Killadelphia #3 // Review
Anticipation for the third installment of writer Rodney Barnes's new series Killadelphia was pretty high coming off of the remarkable opening we got in the first two editions. The covers and interior art from the team of artist Jason Shawn Alexander and colorist Luis NCT have been phenomenal so far, and they keep that high standard with this latest contribution.
In Abaddon, we get deeper into the backstory of John and Abigail Adams and how they contracted the "yellow fever" and turned into Vampires in the Carribean. This story also resolves how Adams and his wife assimilated into society once they returned home. Over time, they watched bitterly as their ideas of America deteriorated. Instead, conflict and capitalism made avenues for the affluent and the influential in keeping control. Poignant social commentary takes you right from the hope and growth of young colonial America to the degradation and decay of current Philadelphia, adding an extra layer of character to the story.
The vampires that have turned are bloodthirsty yet retain their personalities. An inquisitive young vampire Tevin is looking for answers after the death of his grandmother. He questions the seemingly altruistic virtues of Adams. The disillusionment he is starting to express is gaining more traction as he is also questioning the path Adams is leading them down.
Rodney Barnes added some hilarious dialogue between Jimmy Sangster and his father as they fight themselves out of a horde of vampires with Padilla. The abrasive humor adds another layer to the relationship between the Sangsters. It's hard to fit levity in with blood, guts, and vampires without being corny or cheesy. But the comedy helps accentuate the tense relationship between father and son. Young Jimmy still hates his dad, and James Sr still thinks his son is soft. Padilla attempts balancing the two Sangster's personalities as they battle vampires and their own personal demons. She tries to find some common ground between Jimmy and his father so they can come to a resolution and work on solving their current dilemma. But the elder Sangster has bigger problems as his new "family" is calling out from the bowels of Hell Hall.
The story is well augmented with gruesome visuals that are extremely brutal and not for the squeamish. No matter who you are, a bunch of vampires hanging from the ceiling in a dark room is terrifying. You can tell that this story wasn't thrown together but developed over time, and it is unraveling with a lot of nuances. The great writing by Rodney Barnes is accentuated by Jason Shawn Alexander's art that catches all the right facial expressions and uses all the shadow and darkness on the page. He uses a full page for a vampire frenzy of sex and death that jumps right into your nightmares. Luis NCT added extraordinary colorwork again, and it's remarkable how he uses modest greys and black in the Hell Hall scenes to delineate the coldness and death inside the vampire nest. This was another top-notch writing and artistic undertaking that once again leaves us anticipating the next chapter.
