Review - Van Helsing Annual: Sins Of The Father

From Zenescope Entertainment

A large-sized issue from Zenescope Entertainment. We get some answers in Van Helsing Annual: Sins Of The Father.

Haunted and hounded by remnants of her family’s monstrous legacy, Liesel Van Helsing searches for the one responsible for bringing these new enemies to light—and she has finally found the answer in another family, with its own monstrous legacy, that wishes nothing less than the end of the Van Helsing line.

Story Dave Franchini, David Wohl & Pat Shand

Writer Pat Shand Artwork Renato Rei 1-18 Sergio Arino 19-38 Hakan Aydin 39-49, 63 & 64 Daniel Maine 50-62

Colors Grostieta 1-31 & 39-48 Maxflan Araujo 32-38 & 49-64

Letters Taylor Esposito (Of Ghost Glyph Studios) Editor David Wohl Production & Design Christopher Cote

This is a special issue. After the long build of Van Helsing discovering the secret past of her father, all seems to be revealed. There are some excellent action scenes as the battles commence.

Van Helsing has gone through a lot; she has learned much about her father and some of his darker works. This gives us the answers that she and we are looking for. There is some interesting use of classic names and links to the past - not only for the Van Helsing family but for previous adventures of Van Helsing long past.

In this issue, we get to the bottom of all of Van Helsings troubles, and there are some excellent twists and turns along the way. They all make sense and don’t seem like they have been shoehorned into the story arc to make it fit.

As well as finishing off (to a degree) this large story spanning the Van Helsing titles, it also does several other things to her personal world.

A former friend turned villain is now a bit more ambiguous - she does have her reasons for what she does, but the methods aren’t jelling with Van Helsing.

We get a new villain for Van Helsing to deal with in the future. This was teased well at the end, with something to play with in later stories - this leads onto…

A new location. Due to the nature of Van Helsing’s escape, she finds herself and Julie in a different world. This will be interesting, and I wonder where this will lead to for the future?

The art has great moments - from fast-paced action scenes to battles against various hybrids. I like how these play out, and they have some amazing scenes. The flashbacks also have their own feel, with some well-played-out scenes that are familiar to long-time readers.

This was an excellent read and a good reset for readers to jump onto the new arc coming…