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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone Needs A Taste of Anita Blake!, July 23, 2007
"The addiction begins here" would have been an accurate sub-title for Laurell K. Hamilton's, GUILTY PLEASURES, Volume 1. Whether you're new to comic books or not, the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter graphic novel will captivate males, females, and even those in-between. And here's why:
In Anita Blake's freaky world, humans, vampires, and were-creatures live together freely. This fascinating arrangement is ripe for power struggles, chronic tension, and violence. And the hero, Anita, is in a very special position. The vamps, were-creatures, and humans all need her help! As a zombie raiser, vampire executioner, and federal marshal, she is uniquely qualified to solve murder mysteries by working with the cops who the freaks don't trust and working with the freaks who the cops don't trust. Anita also questions who she can trust.
The storyline: Anita is forced to assist the vampires in discovering who has been killing the master vampires of St. Louis. She doesn't trust them, but if she doesn't help, they will kill or permanently take over the mind of her friend, Catherine. Anita doesn't allow her friends to be hurt, and she can be especially unforgiving if they get hurt because of her. After a reluctant visit to Guilty Pleasures, a vampire strip club owned by master vampire and potential love interest, Jean-Claude, the most powerful and evil master vampire, Nikolaos, shows Anita that she means business. Anita's fact finding mission takes us deeper into her world, which series fans affectionately call, "The Anitaverse."
From the very first lines of the book, Anita's humor is wry and refreshing. Even when her life is threatened, she is consistent. Her strength of will is also impressive against the vampires. Somehow, she is partially immune to their attempts at mind control. Her physical strength isn't bad either as she fights off the giant were-rats. Anita is likeable, because she's funny, tough, loyal, and tends to be attracted to the bad boys.
Readers get glimpses of the full length novel with wonderfully vivid descriptions like: His mind is holding me like velvet steel, and ...I felt her gaze like an ice cube sliding down my spine.
This hardcover edition includes the first 6 comic book issues, which covers half of the first Anita Blake novel. Also included is an 8-page bonus story. In Volume 1, readers are still getting to know Anita, but the combination of mystery, vampires, were-creatures, and a powerhouse of a main character are going to cause people to need their Anitaverse fix.
Buy the graphic novel, no matter what kind of creature you happen to be.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Guilty, but not a pleasure, October 31, 2007
Once upon a time, before the Anita Blake series became cheap porn with well-endowed vampires and werethingies, there was "Guilty Pleasures."
And like many a successful fantasy/horror novel before it, Laurell K. Hamilton's breakout story has been adapted into graphic novel form, with "Guilty Pleasures, Vol. 1" compiling the first six issues. The results... are mixed. It comes across as a goth teen's daydreams, wrapped in indifferent artwork that doesn't seem quite to match the storyline.
The story: Anita Blake is a vampire hunter and an animator, able to raise zombies from the dead. She also isn't too fond of vampires or weres, though St. Louis is swarming with them. So when a vampire comes to hire her, she turns him down. But at a bachelorette party, she soon finds herself hip-deep in vampire politics -- and a dangerous enemy who is trying to kill her.
Things only get more complicated when she ends up facing the Master of the City, the deceptively childlike Nikolaos, and a dungeon full of wererats. To find who is offing vampires in St. Louis, she'll need to relax her "no vamps" rule -- and join forces with the mysterious, seductive Jean-Claude.
The graphic novel is pretty faithful to the original novel, sticking closely to the storyline of the original novel -- lots of lines like "You don't have to be undead to be evil, but it helps." Stacie M. Ritchie and then Jess Ruffner provide some pretty good adaptation of the first-person dialogue, which is never easy.
But... a big but...
A graphic novel is more than its words -- it's art too. Brett Booth has done some great artwork in the past, but he doesn't seem to have his heart in this one. It's decent artwork, admittedly -- bright colours, detail, well-drawn in general. It's the little details that make it silly, including the cartoonish illustrations (Anita's GIANT lips) in a realistically-drawn comic.
In fact, these become more prominent as the comic proceeds. Often the action described doesn't match the illustrations (while thinking, "I'm not a coward," Anita huddles down and wrings her hands). And we get other visual quirks, like giant thick thighs -- they pop up on lots of people like Anita and the rat king, but Madge's enormous thunder thighs (each is thicker than her waist) are the funniest thing in the whole book.
Anita Blake herself is the most comically drawn -- she's as pale as an albino, except she has ridiculously flowing curly hair; it's always falling coyly over her eyes, and occasionally it drapes itself a good six inches in front of her face. Perhaps as a reflection of Booth's own mood, she also always looks bored -- even when she's supposed to be screaming with terror, she looks like she's yawning.
Nor does it help that Jean-Claude looks exactly like a breastless Anita, right down to the albino skin and artificially flowing hair. The other characters don't fare that well either: Bert looks like a blond Frankenstein's Monster, Philip looks like he's covered with herpes, Edward looks like a perv, and Nikolaos looks like a Disney heroine, which I don't think was the intention.
"Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures" takes on a fairly amusing book, and transforms it into a tepid graphic novel. Interesting for completists, but an exercise in lackluster art for all others.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a bad effort, July 18, 2007
I will happily admit, I was excited to go out and get this. I love the first AB books (Obsidian Butterfly and previous), and I hadn't been a LKH reader when the comics came out on their own.
This isn't a bad effort at all. Trust me - it ain't perfect, but comics and graphic novels tend to have the same flaws, and the flaws that this has are the same that the others have.
My problems: Anita's hair. Good GRIEF!! Does this artist not know how to draw curls? I had until recently, a mane of thick curly black hair, and NEVER have my curls threatened to invade my personal space the way the curls here do. Aldo, Anita's part changes depending on what side her head is turned.
There isn't a lot of consistency. Anita alternates between chalk-white (which is NOT correct for a woman who is half Mexican) and regular Caucasian. Jean-Claude does as well, but I can be more forgiving, and he is a vampire. Plus, it was very nice to see him - he's my favorite character in the series, along with Edward.
Most of the men look like each other, but with different clothes, eye colors, and hair color. Aubrey looks almost exactly like Phillip, whi in turn looks remarkably like the drawing of Richard I saw on some website. And of course, they all look like J-C. It's funny, because the women each look a little different from each other. Catherine, Anita, Monica, and Ronnie all have slightly varying features. Interesting, that. The thighs on these women are ridiculous, but that goes hand-in-hand with practically any action-based comic I have ever read.
While I am not a big fan of the clothes described in the novels (thigh-high boots on men? nononononono), it was hysterical to actually SEE Anita in that ridiculous T-shirt/shorts combo. Sheesh.
Overall, I like it. It reminds me of the good work that LKH is capable of. It's a great story, and seeing it put to images is wonderful. I do not regret making the trip to the bookstore to get it.
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