Blood Trail: Dawning

by Matt Cochran

Prisoner Etu, racked with guilt, re-lives the decision which led to the destruction of his tribe at the hands of an unthinkable monster generations before. The year is 1867 and nestled among the majestic mountains of the Pacific Northwest lies a Native American village on the verge of extinction. When its inhabitants become suspicious of a strange family who choose to live apart from the rest, young Etu trails the family to a camp deep in the woods only to discover that they possess inconceivable powers! When Etu reveals what he has witnessed to the tribe, his father, a powerful Witchdoctor, discloses the identity of the family and the spell he cast on them years before. An edict to exterminate the family at all costs is passed down - but when confronted by their powers, the plan only sets in motion the birth of a curse more evil than any of them could have imagined!

Genres: Graphic Novels

64 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2013

About the author

Most recently, Matt Cochran is the author of BLOOD TRAIL: DAWNING (2013), from Dynamite Entertainment/Liquid Comics.

He lives in New York City with his wife, Sam, and their dog, Charlie.

Reviews

[Adela Bec · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog.

Bilingual Review: ENG/RO



 

English

My fascination with Native Americans began one month ago, when I read "Shadow of Time" by Jen Minkman. I have promised myself I would read more books about them, and when I saw this graphic novel available on NetGalley, I jumped at the opportunity.

I regret admitting that I didn't particularly enjoy this one. It was a pleasant read, but nothing very special, at least not for me. I had high expectations and the book failed to deliver. The story couldn't captivate me until the second half of it. Due to the book's short length, of just 64 pages, everything felt rushed and, therefore, I couldn't enjoy it fully.

We, humans, fear the things we are not capable to understand, we push aside those people who are different than us and we don't let them join our groups. Ideas like these are conveyed in this graphic novel, in the form of a village of Native Americans that reject a specific family due to its abnormal powers.

The graphics, although good, were not to my taste. I expected them to be somewhat similar to what is featured on the cover and I was dissapointed to find they were very different.

For a quick read, "Blood Trail: Dawning" was quite ok, but not memorable. I only recommend it to those who like graphic novels and are fascinated by the Native Americans, but don't have much time on their hands.

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Română

Fascinaţia mea faţă de americanii nativi a început în urmă cu o lună, când am citit "Shadow of Time" de Jen Minkman. Mi-am promis că voi citi mai multe cărţi despre ei, şi când am văzut această carte ilustrată pe NetGalley, am profitat de oportunitate.

Cu regret recunosc că nu mi-a plăcut în mod special. A fost o lectură agreabilă, dar nimic special, cel puţin nu pentru mine. Am avut mari aşteptări, dar această carte nu s-a ridicat la ele. Povestea nu a reuşit să mă captiveze decât pe la a doua jumătate. Datorită lungimii de doar 64 de pagini, totul a părut fuşerit şi nu m-am putut bucura de poveste cum ar fi trebuit.

Noi, oamenii, ne temem de lucruri pe care nu le putem înţelege şi dăm la o parte oamenii care sunt diferiţi faţă de noi şi nu îi lăsăm să intre în grupurile noastre. Astfel de idei se regăsesc în acest roman grafic, sub forma unui sat de americani nativi care resping o familie datorită puterilor sale anormale.

Ilustraţiile, deşi bune, nu mi-au plăcut. M-am aşteptat să fie oarecum similare cu cele de pe copertă şi am fost dezamăgită să constat că erau foarte diferite.

Pentru o lectură uşoară, "Blood Trail: Dawning" a fost ok, dar nu memorabilă. O recomand doar celor cărora le plac romanele grafice şi sunt fascinaţi de americanii nativi, dar care nu au prea mult timp liber la dispoziţie.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took maybe 15 minutes to read and most of that time was trying to keep straight who everyone was. Not much development to the characters, it almost felt like it was a very condensed version of what may have been a saga of some sort.
Not much explanation in the ways of Native American beliefs and lore. And that left this very unmemorable.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Myths regarding people turning into animals and vice versa are a constant across cultures and Native Americans are no exception. Sometimes those transformations are benign, for example the Yelis is a coyote figure of the tribes of the Pacific Northwest and when transformed into human form, the Yelis taught humans critical skills. Other stories are more sinister, with humans transforming into vicious creatures capable of killing humans.
This graphic novel is one where the creatures are vicious and generally just an extension of the behavior of their human forms. It is 1867 and there are two tribes of Native Americans in a mountainous region of the Pacific Northwest and while there has never been animosity between them, the chief of one tribe seems determined to create tribal warfare.
The people of his tribe are starving, yet when a member of the other tribe (Walkingtree) walks into their encampment carrying some fresh fish as a gift, the chief reacts to the friendship with hostility. This sparks a series of battles involving transformations where many people are killed, generally needlessly. This leads to the destruction of one of the tribes and the unleashing of a powerful curse that continues into modern times. That curse is also manifested in the inmate Etu, he is so consumed with fear that he prefers death. The story ends with a cliffhanger where the transformation curse is going to be expressed again.
Stories that are based on myths that are slowly fading from the collective minds of the tribes that spawned them are always interesting. I have been reading and studying such stories for decades, considering them an important source of information about how the people lived. Reading this graphic novel led me to once again explore some of the Native American myths of animal spirits and their gods. For others, they will find the story just another good one in the werewolf genre of vicious animals in human form.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book and because of that it doesn't live up to its potential. I enjoyed the plot, though not entirely original, of an old family curse coming back to settle affairs. The book actually ends on page 51 making it even shorter than it at first seems and this is explained on the next page by a note informing us of the untimely death of the artist, Hyrapiet. The remaining pages are an artist galley of sketches. The story ends rather abruptly with a "To Be Continued" which surprised me as the story read as if it was going to be a one-shot and I expected a finite ending. I would have been much more pleased if the plot could have been finished in, say, a 120 pg book for a couple $ more than the way it has been presented here. I did enjoy the Native American folklore, the Indian spiritual world and the violent horror tale which presents moral questions to ponder. However, this ending is unsatisfactory and the book is simply too short. The artwork however is gorgeous, and I can only presume the artist's death did have something to do with the book being published before it perhaps was first initially planned.