Too good to last, as it turned out; but there's no point grousing over that (though that won't stop people for therapeutic reasons, to be sure). "Vampire State", at seven parts (counting the Annual, makes up just under half the series' total run, and it's by far the most epic of the stories. Cornell also laced the earlier two arcs with plenty of hints regarding what is to come.

Dracula's an incredibly played-out character; indeed, only Sherlock Holmes probably comes close to the total number of media appearances he's had. It helps then, to have a reasonably fresh take on old Vlad, and Cornell definitely has that. Over the course of the series, he's been played as a brilliant strategist and commander of vast armies, whereas he's normally just a dude with a couple of thralls to do his bidding.

Strategy-wise, this issue reveals that pretty much everything since #12 has been a sucker-punch by the good guys, which goes down reasonably well, though it doesn't feel completely satisfying (similar to the reveal last issue). It's a great moment for Wisdom (who, weirdly, sits out the final action in favour of picnicing with the chippy from earlier in the series). Faiza gets her big hero moment (and, finally, someone other than Brian saves the day), Dane gets...some action, I guess (in fact, everybody does), and Blade endears himself to Jackie further by killing her vampire-son for her (nothing cements a relationship like that, apparently).

Great art, great writing, shame it couldn't have lasted longer.