It's Fishnet Friday!

Vampires vs. Mutants. There's no way with a title in that vein that those black criss-cross stockings can be ignored. We are, of course, talking about

X-Men issue #1.

Yes, that's right, this vampire invasion is starting the X-Men off back at #1. The Marvel website calls this " a war of the species that will wrack the Marvel Universe". This first issue is a flawlessly beautiful piece of work. The writing is engaging, intelligent and sometimes darkly funny.

The art is beautiful and I want to point out that they have done an amazing job using lighting in every panel. This is incredibly important to a vampire story since light and the absence of it is such an integral part to what makes a vampire, a vampire. For instance just look at the light and shadow on this vampire in an alley. This is a tiny fraction of the whole panel and the whole page and yet the detail is intense and perfect. The layers of darkness, night fall, the lighting in medical rooms, and outdoor spaces is the most naturally rendered I have ever seen in a comic book. The way the sun and sunset are colored in contrast with the moon is breath taking. I am so pleased to see a proper vampire story like this.

I could go on and analyze this and the clever use of the gutter and floating panels....but FISHNETS!

This guy luckily had just the right clothes on hand from his past as a Bass player or maybe from his many times LARPing Vampire the Masquerade.