Hey guys, Darius here, bringing to you my review to The Vampire Diaries Issue #23. In this issue, the setting takes place in 1990s Seattle where we find Stefan desperate to get Damon to leave Seattle, which leads them to making a pact between one another. Of course, when making a pact with Damon, you never know if he will keep up his end of the deal. He is Damon Salvatore! This issue is the concluding issue of the story arc “Grunge”.
Positives
- It is known if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook that I am a big The Vampire Diaries fan. I was a late bloomer when it comes to watching the show and so in order to catch up, I binged watched the first four seasons and the first half of season five while it was on winter break. The fact that this is a comic book on the show, makes it an automatic positive.
- No matter if it is the show or in this issue, you have to love the chemistry of the Salvatore brothers. You can tell that Stefan loves Damon but he also hates Damon. I love how they have this back and forth about Stefan’s “sabbatical” from being “The Ripper” and really a murderous vampire in general.
- You have to love that this takes place after Damon turned off his humanity and after Stefan turned his humanity back on. This makes everything that Damon did makes sense. He does not care to an extent and you can tell that he just wants to be a dick, and I love every moment of it.
- The art was excellent. When Stefan came back home from meeting Damon at the bar and he sees his roommates and his girlfriend Kristen dead, apart of me felt for him. You could tell that he really had strong feelings for Kristen and seeing her and his roommates dead, I thought Stefan was going to turn his humanity back off and become “The Ripper” again. I honestly knew Damon was going to kill him because he was giving off that vibe the entire issue when Stefan stopped him at the beginning of the issue, I did not know when but I felt it coming. Throughout that whole scene, you could almost feel how he felt and I credit that to Xermanico.
- The writing is perfect. I felt like I was watching a scene from the show. I could picture the voices and everything and I loved that about this issue. The writing captured, again, the Salvatore brothers’ chemistry wonderfully and I was just smiling with excitement as I was reading the issue. Credit to B. Clay Moore for his great writing in this issue.
Negatives
- Honestly, I have no negatives for this issue.
Verdict
If you love The Vampire Diaries show, if you loved the “Grunge” arc and if you love Stefan and Damon Salvatore, then you will love this issue. The writing was excellent, the art was excellent, and it was a fantastic conclusion to the “Grunge” story arc. The Vampire Diaries Issue #23 is a must have and a must read!
Rating
