The best part of this comic was the cover art and alternative cover art. I found Van Helsing boring as a character. She seemed to be invincible and there never felt like there was anything at stake. The characters were there to take up space. The villains, although different, felt like they were easily beat. If it wasn't for the art style, this would have been a low 2.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Liesel Van Helsing, daughter of the famous vampire slayer Van Helsing, is a monster hunter – practical, pretty – deadly. She’s off to India, searching for a blade that could end vampirism forever. It’s not going to be as easy as she’d hoped!

I enjoyed this intriguing graphic novel. The artwork is always the draw for me with Zenescope publications, and this volume was very pleasing in that aspect. The story itself was crafted with Liesel’s first-person narrative in artistic dialogue bubbles. Sometimes this type of thing can be difficult to read, particularly in a digital format as I was sent by the publisher, but the dialogue in this book was clear and very readable. The tale that Liesel pulls the reader into is fairly straightforward, but not at all boring, a tale of zombies, princes and unlikely allies. It’s well-plotted and put-together, and is basically just a fun adventure. Also, though there are now several volumes in the Van Helsing series, this adventure stands strongly on its own. A nice – and very pretty! – tale of supernatural adventure!

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book for my honest review. Liesel Van Helsing is in India hunting for the Sword of Heaven which is rumored to be able to destroy all vampires. It's a pretty gory read, but good. I like Liesel's character, and the plot. Also, the art is beautiful.

Liesel Van Helsing is in India hunting for the Sword of Heaven which is rumored to be able to destroy all vampires. And there are plenty of bloodsuckers in India trying to stop her. But her main foe turns out to be a baital, a spirit animating a prince's body. And of course Van Helsing plunges in without a plan or backup, doing what she does best - kill until she comes out the other side. Decent plot, nice artwork all makes for a pleasant, but gory read.

I found this one to be a slow and unmoving tale and the character simply didn't do it for me. I usually like Chuck Dixon quite a bit but for me it did not work.

This was better than I expected. After the first issue, Leisel Van Helsing loses the typical revealing Zenescope costume and this turns into a more supernatural Tomb Raider. Van Helsing searches India for a sword that can kill vampires while battling an ancient spirit that inhabits the dead.

Just what has gone on? After years of presenting just the worst kind of thrown-together comics for young teens to wank over, the Grimm Universe has suddenly had an injection of life. This comic, featuring the needlessly buxom daughter of the Van Helsing of old, sees her take on mystical Indian baddies, intent on keeping a majorly successful weapon from the hands of her and her undead-demolishing kind. It doesn't offer much new, although the Indian flavours – that hopefully aren't too disrespectful – are definitely on the merit side. No, the artwork can never decide how attractive or booby any character is from one frame to the next, either, but it all goes to serve as decent entertainment, which the GCU (as nobody ever called it) never began to provide in the olden days. If you're in the mood for some frivolous entertainment and nothing more serious, then this is a keeper – four stars is a little generous, but something's got to show the world these comics are much better than before.

I was expecting something a little more than an attention grasper. I know a little bit about the Van Helsing character from her crossover appearances. But this chapter of her story just feels generic. Whatever arguments there were to be made for or against the plot just don't seem to be around. That Baital seems to know something but nothing else seems willing to show the points.

Characters weren't all that great either. There's barely any tension throughout the series that anyone goes through. Nobody has any time to love the characters on display. They're interesting, just not enough to understand the situations anyone's in.

If anything it's just more reacting and just getting some MacGuffin for an event that might better explain some conflict.

If you are a fan of the Van Helsing movie, you will enjoy these. The main character is Van Helsings daughter. She is looking for a fabled sword that could end all vampires on the face of the earth. Great graphics and good story line.
#vanhelsingswordofheaven, #netgalley, #indigoemployee

I like reading comics times to times so I said to give this one a shot. I really enjoyed it. The plot is interesting, Liesel Van Helsing, the daughter of the famous vampire hunter, is looking for a sword that can kill all the vampires. But the weird part is that this can be found in India. There she will fight with death people and vampires.
There are some funny part too, especially when she keeps the vampire busy with puzzles. The art is not so bad, but it could be better.
Thank you NetGalley for the comics I'm exchange for a review.

An action/adventure story in the classic style. Reminiscent of Indiana Jones, The Mummy films, and perhaps a dash of Lara Croft (complete with inexplicable dominatrix-style costume).

Liesel Van Helsing is the daughter of famed vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing of Dracula fame (since it appears to take place in the present day the ancestral timeline is a little ridiculous - just go with it). She is in India on a quest for the legendary 'Sahib-E-Qiran' or 'Sword of Heaven'. Along the way Van Helsing encounters new varieties of vampire and makes an uneasy alliance with Intelligence Officer Lalitha Dara.

First I have to be clear on a few things. I have absolutely no idea on how this story lines up with the current mythology of the vampire, monster hunter, demon fighter genre and very little knowledge as to the historical or cultural accuracy. It could be 100% accurate, could be complete and total nonsense. No idea.

Having said that, I really enjoyed Van Helsing Sword of Heaven. It reminded me a bit of the Sword and Sorcery comics I used to read as a young kid in the '70s.

The art was very nice, the story was a fun bit of escapism that mostly moved at a good pace, and there were a couple of standout characters (the vampire with the compulsive need to count things and solve puzzles was equal parts fun and scary).

A few critiques: The facial expressions were a bit one note, there was a middle section that kind of dragged and some of the dialogue was a little lame.

If you're looking for some fun, mindless monster hunting with a touch of ancient mysticism then you'll probably enjoy this one. If you obsess on details and pinpoint accuracy you might want to give it a pass.

As always, that's just my opinion.

***Thanks to NetGalley, Zenescope, and Diamond Book Distributors for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

The BEST I can say about this is: it's not TERRIBLE.
Immediately the story asks anyone who has read Dracula to accept some things that cannot be: mainly that Van Helsing, who lived sometime in the late 1800's has a DAUGHTER who somehow lives in modern times. Ok, maaaaybe we'll give that one to you, but also, why does she choose to hunt vampires in an outfit I can only describe as "Steampunk Mad Hatter Hooker?" At least the illustrator had the decency to put her in regular clothes for most of this but COME ON! What is up with that outfit???
Also, the ending, which I will not get into too much, basically renders her entire journey pointless with a "that was WAY TOO DAMN EASY" twist.
I did like the one vampire who has OCD and is compelled to solve puzzles constantly. He was kind of funny. (But then again, he's a vampire whose weakness is a flipping Rubik's Cube... so there you go.)

This had potential but lack of a interesting plot, a unimaginative OCD enemy and clothes no person in her line of work would ever wear stopped me reading at page 34. Did not finish.

So, a Baital and a Vampire Hunter Walk Into A Bar

The high point here is that we are in India, so we have unusual evil spirits, (that Baital for instance), and we get a travelogue and a few words in Hindi. I appreciated the novelty and the effort.

But the story, (fight the big bad, constantly monologuing, vampirish guy to find an ancient magical weapon), is pretty old school. Lots of zombies. Liesel Van Helsing is a buxom adventurer in the fairly standard Zenescope style. Dialogue is tuff girl snarky. The drawing is bright and colorful, with crisp enough lines and clear action scenes, but oddly expressionless characters.

So, this was perfectly unobjectionable, but light and skimmable. Not a favorite.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

"Van Helsing Sword of Heaven" a fun graphic novel with lots of lore, blood, and action. I'll be recommending this one.

Reasons this book is all wrong.
- Lack of research done while writing this.
- Inaccurate representation of Sati with supernatural.
- Inaccurate representation of casual villages totally armed, and electricity running from a truck.
- Demonization of iconographic figures.
- Making nirvana a joke
- Uninteresting storyline
- Exaggerated

Only pro
- Artwork, but even this aspect wasn't that fascinating.

Liesel Van Helsing is the daughter of the famous vampire hunter and apparently has become a phenom in her own right. Collecting all the issues in the Sword of Heaven series, this graphic novel features brilliantly colored dazzling artwork and places Liesel in The exotic locale if India where she faces off against zombie hordes and demons. Sort of imagine Lara Croft Tomb Raider in a steampunk outfit facing foe after foe and sit back and enjoy. It’s not terribly sophisticated, but not everything has to be.