| Schedule: | Monthly |
| Limited: | y |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Publisher: | Titan Comics |
| Date: | September 2015 - February 2016 |
| Issues: | 5 |
| Main Char Team: | Virgil LaFleur Simon Wolfinger Mother Taneesha Dante Dr. Andrea Yoshimi |
| Writers: | Mark Landry |
| Pencillers: | Ashley Witter, Richard Pace, Georges Jeanty |
| Inkers: | Ashley Witter, Richard Pace, Dexter Vines |
| Colorists: | Ashley Witter, Sian Mandrake & Justin Prokowich |
| Editors: | Tom Williams, John Hazners, Chris Fortier |
| Creative Team Month: | January |
| Creative Team Year: | 2015 |
| Creators: | Mark Landry |
| Tpb: | Bloodthirsty: One Nation Under Water |
| Isbn: | 978-1785851094 |
| Subcat: | Titan Books |
| Sort: | Bloodthirsty |
Bloodthirsty: One Nation Under Water is a five-issue creator-owned comic book limited series written by American writer Mark Landry (of Teen Beach Movie) and published by British comics publisher Titan.[1] The interior art was penciled by Ashley Witter and Richard Pace, and includes a three-page epilogue drawn by Georges Jeanty. Interior colorists were Ashley Witter, and the team of Sian Mandrake and Justin Prokowich. The publisher offered variant covers for each issue, including one cover each by Ashley Witter, one by Nick Runge, one by Georges Jeanty, and two by Joel Carpenter. Series editors included Tom Williams (Titan), John Hazners and Chris Fortier.
The story begins with Coast Guard rescue swimmer Virgil LaFleur as he rescues victims of Hurricane Katrina from their rooftops in New Orleans in the aftermath of the infamous flood of 2005. When Virgil's younger brother, Trey, informs him that their parents have not checked in at the evacuee station at Louis Armstrong airport, Virgil gets his Coast Guard pilot to take him to his parents' flooded neighborhood. There, Virgil swims through his parents' submerged home to find his parents stuck in their attic - his father already deceased and his mother near death. Virgil attempts to swim his mother out through the flooded house, but nearly drowns and is pulled from the water by Trey and another Coast Guard crew member.
Ten years later, the comic recaps that Virgil couldn't go near the water after the incident, and is now working as a ditch digger after having put his younger brother Trey through college (fulfilling a promise he made to his dying mother). A new storm - Rose - is on the horizon, and Virgil is planning to evacuate New Orleans forever. He begs Trey to go with him, but Trey - now a scientist - is in the middle of an exciting - and secretive - longevity project at Wolfinger Biomed, one of many companies owned by local carpetbagger Simon Wolfinger. Wolfinger is portrayed as a disaster capitalist who - along with partner-in-crime Howard Lawrence - preyed upon the city's weakened post-disaster status to enrich themselves through greed and corruption.
When Trey dies in a fire at Wolfinger Biomed, Virgil has reason to suspect that his brother was murdered. Having nothing left to live for, Virgil decides to investigate his brother's death, even if that means staying in New Orleans long enough to die in the coming hurricane. What he uncovers is an underground cabal of hemovores - "an organism that ingests blood as the main part of its diet".[2] Unlike vampires, the hemovores in "Bloodthirsty" are not supernatural beings; they are humans with a mutated gene that controls longevity. Their bodies are in a constant state of repair, which deprives their cells of oxygen. In order to compensate for this loss, they must consume fresh (oxygenated) human blood daily or they will die.
Virgil learns that Trey had unwittingly taken part in a plan to synthesize the hemovore mutation, creating a serum that Wolfinger intends to sell on the black market to anyone wealthy enough to procure its fountain-of-youth-like properties. With only hours left before Hurricane Rose makes landfall in New Orleans, Virgil faces an uphill battle to stop Wolfinger from spreading the serum and killing thousands of innocent people in the process.
After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013 and a protracted art production process, Titan Comics announced that it would publish Bloodthirsty at the Diamond Retailer Presentation on July 11, 2015, at San Diego ComiCon. As announced by Christine Marie of Bleeding Cool: "Bloodthirsty is a visceral revenge thriller that merges the real-world hopes and horrors of a post-disaster community with an engaging thread of political corruption, class divide and blood-curdling terror!"[3]
In addition to story content, each issue includes a "backmatter" feature that reflects upon the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the lessons learned by key figures of the rescue and recovery operation. The first issue's interview is with Lieutenant General Russel Honoré (ret.), who led the Joint Task Force Katrina rescue operation for then-president George W. Bush. Other interviewees include Louisiana Environmental Action Network spokesperson Paul Orr, Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Dave Cadorette (a rescue swimmer), Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Matthew O'Dell (a rescue swimmer) and former Coast Guard Captain Roger Laferriere. Each interviewee tells the story of what the Katrina disaster meant to them both in terms of the human cost and lessons learned for future disasters.
Titan released each of the five chapters monthly from September 2015 to February 2016. The collected volume was released on June 8, 2016.
| Issue # and Subtitle | Release Date | Writer | Penciler/Inker | Colorist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1: "Blood Brothers" | September 30, 2015 | Mark Landry | Ashley Witter | Ashley Witter | |
| Chapter 2: "Bloodlust" | November 4, 2015 | Mark Landry | Ashley Witter | Ashley Witter | |
| Chapter 3: "Blood Pressure" | December 2, 2015 | Mark Landry | Ashley Witter | Ashley Witter | |
| Chapter 4: "A Clot to Contend With" | January 6, 2016 | Mark Landry | Richard Pace | Sian Mandrake & Justin Prokowich | |
| Chapter 5: "Blood in the Water" and Epilogue | February 3, 2016 | Mark Landry | Richard Pace (Georges Jeanty & Dexter Vines for the Epilogue) | Sian Mandrake & Justin Prokowich | |
| Collected Volume | July 5, 2016 | (Same as Above) | (Same as Above) | (Same as Above) |
Reviews of the comic's single issues have been largely positive. Critics from mainstream online blogs like Pop Culture Uncovered and Fanboy Comics to more specialized blogs like Black Girl Nerds and Graphic Policy have praised the comic for blending the entertaining with the socially conscious.[4]
"To be honest, I was surprised that Landry was a Caucasian man writing from the standpoint of Virgil, a mixed race man with a black mother and white father. You might think this is irrelevant, but as a female geek of color, I was overjoyed because it shows a level of consciousness that isn’t always present in media today when it comes to minorities, especially the ignored voices of the poor and disenfranchised in New Orleans during and after Katrina. There are other characters of color in Bloodthirsty #1, and Landry is remarkably respectful yet honest when writing them, which was also impressive. Virgil is a hero we can all relate to. He has seen awful things, and he is troubled. He has experienced a staggering amount of loss, and he still won’t back down. That’s a hero we can all aspire to be, and we don’t have to be rich like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, or superhuman like Superman or Spider-Man." - Estefany Gonzalez of Geek Mundo[5]
"This story has depth, and is more than just a fun, flash in the pan. Virgil is a character that you can really get invested in and care for. The villains in this story have potential to be the scariest kind, the ones that really exist, and who doesn’t love that? This is suspenseful thriller that I can’t wait to drink my fill of." - BlackGirlNerds[6]
"Some of my favorite stories are set against the back drop of real life events because of the emotions associated with them. With the catastrophe of Katrina still fresh in the mind of the public; Bloodthirsty: One Nation Under Water accomplishes its goal to introduce a riveting story and the genesis of a hometown hero." - Pauly D of Pup Culture Uncovered[7]