piece of my 2011 Free Comic Book Day haul. It's another leftover, a convention promo freebie from 2007.Title: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures
Issue: #1 (2007 Convention Exclusive)
Date: 2007
Publisher: Marvel Comics, Dabel Brothers
Writer: Laurell K. Hamilton, Stacie M. Ritchie
Artist: Brett Booth
Colorist: Arif Priyanto
Letterer: Bill Tortolini
Editor: Sean J. Jordan
Writer Stacie M. Ritchie adapts Laurell K. Hamilton's first Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel, Guilty Pleasures. This particular edition was a convention freebie with a sketch cover.
Adaptations are always tough. I thought that artist Brett Booth did a great job with the look of Anita. The artwork depicts a dynamic mix of strength and vulnerability that matches what comes across in the writing. This first issue does a decent job of introducing the world of Anita Blake, a world where vampires and other supernatural creatures are a known part of life in America. The comic is heavy on dialogue and narration, as might be expected from an adaptation of a novel. Sometimes it works well, but it breaks down a bit when it gets into the mental/telepathic struggles for domination that occur between Anita and the various vampires she encounters. Hamilton places a very heavy emphasis on this aspect of the vampire myth, and it's the type of thing that is just more suited to prose that really gets inside the character's head in detail rather than abbreviated captions on top of visuals.
I like the fact that the vampires are a threat to be taken very seriously, and I enjoyed the portrayal of Anita herself. This was better than I went in expecting, but it still feels like it was forced into the comic format.
Rating: 6.5/10
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