DC Vs. Vampires #6 - DC Comics

DC VS. VAMPIRES No. 6, May 2022

Considering the sheer number of super-heroes (and villains) that are depicted dying in a variety of horrible ways throughout this comic, few readers who bought Issue Six of “DC Vs. Vampires” could surely say it didn’t live up to its Burbank-based publisher’s hype of being the mini-series’ “blood-drenched halfway point!” In fact, considering just which top-tier crime-fighters are either dispatched or revealed to be pointy-fanged creatures of the night, it’s arguably somewhat surprising that James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg’s storyline didn’t contain even more bodily mutilation; “We’ve got a problem. Savant and that spider guy are dead. The team seems to have a lot of vampires on it and they’re trying to eat us.”

Foremost of these shocking demises though must be that of the Dark Knight himself, who having earlier gained “the upper hand on the vampires who have infiltrated the Justice League” with just his wits and fighting savvy, is treacherously murdered by the new Vampire King in a genuinely “jaw-dropping moment”. This gut-wrenching betrayal by one of the Bat Family from behind is incredibly well penned, and debatably would have caught the vast majority of this book’s bibliophiles completely off-guard before it takes place.

What follows however, is equally as disconcerting as the likes of Cassandra Cain, Red Hood, Red Robin and Damian Wayne all allow their emotions to get the better of them and unthinkingly throw themselves into a one-sided fight that they surely can never win. In fact, possibly one of this publication’s most impressive moments is how Green Arrow stoically steps up as the group’s new leader, and applies Bruce Wayne’s famous cunning to the situation to ensure that Alfred Pennyworth can at least save a couple of the fledgling vigilantes from a nightmarish fate via a secret submarine.

Equally as enthralling as Otto Schmidt’s dynamically drawn death of Batman, are Simone Di Meo’s pencils covering the ignominious end of the Suicide Squad. Having discovered that the Joker is not the head of the vampiric horde attempting to enslave the world, Amanda Waller is ‘forced’ to detonate several of the team’s head-bombs - with Captain Boomerang’s hapless fate at the hands of Harley Quinn also providing this twenty-two-page periodical with a moment of distinctly dark humour.

The regular cover art of "DC VS. VAMPIRES" #6 by Otto Schmidt