“Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1” ~ Bloody Sirens [Review]

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 will teach you that maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t trust creepy singing ghost ladies. They might, just might, not have your best interests in mind.

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 ~ Details

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 is a new comic book series set in the Bloodborne gothic horror action RPG game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Cullen Bunn (Deadpool, The Sixth Gun, Harrow County) returns to write this comic book, with Piotr Kowalski (Dark Souls: Legends of the Flame, Wolfenstein, Bloodborne: The Death of Sleep) returning as the artist, Brad Simpson as the colorist, and Andworld Design as the letterer. Junggeun Yoon drew the main cover, with Abigail Harding, Damien Worm, and Kowalski and Simpson themselves responsible for the variant covers. Lastly, Titan Comics is publishing this comic book. Just as they had published the previous Bloodborne comics.

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 will go on sale on July 27, 2022 for a retail price of $3.99. You can preorder it right now from your local comic book shop. You can also preorder it directly from Titan Comics if you don’t feel like walking.

Warning: spoilers for Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 below. If you want to read this tale of gothic horror for yourself, then stop here, and come back once you’ve shut your ears to the singing. That dreadful singing.

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 ~ Plot Summary

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 introduces us to young brother and sister Lucien and Vivian. They’re busy hiding in their house on the outskirts of Yharnam while their father goes on a supply run to the city itself. Only, he doesn’t come back, and all the while, their food, and blood supplies run perilously low. Then their father finally comes back…only not really. A heavily injured Hunter named Barnabas Cade stumbles through the door, followed closely by the Beast that injured him. After a short scuffle though, Barnabas guns down the Beast and leaves it outside for the scavengers to pick clean as the kids re-bar the door. As the kids treat his wounds, Barnabas tells his story.

As it turns out, Barnabas is a very experienced Hunter, having slain everything from Labyrinth Rats to Cleric Beasts. Unfortunately, he gets lulled in by a ghostly lady singing a pretty song. Said lady though leads him into a den with multiple Beasts in it. He only just barely fights his way out with a surviving Beast chasing after him, thus leading to the present day. Barnabas goes to bed with his professional opinion that their father is likely dead or worse, leaving a pair of disturbed kids behind him. Lucien goes to bed as well, but Vivian keeps watch as always. Then suddenly, her father shows up…or so she thinks. Pity, she didn’t notice the singing.

This Kid Really Didn’t Make the Best Guard

Barnabas and Lucien wake up to Vivian making an entire pot of potatoes for them. Upon being questioned where she got the potatoes from though, she reveals that she got them from “father”. While also revealing bloodshot eyes, elongated claws on her fingers, ashen skin, and a newly bloodthirsty temperament.

Unfortunately, this forces Barnabas to cut her down. He uses a sheet to shield the act from Lucien’s eyes, but it’s not enough. Lucien flees the house out of a combination of fear, rage, and grief before Barnabas can stop him. Barnabas is only able to shout a warning of “Cover your ears” to Lucien before he disappears into the city. Will Lucien survive the horrors that await him in Yharnam? Well, that’s what we’ll presumably find out in Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #2.

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 ~ The Good

As fitting Cullen Bunn, the story is the best part of Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1. With his past experience with writing horror stories like Harrow County, Bunn managed to do the same with this Bloodborne story. Bunn manages to capture the gothic horror themes of the game pretty well in this comic, with the characters’ pasts frequently and violently intruding upon their presents.

Piotr Kowalski once more does an excellent job with the art of Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1, as he did for many of the previous Bloodborne comics. The Beasts are instantly recognizable and suitably horrific, and the overall color tone fits their scenes perfectly. The interior of the kids’ house is brightly lit, in contrast to the dark and shadowy tones outside of that house. The way said house gets steadily darker as their food and blood supply runs low is a nice example of Kowalski’s touch there. There’s a reason why Kowalski keeps getting called back to draw more of these Bloodborne comics.

Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 ~ The Bad

My one and only complaint is that I wish Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #1 made more of an emphasis on how everyone in Yharnam are vampires. Everyone. Including young Lucien and Vivian. I wish we’d either seen them drinking blood or if those strips of “meat” are specifically pointed out as congealed blood. It would’ve been a nice touch on top of the gothic horror to show everyone as vampires. This is just my opinion on the matter though. Your mileage may vary.

Source: Titan Comics