Author(s): Howard Chaykin ♠ David Tischman ♠ David Hahn
Genre: Graphic novel
Published: 2005
Publisher: Vertigo an imprint of DC Comics
Pages: 138
ISBN: 1-4012-0492-9
Opening Lines: "From the moments he left he mountains of Nicaragua . . ."
Rating:
"The Sopranos have nothing on the Del Toros — a vampire clan that's been running organized crime in Miami for nearly a century. Beautiful, rich, and immortal, these bloodsuckers are also masters of backstabbing and infighting — and the fangs really come out with the death of their patriarch, Eduardo.
"Youngest son Leto vowed to leave his family's empire of sin behind when he became a Catholic priest — and his ambitious, hedonistic sister Risa would be happy to keep it that way. Eduardo's will, however, names Leto as the new jefe of the Del Toro cartel, leaving Daddy's little girl to scheme on the sidelines. But while Risa has schemes, Leto has faith — faith that late.
"Facing rivals within and enemies without, Leto knows his blood is in the water. Priest or not, though, he's still a Del Toro, and he's swum with these sharks all his life. The question is, will he choose the way of God — or Godfather?"
~ Jacket copy
Thoughts: I found this book at a little whole-in-the-wall comic store in San Diego a few years ago. However, during one of our moves, it ended up being misplaced, and my husband found it while cleaning our back bedroom. To this day, the cover still draws my attention!
The story line seemed rather interesting, and I was willing to give it a shot. Since vampires are immortal, it made sense that a vampire cartel could run the crime syndicate of Miami. However, I felt the graphic novel just fell flat. There was more time spent narrating than actually getting any story from the characters. There were little hints dropped about the relationship between the characters, but not enough. I found myself groaning every time I flipped a page to find another huge chunk of narration and no dialogue.
Some of the character development was good. The audience learns a lot of Rise due to her underhanded dealings in her business and in the family. However, the hints that are dropped about her relationship with Leto and her father really disturbed me.
For me, the only thing that this graphic novel had going for it was the art style. For me, a big turn-off is poor art. But with this graphic novel, I think the sacrificed story for awesome graphics. At that point, I'm not sure if it's worth it.
On the whole, this graphic novel was pretty forgettable. I think there are other volumes out there; however, I am not curious enough to pick them up.
Pages: 12,113
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