COMIC REVIEW: Bloodborne: The Death of Sleep Deluxe Edition
Full disclosure: my only hands-on experience with Bloodborne was one night at a taproom in Hackney, and I was terrible at it. I am not a Soulsborne player myself, but I enjoy watching other people tackle these beautiful, gory, extremely difficult games. Those of us who don't have the experience of fighting uphill both ways against these games still have an awareness of the story and setting. And even if you are not an adept player, Bloodborne: The Death of Sleep captures the vibes of the game admirably.
Our hero is, of course, a nameless Hunter: someone who lives, dies, and lives again in search of Paleblood to transcend the Hunt. What is Paleblood? Obviously, no one actually knows—but this particular Hunter might be on the right track. Maybe.
The Hunter meets a strange child who bleeds literal pale blood, or so it seems. The Child also appears to have awareness of otherwise invisible creatures stalking the two of them during the Hunt. By the open-ended finale of the story, the Hunter might not have a prize. But there is a new awareness of the world and its monsters that could change everything.
The Death of Sleep doesn't seek to answer any major questions about the lore of Bloodborne. Instead, it finds places to play within the story as it stands, poking at corners and asking questions. You don't need to be versed in the game lore to understand or appreciate the comic, partly because it pulls from art, film, literature, and many other sources to build its story. It's a tribute to the original game and an exploration of its world, querying the nature of the Hunt and the beasts we slay (or that, more often, slay us).
This deluxe edition gathers all four issues in a beautiful hardcover, as well as several extras. There's a gallery of covers, a series of process shots, reprints of the Issue #1 script, an interview with the series creators, and a look behind the scenes at how the gorgeous art for this series is made. The story alone makes this a worthwhile acquisition, but the sheer amount of behind-the-scenes extras makes it a must for any lover of Bloodborne in particular or horror games in general.
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