True Blood #4
Created by Alan Ball
Written by Michael McMillian and Ann Nocenti
Art by Michael Gaydos
Colors by Marcelo Maiolo
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Cover by Tim Bradstreet
IDW Publishing
Release Date: September 5, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

This past season of HBO’s True Blood was a rollicking good time in my opinion and even managed to say a thing or two about politics, albeit while scantily clad. Lucky for us Truebies, and hopefully for some new recruits, this comic series isn’t just the next best thing; it is entirely its own thing. Almost like visiting an old friend who is constantly redecorating, but they use half naked mystical creature types instead of knick knacks”¦who wouldn’t want to come over?

While Michael McMillian and Annie Nocenti could easily rest on those laurels and still keep tons of fans, they are also inventive storytellers and the conclusion to the very revealing story arc Where Were You keeps the literary blood flowing with Alcide’s Story. There are no shockers to hiss storyline but it is filled with all the loyal lovable, wolfie, shirtless goodness that one would come to expect from the latest leading man/Sookie devotee.

True Blood #3
Created by Alan Ball
Written by Michael McMillian and Ann Nocenti
Art by Michael Gaydos
Colors by Marcelo Maiolo
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Cover by Tim Bradstreet
IDW Publishing
Release Date: July 25, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

True Blood #3 of the Where Were You? story arc is called “Bill’s Story,” but the real star for me is the refreshing unambiguously evil villain Remus. He is sans tortured soul and manages to have supernatural properties without being in love with Sookie, or at least he is not yet. Michael Mcmillian and Annie Nocenti tell us the story of how Bill Compton and Remus became acquainted in pre-revelation (when the vampires come out of the coffin) England. I love when they show Bill as a punk rocker on the show because in his modern incarnation as politician and somewhat inconsistent anti-hero he is nearly always uptight. We get a taste of that in flashbacks as well as Remus paging Lestat as a tattoed rock singer giving up vampire secrets in his lyrics. He also likes to eat innocent people and feels he is part of a superior race as a vampire. This makes him an easy target to rally against and the gang, which includes Sookie, Eric (begrudgingly of course), Jessica, Bill, etc., is starting to do just this that.