SOUL TAKER

A woman who has lived for millennia feeding on life-energy battles an enemy she believed was long dead in Sniegoski and Acheson’s graphic novel.

Amara Delacourt lives a quiet life in a Miami retirement community. Though she looks to be about 70, Amara has actually been around for thousands of years. She’s the last of the Nehmer, a race of immortal beings whose sustenance is human life force. Although they’ve lived and fed among humans inconspicuously and peacefully, a relentless religious order called the Venatori has hunted them to near-extinction. After this “fanatical offshoot of the Catholic Church hellbent on wiping out all those they perceive as unholy” exterminated Amara’s kind, Amara retaliated by killing all of the Venatori—or so she thought. Two chemically enhanced henchmen arrive in Miami on a mission to take out the final Nehmer. But someone else is after Amara, too—Magnes Pharmaceuticals wants to procure the secret of her longevity. As she dodges the company’s attempts to grab her, she must also face off against a bloodthirsty Venatori soldier and a lab-created human Bloodhound engineered to track the Nehmer. Sniegoski and Acheson’s supernaturally powerful hero is not the usual comic-book fare: When she feeds, she resembles a fanged, long-fingernailed vampire, but she typically looks like a grandma and easily consumes life energy without killing or even hurting people. Engaging backstories spotlight Amara and the Venatori throughout the last millennium and in various countries, from France and Italy to the Old West. There’s a notable progression across this volume’s six collected issues; foes inch closer to Amara, who gradually realizes who’s targeting her and putting someone she’s grown close to in potential danger. Welcome narrative touches include an ultrachic cyber-cat and the unorthodox way another character has lived a shockingly long time. The story ends with not one but two unforgettable cliffhangers. Burzo and Lecce’s impressive artwork combines beautifully muted colors and heavy shadows with brutal violence and ferocious expressions. The collection also showcases illustrator Sta. Maria’s six vibrant covers for the individual issues.

Radiant characters electrify this sublime horror outing.