RECOMMENDED: "Day Men" (BOOM! Studios)

- by Ninja Ross, 19 March 2014

Day Man! Fighter of the Night Man! Champion of the Sun! He's the master of karate and friendship, for everyone! Ok, it's not THAT Day Man. In this case, Day Men refers to a comicbook from Boom, staring agents working on behalf of vampire clans, dealing with issues that arise in the day time.

Click to enlarge!

It sounds awfully cheesy, doesn't it? And I know you're all sick of vampires by now. Vampires and zombies have become a bit of a joke in pop culture these days, thanks to the sheer amount of terrible drivel filling the shelves (I'm looking at YOU Stephanie Meyer...).

The vampires featured in the book are more along the lines of classic vampires, similar to that of Interview with a Vampire, The Lost Boys and, of course, Dracula.

They're manipulative, blood sucking monsters who exist only to feed and rule. But that's the least awesome part of this book. What really sets this book apart is the protagonist, a mortal hired by a vampire clan to deal with anything that comes up while they sleep (that's right, these vampires burn in the day light. No sparkling!).

Despite being about vampires and their problems, the book isn't really horror. It has horror elements, of course, but it's more of a crime thriller. The vampire clans have more in common with the mafia than your average vampires and the Day Men are more like enforcers. It’s interesting to see these two genres mix like this.

The story follows rookie Day Man David Reid, as he goes about his daily business of cleaning up messes and genuinely doing his duty. But, despite being a rookie, he does so with a tremendous amount of skill, showing that he's not just some guy they picked up off the street.

Aww yeah! Haven't seen a ginger with a cane move like that since little Matt Murdock got toxic gunk in his eyes.

While most of his day is spent paying people off, cleaning up sticky messes and delivering groceries, it’s towards the end of the day when things begin to slide downhill for our hero.

Reid is sent to the Dark Room, a neutral territory between the two major clans Virgo (Reid’s bosses) and Ramses, to pick up a vampire named Nybor, after a two-day bender.

Dog fights! (Are bad! - Ed.)

What should be an easy pick up becomes something of a nightmare for Reid, as he find Nybor asleep in a bed near a dead Ramses vampire. DRAMA.

As Reid tries to get Nybor out as fast as possible, he runs into his Ramses counterpart, Jacob the Burner. Don’t let Mr Burner’s pleasant name fool you; he’s a real piece of work. Things obviously get worse for Reid. I’m not talking unpaid parking tickets or accidentally biting your tongue; The discovery of the dead Ramses in the Dark Room ends the shaky peace between Virgos and Ramses. MORE DRAMA.

Reid and Casey shooting the shit.

Things only get worse from there, too. Throughout the next two issues, we’re treated to a dog on vampire fight AND some back story on Reid. While we don’t really learn much about Reid, it is nice to see a little more light shed on his past.

The script, written by Matt Gagnon and Michael Alan Nelson, builds the world extremely well. Everything about it seems natural and almost plausible. The characters are interesting and our protagonist is likeable.

There are a lot of words, though. I mean A LOT. Plenty of captions and word balloons up in here, I tell you what. It’s not a deal breaker, though; what these guys are doing is building a world with a long history and they only have so many pages each month to do so. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather read a bunch of stuff in the first few issues and not have to put up with it getting in the way of the core story. Besides, it’s only really a problem in the first couple of issues. Issue 3 is a little less wordy.

The art, provided by Brian Stelfreeze, is excellent, of course; you should expect nothing less from the man. While his classic painted cover work on the likes of Batman: Shadow of the Bat are fantastic, I actually prefer his work here, coloured by Darrin Moore. It’s sharp and focused. It’s bright and vibrant at times, without losing the gritty feel.

Stelfreeze also avoids showing too much gore and doesn’t really focus on the violence, which is nice. The details are left to the imagination of the reader, rather than having it taking up all the space.

The book is probably one of the best on the stands right now. I mean, with Marvel’s current monotonous snore fests that get reset every time a movie’s about to come and DC’s terrible choices and dodgy behind the scenes problems, it’s nice to see smaller publishers putting out quality books like this.

Pick it up, folks. This book is definitely worth your hard earned cash. Even if you’re as sick of vampires as I am, this book has so much more to it than that.


Great book indeed! It's currently on #3, so you can still easily pick up the back issues and get to it. And if you're already reading "Day Men", or just planning to pick it up, sound off in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews, RECOMMENDED.

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