4 out of 5

A stunning start, a somewhat rushed second issue.  While this was a pleasant step back to a more ‘accurate’ grindhouse tribute (in my eyes), it seemed to be hindered by something that similarly caused the previous arc to seem disjointed: the goddamned forced structure problem.  You design a series with a rigid structure in mind: 2 issues per issue grindhouse tale.  This works perfectly with the opening example, because it was the wackiest tale of the three that have thus far appeared (‘Prison Ship’ was just going for gratuity, it didn’t have the same bonkers feel to it as ‘Bee Vixens’), but with our following stories, there’s the sense that a little bit more room would’ve done a ton of good.  ‘Bride of Blood’ is our revenge tale, after all, and all good revenge tales need a ramp-up period.  Instead, we get a graceful and mostly spot-on opening issue, then run right into the blood-letting.  And extra issue is all this needed.

Branwyn is to be married to the Lord of Callyreath to settle some land disputes, only for their wedding to be interrupted by ‘Reavers’ – who ravage and rape their way through all those from Creagh Mawr, cutting out our bride-to-be’s tongue, mauling her mother before her eyes, all while the good Lord escapes, even slashing at the wedding attendees with his sword to hasten his running away.  Federica Manfredi uses some interesting borders and off-centered paneling to very much set the tone, then sells the grace to gore transition perfectly by showing it to us through the Bride’s eyes (at points covered by her veil).  Ideally issue one would’ve ended with our bride’s ‘death.’  Some of the impact is lost by seeing her recovery in a nunnery, though issue 1 ends with a pretty stirring shot of her donning the armor of a friend lost in the attack.

And issue 2 is essentially all revenge.  Manfredi gives us an excellent title page, pure tribute, and then its on to several pages of stabbings and beheadings (with only one miscalculation with the paneling – a 2-page spread of squares that’s meant to be read fully left to right (instead of one page at a time) with no visual indication that it flows that way… so it sorta took me out of the moment figuring that out).  Of course, the attack on the ceremony was planned – we have to make the Lord as evil as possible – but because we don’t get that pause between events, the pages of blood-letting feel a bit anti-climactic.

But: she stuck with her structure, and the story is true to the genre, even if it’s missing a piece.  This is the best art we’ve seen yet, with more great covers and great movie suggestions and great gag movie posters in the back.  ‘Prison Ship’ sort of crossed the line into trying to hard to me, but ‘Bride of Blood’ brings it back to just being a fun, sleazy time that is undoubtedly created by people who do, indeed, love grindhouse.