Operation Sunshine vol. 2: Already Dead

Now this, this is no “Masterpiece.”

That’s because the concluding volume of “Operation Sunshine” is actually good.  Where the first volume was all about introducing the cast and setting up their theft of a magical object that can reverse vampirism and end all vampires, this one is all about paying off on that setup.  Which means it’s time for our cast – long-lived vampire Hex, newly-minted vampire Steven, vamp bartender Tick, human black ops specialist Darryl, and duplicitous vampire ringleader Anwar – to pull off the heist of multiple lifetimes from the most powerful vampires who have ever lived.  That’s a tall order as it is, and when you add in Anwar’s scheming and the many things he’s not telling his partners, well, it’ll be a miracle if any of them make it out alive or even undead.

Co-writers Henry Zebrowski and Marcus Parks only really stumble when it feels like they try to cram too many twists and betrayals into the end of the story.  It really felt like they could’ve used an extra issue to let the narrative breathe, but the overall package still satisfies.  The characters are well drawn enough that you’ll wind up caring about what happens to them when everything hits the fan, and there were some twists that I genuinely didn’t see coming and was glad to be caught off guard by then.  You’ve also got David Rubin’s consistently stylish and detailed art to showcase everything, which leads to an enjoyable story – warts and all.

This is a good start for Zebrowski and Parks if they want to make comics writing their new main gig aside from podcasting.  I wouldn’t mind seeing more from them either in the world of “Operation Sunshine” or another new project.  If nothing else, it was thoroughly refreshing to read a proper heist story after one that missed the point of the whole genre.