Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death [Hardcover]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author), Jonathan Green (Author), Brett Booth (Author), Wellington Alves (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2008

Anita Blake's adventures began with the novel Guilty Pleasures, where the vampires of the St. Louis area tried to recruit the veteran vampire hunter to help them solve a peculiar mystery. But there were many mysteries about Anita Blake's past that were left unanswered...until now. Laurell K. Hamilton and Jonathon Green have finally released the official prequel to the long-running novel series, written exclusively for comics, and featuring the adventures of a younger Anita Blake as she teams up with popular characters Edward and Jean-Claude for a vampire hunt fans will absolutely love sinking their teeth into. It's the perfect story for old and new fans alike! Collecting Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death #1-2, Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures Handbook

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (February 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785129413
• ISBN-13: 978-0785129417
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with GUILTY PLEASURES (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel - the first sexy paranormal comic ever!) and continues with the SKIN TRADE, number seventeen in the series, in which Anita's complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton's Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now six novels exceeding one million copies in print. Divine Misdemeanors, the eighth in the series will debut Octobe 29, 2009. She lives in St. Louis County Missouri with her husband Jonathon Green, daughter, one pug dog and one boxer/pug dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The first death? Just let it die, already., March 6, 2008

By 

L McL. "Viva las Vegas" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death (Hardcover)

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.

114 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars First tedium, February 25, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death (Hardcover)

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.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked it., March 11, 2008

By 

Joshua Or Jennifer Eastwood "Darkravyn" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death (Hardcover)

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.