We seem to have known for awhile that the superheroes of Detective Comics have had a problem with Vampires, but in "DC Vs. Vampires: All-Out War" the confrontations appear to reach a climax. There are many players in the first issue of this limited series, including Damage, Deathstroke and Blue Devil. As Man-Bat discovers, the Vampires have been targeting the Lazarus Pits. There is a cure contained in these pits and I'm not so sure the Vampires want to give up their blood lust.
Our heroes are hoping to find a Batman. When they capture Azrael, Man-Bat is able to reverse his Vampirism and make him human again. He may be the perfect candidate as he did spend some time as the Batman. When Deathstroke and Azrael return to the Council without Damage or Blue Devil, they are not too happy, especially John Constantine. They are also not happy that the true Batman isn't with them.
Pasquale Qualano's artwork and Nicola Righi's tones are applied very stylishly in black and white with pops of red, very similar to the movie Sin City. Alex Paknadel had a very difficult job in this first issue of introducing all of the characters and setting up the premise for this war.
This issue ends with "Batgirl Hunts," a very gritty piece written by Guillaume Singelin. It's the end of the world and what's left of the Gotham City Police Department must be put down by Batgirl, as they are no longer human. This includes her having to destroy the best cop she knows, her father. My only complaint about this issue is the clarity of some of the dialogue set against a red background and sometimes the font was difficult to decifer.
