Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death Reviews

• First tedium

  
  By A1D2C0WDCSHUWZ on 2008-02-25
  Much ado has been made about "The First Death," a graphic novel two-parter chronicling the early work of Laurell K. Hamilton's alter ego, Anita Blake.
  
  Well, it turns out to be much ado about... very little. This prequel is a leaden exercise full of dull police work, vampire-slaying banter, and an empty introduction to a foppish vampire and a rather unmenacing assassin. And it's all rendered in halfhearted, sometimes comically silly artwork and dialogue. Hamilton should quit while she's ahead.
  
  It opens with Anita being called out on a murder scene -- children are being slaughtered by a vampire, and for some reason they need her there even though she fails to tell them anything. The only suspect is a vampire who happens to be nearby, so Sergeant Storr and Anita go to the vampire's place of work, and encounter the flirtatious Jean-Claude, who immediately takes a shine to Anita.
  
  But then another child is killed, and Anita finds that she may be dealing with a gang of vampires. Anita and her partner Manny infiltrate the vampires' base of operations, but find only a recently deceased corpse -- and when Anita returns to her office, she finds the assassin Edward, known absurdly as "Death," sitting in her chair.
  
  Despite her hatred of Edward, Anita finds that she may need his help, since she's not getting any closer to finding the serial-killing vampires. And when she discovers a lead to the case, Anit and Manny head straight into a devastating trap, from which only "Death" himself may be able to rescue them...
  
  A taut, thrilling mystery... "First Death" ain't. Laurell K. Hamilton just sort of halfheartedly slaps together a glacial, pointless plot with minimal detective work. In fact, she doesn't even bother to craft a NEW mystery -- she just embellishes a storyline that was summarized back in her first novel. Whoa, I wonder how this will turn out.
  
  Even worse, Hamilton fritters most of the storyline away -- it's a disjointed string of crime scenes, zombie raisings, inept vampire-hunting, and really bad banter ("Blow a hole in them big enough, it slows them down pretty good"). Our intrepid heroine spends most of the plot sitting in a car, an office, or a strip club, and occasionally tackling a grieving mother to the ground (to show her concern, of course).
  
  By the time we arrive at the climax, it feels like Hamilton realized that she's running out of space, and tried to cram the rest of the plot into the remaining pages. Torture, beatings and murder are glossed over in just a few pages, so it can finish on time.
  
  And all this is just so Anita can meet Jean-Claude and Edward. Jean-Claude has nothing to do with the plot at all, so he just provides ruffled shirts and high-school flirtations -- he's as sexy and dangerous as a bowl of pudding. Edward is far better -- his easygoing-killer attitude seems even more likable besides Anita's humorless tough-grrlness. He tends to get the best lines, not to mention the great scene where he toasts a house.
  
  Anita herself is a joke -- she seems more like a stunted, sulky Hot Topic teenager with too much makeup. Hamilton tries to portray her as a tough and powerful woman, but since Anita is repeatedly rescued by the Big Male Cop and Big Male Assassin, it's hard to see her that way. In fact, the most deadly thing she does in the whole story is stake a vampire who is unconscious and bound. Oooh, scary. I can see why the vampires as so frightened of her.
  
  "The First Death" is a waste of time and paper -- a halfhearted crime story wrapped around an equally halfhearted pair of introductions. Definitely not worth a read.
  
  

• The first death? Just let it die, already.

  
  By A132ILM2I5UQ53 on 2008-03-06
  This is an extremely poor offering from the Anita Blake series both in terms of narrative and design. 'The First Death' is a prequel to Hamilton's Vampire Hunter series, finally bringing to light one of the murder cases mentioned in several of her later novels, as well as introducing us to a younger Anita and an earlier encounter with RPIT, Dolph, Storr and of course, the first meeting with Jean Claude.
  
  The execution of this introduction is very disappointing; overall there is no information we have not already gleaned from subsequent novels, and more to the point, the character design is sketchy, relying on introductory quips and staple lines which are also lifted from the later books. There is no sense of newness here; the closest we approach to it is a five second scene with the Jean Claude, who as always has some innate sex appeal, but even so is disappointing in his first meeting with Anita. The two both fail to act either as attracted or repulsed as they should.
  
  The paint-by-numbers illustration of an already told narrative aside, the comic book itself is poorly done; artist Brett Booth, who illustrated the first Anita Blake: Guilty Pleasures volume is passed over for another artist who, though imitating his design sketches, fails to achieve either that sense of sex appeal and grotesque which Booth created in the earlier volume. Muscles and sharp angles are rejected in favour of a softer look for all the characters, which in an extremely charitable reading we could say perhaps reflects Anita's state of innocence, more reasonably just makes what should be sexy curves look like a badly-drawn big arse. There is no finnesse in the illustrations and the entire novel fails to produce striking images that can stick with the reader.
  
  If that isn't enough to put you off, I am disheartened by the fact that the cover artwork for this prequel IS done by Brett Booth; extremely misleading for the reader who purchases the text online. Booth is also credited on Amazon, so it is near impossible to predict that his artwork does not take centre stage.
  
  Finally, and worst of all, this hardcover is a poor investment as HALF of the book is taken over by an entirely redundant 'Guide to Guilty Pleasures'. That's right: half of this hardcover is filled with pages and pages of redundant explicating material and character sketches which are completely useless and superfluous for anyone who has read either the first comic volume or the actual Guilty Pleasures novel. I doubt any of us need the confirmation provided in boring biographies of the main characters in a New York Times Bestselling series. They are a waste of pages.
  
  This hardcover version of the comic is definitely not worth its cost. If you want to read the prequel, try getting the single releases.
  
  

• This is a comic book, not a novel

  
  By A3S3YO33WOO6BA on 2008-02-25
  First, I'll say it's my fault - I didn't read the tiny description tucked below the scroll line when I bought it. I saw a new Anita Blake and dove for it.
  
  It just arrived, and it turns out it's essentially a comic book. I'm not even opening the shrink-wrap - it's going back. While I'm a fan of Laurell K. Hamilton, I'm not a fan of comics. It's disappointing to see this.
  
  I would have thought Amazon might have put (comic book) or something similar, rather than (hardcover), after the title to make it clear what this book is. Yes, it's hardcover, but that doesn't negate what's between those covers.
  
  

• Ugh

  
  By A1SWJTGHC9LI4S on 2008-02-27
  Tat's the last penny I spend on Laurell K Hamilton......truly, truly awful. ANd I liked Devil Dinosaur!
  
  

• Not into comix

  
  By A1UWVSPFFER6JD on 2008-03-18
  I'm a big fan of Laurell K Hamilton, but didn't realize this was a "graphic novel". Having read the books (all of them), this wasn't at all interesting. I also wish they'd get that hair out of their faces!
  
  
• I liked it.
  By A2XE7YNCMS2TLD on 2008-03-11
  Does it give a whole lot of new information on Anita Blake? No. Is it entertaining? Yes. Come on folks, it's not like we read Anita Blake for the intellectual stimulation. It's a thoroughly entertaining vampire fantasy and this graphic novel represents that fairly. I think the illustrations where fitting and interesting. I loved having a little back story on Anita and Jean Claudes first meeting and I enjoyed it. Was I blown away? No. But I wasn't really expecting to be. I got what I expected...an entertaining story with great illustrations.
  
  
• !! BUYERS BEWARE THIS IS A COMIC BOOK!!
  By A37XFS78MPUPJI on 2008-03-03
  Ugh, I like to read novels, not comic books. I love Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and was so excited to see a new installment. Alas, it was nothing to be excited about. This is a comic book, pure and simple, NOT a novel. Why Amazon does not have this listed as such is a wonder to me and I am sure the rest of the folks who bought this in the hopes of a great new Blake novel.
  
  
• A great new form of story telling for Anita Blake readers
  By A2BG0H1KFGZ0QQ on 2008-03-15
  As someone that has read all of the Anita Blake books since '97 it was great to see some of the characters, whom at this point I almost consider friends, in full color and not just my own imagination. But as a reader of graphic novels I was thrilled to see that it was done by Marvel comics.
  The story line did a great job at filling in the back-story that was hinted at in the first books. In light of the more recent books, it was refreshing to read a story line where Anita isn't having 'relations' with every man in the room. But just Anita being tough and finding her way out of crazy situations.
  The fantastic part was the character bios in the back. It's been almost 11 years since I read Guilty Pleasures so there were characters I had forgotten about. It was like visiting old high school friends. I would love to see some of the first books recreated in the graphic novel format. Thank you Laurell for giving us the chance to go back and revisit the stories in a new way.
  
  
• Great fun!
  By A44FW2HBNRPWZ on 2008-04-14
  As a fan of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, I bought this book because it promised to show the first meeting of Anita and Jean-Claude. I'm happy to say that it did as promised - showed the introduction of the two characters. In addition, we get a little more insight into how Anita's relationship developed with Edward and how she got one of her scars. I'm thrilled with the graphic novelization of Anita Blake and I'll continue to buy more.
  
  
• Not what I expected
  By A2RZIPD46CB94T on 2008-03-17
  I love the Anita Blake series and was seriously disappointed when I found out this was a comic book.
  
  
• not what I expected
  By A2SBQKPMDCMXW5 on 2008-03-28
  I didn't realize this book was going to be a comic book. I love all the Anita books and was very excited when I saw this one. But, when I pulled it out of the box it was a comic book. I have no idea why Laurell would do that it just seems bizarre. Her reader group for Anita books are not teenage boys and women like me really aren't excited by comic books.
  I still haven't even read it yet. I suppose I will ,but, it was a big disappointment.
  
  
• sweet backstory
  By A35MWX76X0FDL9 on 2008-03-31
  This is a great story that gives us (finally) the story of Edward and Anita's previous kills where he used the flamethrower!!
  SWEET!
  
  
• LKH Comic
  By A3FU0EIUSGTDFW on 2008-04-26
  Well, being a Laurell fan, I had to give this a try, even though I don't read graphic novels, or whatever this is called. But, I had to read a new Anita story! This one is excellent, since it takes place in the past, before Anita became sooooooooo annoying. The artwork is good, not as gory as I thought it would be. I'll keep this one on my shelf.
  
  
• My, are we getting picky...
  By A1TGJRCW1I829H on 2008-07-08
  I am very disappointed... with the reviewers who rated this book with less than a 4 star.
  
  I remember years ago reading comic books that were declared the unsavory UNDERGROUND because they were not published by DC or Marvel. Those whose preferences were outside the superhero in Spandex had little to read. And we were SO bad for wanting something more... Glad those days are long over!
  
  I enjoy reading books, comics, and mangas. They all come with their own sense of cinematography. Adaptations are difficult at best, especially when dealing with a story as loaded as Ms. Hamilton's can be.
  
  The artwork is brilliant. Beautifully gothic without being repulsive. (Does ANYONE remember the undergrounds in which the characters looked like they had acid dumped on them, and it wasn't the LSD type??) I also was very surprised at how accurate the characters were to my own mind's picture of them. It was so comfortable to now finally see what they looked like and how well Ms. Hamilton described them in the prose version. (I would absolutely have hated being the person making the decision on which artist won out and the thumbnails of the various characters... there are just too many of them!!)
  
  It's like reading a book, seeing the musical version, then the movie version. They all will not be the same, nor will they appeal to everyone. As for me, I enjoyed this one immensely, and I am looking forward to Vol 1 and 2 of Guilty Pleasures -- all right, I'm running a little behind in the reading department because I've been working on the writing department...
  
  Reviewers, let's be a little more responsible. Some of these reviews remind me of those in the gourmet section of Amazon screaming at people to not eat goose liver and giving out bad reviews because of philosophical reasons, not because of how good or horrible it tasted.
  
  I'm giving it a 5-Star rating. Excellent quality pressing. Great quality paper -- I like them heavier. The colors were brilliant and dark as they were meant to be. It survived my second library reading room (the bathroom) far better than I had anticipated. And when the husband "accidentally" bumped it off the sink, the corners did not get dinged, and the dust cover held out wonderfully.
  
  So there!
  
  
• Great!
  By AAEEW5LOD21R8 on 2008-03-24
  The book came in excellent condition and it was very quick and speedy in delivery. I was very happy with my encounter with this vendor and I would definitely purchsae from them again!
  
  
• This is a comic book people, read the fine print before you buy for Gods sake
  By A2IE9WJL7NY0AK on 2008-04-01
  Okay this was a great entertaining bit about Anita's past, that is all. It is a comic book, so if you don't like comics, don't buy it. It doesn't add anything really new, just gives you a comic idea of how it all kind of began, like it was explained in the first Anita book. So if you know the story, don't care for comics, then don't buy it.
  It was good, me and my friends like comics and we enjoyed this new addition to our collection; also we love the book series so we double loved this. Read it if you love Hamilton and want to read a comic book version of what was mentioned in the first book. Don't expect a completely new outlook on Anita's life.
  
  
• Anita Blake the First Death
  By A1AOKNGIH701UW on 2008-04-14
  I was disappointed as I did not realize this was more of a comic book than an actual book. It would have helped it the details were more specific as to what kind of book this is. Over all I enjoy this auther's books and will continue to buy them.
  
  
• executioner prequel
  By A3PA2O0FC1JL74 on 2008-05-06
  A comic book rendition of an earlier Anita Blake than currently found in the series. The inker/artist's view may not match what a reader of the series pictures the characters as appearing, as Anita's skin is not as white as her Aryan father. Priced in comparison with graphic novels, but pricey for the amount of story in comparison to one of the novels. I won't be trying the graphic/comic versions of the novels, just the ones that "fill out" the series.
  
  
• Great artwork - no story
  By A3BRPYRQPMITJ9 on 2008-05-09
  The artwork is beautiful, but I was expecting to get some insight into a younger Anita. Nothing new here. Buy it for the art if you are interested in that sort of thing, but not the story.
  
  
• A Vampire Story
  By A3ML3Z7GWO5XQH on 2008-05-08
  Minor quibble. Not a fan of graphic novel style books. Still, it is nice to have a new Anita Blake story to fill in the history of this story line.
  
  

• Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16)
• Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry, Book 7)
• Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures, Vol. 1 (Graphic Novel)
• From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 8)
• The Outlaw Demon Wails (The Hollows)