Spitfire #1

Hmm. I miss Paul Cornell's Captain Britain and MI13 title as much as the next nerd, so grabbed this follow-up starring Spitfire. The problem is that it deals with vampires, and I have to admit I'm getting tired of them. There are just too many vampire stories out there. The most interesting aspects of this one-shot are the elements that deal with how Spitfire and the lead villain view the rest of the world. It is extremely important to both of them that people see them as superior and classy. The death scene towards the close of the book was tremendous, Spitfire puts a stop to the villain's rant by warning her that she's about to look common. That's a great idea.

I don't like Blade being ok with all these "good" vampires. My Blade sticks every bloodsucker he sees, well, except for his teammates like Spitfire or Hannibal King. In this issue, he goes to a vampire bar and is downright pleasant. What happened to "You ain't nothin to me but another. Dead. Vampire." I know Cornell's Blade is more well adjusted than Wesley Snipes, but still!

Taken as a whole, this was a decent issue, but I loved all the interplay on the MI13 team, so no Black Knight, Captain Britain, or Meggan lowers my interest just a tad. I do hope we see the team again somewhere soon.

Elena Casagrande's pencils are fine. She gets the story across, although sometimes the characters' faces are a tad odd looking. I'd be curious to see her work with someone inking and tightening up her pencils.

Fair