Reviewer: Mathan “Bitey†Erhardt
Story Title: Let It Bleed
Written by: Howard Chaykin & David Tischman
Penciled and Inked by: David Hahn
Lettered by: Jared K. Fletcher
Colored by: Brian Miller
Cover by: Frank Quitely
Editor: Shelly Bond
Publisher: Vertigo/DC Comics
Ok so basically this series is about Leto Del Toro, a priest who after his father’s death is in charge of a criminal family business. His nephew Danny is your basic disaffected teen, searching for his place in the world. Danny’s pop Eddie Del Toro is trying to figure out who killed his father and just learned that his right hand man and cousin is sleeping with his newly widowed mother. And Eddie and Leto’s younger sister Risa is trying to make her new record label even hotter, no matter what the cost. Oh yeah, and they’re all vampires. Phew.
This issue begins with Leto spending some quality time with Danny, at the shooting range. Leto tries to give Danny some direction and a lesson about faith, but the talk seems to fall on deaf ears. Risa tries to find an escape from the death of her father, and its repercussions, but instead she comes face-to-face with its reality. However that doesn’t prevent her from making a grand impression with her newly signed band.
Meanwhile at the Del Toro family compound Eddie picks the wrong time to confront his mother and cousin about their affair. The results are about as uncomfortable as you’d imagine. Later when Leto goes to get fitted for a suit he think that he’s found a clue about his father’s unsolved murder, but it proves otherwise.
At school Danny and his best friend Beth get picked on my bullies. But the bullies’ victory is short lived as Danny and Beth get swift revenge. We also get a glimpse that Monsignor Kelly (Leto’s former, um, boss?) may play a role in the larger picture of this book.
After the revenge Danny and Beth have sex, and then Danny loses his virginity, of sorts. Risa has a brush with death causes here to have a breakdown. Leto and Carrie, his old sweetheart, have dinner, but it’s interrupted by gunfire, and of course Carrie gets hit.
Chaykin and Tischman do a decent job of keeping this issue readable, but it basically seems like a set up for the final two issues. It’s kind of slow, and while the pieces are beginning to fit together, the issue wasn’t too exciting. The dialogue was terrific as always, but I found the plot a little lacking.
Artistically Hahn contributes another great issue. Risa looks at peace on page #4 but uneasy on page #5. And the hostility at the breakfast table practically leaps off the page, and man that revenge scene is graphic. I’m still digging the color scheme on the book. And when does a Quitely cover not strike you?
