True Blood, Vol. 1: All Together Now by Alan Ball

Title: True Blood, Vol. 1: All Together Now
Author: Alan Ball
Format: Hardcover, 160 pages
Pub. Date: February 22nd 2011
Source: Half Price Books

★★★★

Four Stars.

Down at Merlotte's in Bon Temps, Louisiana, life just keeps getting weirder for the mind-reading, vampire-dating, little blonde waitress named Sookie Stackhouse. One night at work during a fierce thunderstorm, a native creature called an imp shaloop locks the True Blood regulars inside. An intense monster with fangs and tentacles, he feeds on others' shame. Sam, Sookie, Bill, Eric, Tara, Jason, and Lafayette are forced to dish out their dirtiest secrets and stories until the trickster spirit is finally tricked himself.

------

First, let me say I am a basic fan of this series. I have seen a few episodes of the show, and read a few of the books. I am not the biggest fan, nor am I one who detests the franchise.

+/-That being said, I do believe that this plot does more accurately follow the TV show as opposed to the novels. That being said, this fact did not bother me in the slightest.

+The artwork is gorgeous. Modeled after the cast of the TV series, I positively loved it. Particularly the portrayal of Eric Northman, who is my favorite to look at on the show. It's dark and gritty, and illustrates the monster well.

-There wasn't really a major plot to this adaptation. It appeared to be just a way to reveal the pasts of all of the main characters in a short period of time, with no real battle or even real expansions on their tales of woe.

+/-This first collection continues in a semi-cliffhanger, no doubt leading to a second volume of the graphic novels.

I think that fans of True Blood as well as the Sookie Stackhouse novels would appreciate this artistic rendition of the vampiric story. If you're fed up with all the vampire shows or don't like True Blood- why would you pick this up? You wouldn't enjoy this either.