The Reformed

Rating NR Genre manga Author Christopher Hart Publisher Del Ray

One dark a spooky night, a girl named Jenny happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  A would be mugger attempts to take advantage of the young women, but luckily a mysterious man by the name Giancarlo arrives and save her purse and life.  Thankful for saving her life, Jenny rides to the dashing man's palatial estate, where she is overwhelmed by his fancy abode.  What she doesn't realize is that her dashing savior is a vampire who may or may not be out to take his jaw around her slender neck.

While this is going on strange murders have been occurring in the city.  People are being completely drained of blood and have mysterious puncture wounds on their neck.  A detective by the name of Frost comes to the unlikely conclusion that there is some sort of monster on the loose and (somehow) pegs Giancarlo as the killer.  Is the man that Jenny has fallen for responsible for the gruesome murders or is something more mysterious lurking in the shadows?

The Reformed is your one-shot cliché girl meets vampire love story.  The vampire tries to prove he is not a monster so he can lead a normal life with the girl he loves even though it has yet to work before.  Giancarlo perseveres and wins the love of his fair maiden.  The story written by Hart is very simple and really leaves no surprises of any kind.  It is like reading a simplified version of an Ann Rice story, made for a 30 minutes TV spot..  The artwork is dark, but the tone isn't set very well with it as the writing does not covey any sort of thrill or urgency found in dark stories.  The art isn't poor by any means, it just isn't well supported by the rest.  While overall not a bad manga, The Reformed just fails to deliver any real punch or lasting impression on the reader.