SUMMER SHADOWS #1: The Searching

The creative team of writer John Harris Dunning, artist Ricardo Cabral, colorist Brad Simpson and letterer Jim Campbell who all collaborated of the excellent cyberpunk thriller WIPER team up again for a tale of vampiric seduction set in the wild and pristine beauty of the Greek islands.

Dunning smartly parallels the journey of a young gay man in search of his former partner and the journey of a police officer, who is all too familiar with loss, searching for another missing young nomadic man. Little do either know that their separate searches will lead them toward the moonlit shadows of a dark secret society of vampires. Dunning does an excellent job of fusing a deep melancholic atmosphere into the story from the start. His main characters are flawed, broken in different ways, individuals in search of lost things that on a deeper psychological level they hope will help heal the thing inside of themselves. This melancholy is contrasted by the raw beauty of the Greek isles brought beautifully to life by Cabral and Simpson. I’ve never seen been to Greece but Cabral’s art and Simpsons colors transport you there with bright blue cloudless skies, pristine beaches, making you feel like you can almost smell that island sea air while Lana Del Rey’s Summer Time Sadness plays some where in the background.

In contrast to the beautiful daylight hours in paradise, there are the nights and under a full moon, the creative team gives us a look at their vampires. I have always liked the idea that vampires should be impossibly beautiful, seductive and Cabral’s vampires are exactly that, dark shadowed things of unholy beauty, impeccably dressed, with glowing eyes beautifully lit by Simpson’s blue and purple palette as they steal away the young and beautiful into the night. In terms of queer themes issue one doesn’t really get into any past the fact that we know Nick is gay, but perhaps we will see this explored more deeply in subsequent issues.

The story reads like a noir thriller, Dunning and the creative team do a fantastic job of building tension with strange interactions and moments in between the beauty of the day. A seemingly motherly inn manager snapping secretive pictures of young Nick, an old man ranting at Nick on the beach that he should leave the island immediately, a priest having horrific blood soaked dreams and a moonlit encounter with a stranger whose words carry a unspoken threat even as his actions appear to be charitable. The issue asks far more questions than it answers ending with the mysterious introduction of a character bathed cleverly in blood red light as we learn that the vampires influence extends beyond just their secretive lair on the water to the population of the island itself. The art is a superb blend of the realistic contrasted by the seductive dreamlike quality of the night scenes where beautiful pale creatures walk the beaches and Simpson’s use of color here in defining that contrast can’t be overlooked. Campbell’s lettering is excellent and the story flows seamlessly between internal and external exposition on page.

It’s a melancholy, but deeply compelling read that gets it’s hooks in you and leaves you under it’s spell wanting more.