Dawn After Dark #1 is a comic written by Matt Warner with art and inks by Jesse Thomas and colors by JJ Scott. A vampire hunter from Dublin makes the shocking discovery that there are werewolves in the city. This is modern supernatural tale that doesn’t skimp on the violence or intrigue. The leading lady for this comic is Dawn Keenan, a witty and straightforward woman who moonlights as a vampire hunter. She has some fearless moments and is very aware of her surroundings. Along the way we’ll meet her boss English Dan, a nice old lady, angry fighters, and creepy vampires. There is some good characterization here. The story begins with a fight but it takes us back a bit to show us how we got there. There are a few layers here and we get a look at the situation from different perspectives. The violence here is bloody and gory which is to be expected when werewolves are involved. The pace is almost movie-like as it is slightly slower with more than a few conversational wordy pages. The tone goes from casual to serious and the intensity gets high. The dialogue is mostly conversational and feature phrases and slang from Ireland. This is a debut that sets the groundwork with an interesting story, multifaceted characters, and a world where both vampires and werewolves dwell.

            The art here has a rough, gritty look to it which fits the tone of this story. The coloring here is realistic with a decent range of colors. The scenery is mostly buildings and trailers with little greenery shown. The location changes from a seedy den to different homes with each place having a different atmosphere and look. The backgrounds show elements of their area in them except when violence is taking place in which case there are solid colors and action lines. The expression level here is about average as most characters seem to have a stoic disposition. The range is a bit small as emotions related to anger and frustration are what we’ll primarily see. The faces aren’t the most detailed so occasionally it’s hard to tell if they are emoting or not having a noticeable reaction. The action here has short and long scenes with good flow. There is a good amount of blood and gore can get nasty with some limb separation.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural stories starring a woman that take place in Ireland with gruesome violence and interesting conversation than this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Gore, blood, violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Kiss you? I don’t even know you.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellboundmedia/dogfather/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22

Violent Pages: 11, for 50% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 4

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”