Finally, a way to get more True Blood action during the off season! I was expecting the graphic novels to be as painful to read as the original novels, but the first volume was surprisingly enjoyable! This way we get the visuals (Eric = yum), but we leave out the annoying southern accents. ( )

Eh, kinda flavorless. But inoffensive enough if you are a fan of true blood, I guess. It felt like, well... the real stories are on the TV show so... let's not put anything too game changing in the comic? Which is boring. I was kinda hoping for some stuff from the books, but it doesn't have any of that at all. Which is fair, but I thought a comic book would be a great way to bridge some of the differences/gaps/blah blah blah between the show and the books... oh well. ( )

After watching the entire series and reading the books, i was intrigued by this. Eh, I was not impressed. First of all a tentacled monster holds everyone hostage at Merlotte's? Wtf? The drawings were not spectacular and the storyline was borderline boring.

For the rest of the review, visit my blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.com/112781.html ( )

Being a True Blood show and Sookie Stackhouse book fan, of course I jumped at the chance to borrow this from my pal. The artwork is colorful, rich, but some images were a little too vague in the face, especially for the background cast, while other profiles were dead-on.

Big thumbs up for the realistic tone and dialogue of the characters.

As for the plot, it's slightly silly but it fits a volume one for True Blood fans and accomplishes what it sets out to do -- gives fanboys and fangirls everywhere a chance to learn a deep dark secret about their favorite cast members. The secret has nothing to do with revealing characters for the book, but it does dig deeper into the televised show as a separate entity.


It feels different from the TV show, disconnected somehow, so that it doesn't further it much for fans for the storyline. All of them are in at Sam's bar one night when a mysterious creature walks in, where they must reveal an intimate secret they never told anyone about to satisfy their debt with it. Their is no major, central plot to the book, more of a character revealing and deeper inspection of those people have fallen in love with from the show.

Honestly most of the stories weren't terribly exciting. Almost all were from childhood moments, and each ended with a therapeutic gathering of the group reassuring the person it wasn't really their fault. If you're a big fan you'll want this one for completionist sake. If you're a casual viewer or only read the books, this colorful graphic novel will do little to rouse your interest. ( )

Wonderful art work and I love Sookie's world ( )

The Good: This graphic novel is drawn well, with all characters being easily recognizable. And it'll give you a True Blood fix if you're waiting for the next TV season to begin but don't want to read the books the series was based on.

The Bad: The storyline was kind of pointless, as all of the major "secrets" revealed were more-or-less known to those who actually watch the show. And I'm kind of confused as to why a graphic novel would be created based on a TV show that's already based on a book series. Haven't we sort of messed with the original characters enough? This felt like really tame, fan-fiction with pictures. ( )

As the unique citizens of Bon Temps gather one night at Merlotte's Bar, one of the customers reveals himself to be a Trickster from Native American mythology. Someone in the bar has enraged him, but everyone will take part in the creature's feeding by telling the most shameful secret of their life.
I'm not a real "True Blood" watcher, though my sister is nuts over the show. I don't read many graphic novels either, but this is a good one. ( )

So, this story begins on a rainy night in Louisiana. An evil spirit, and Imp Shaloop, comes to Merlotte's and traps the staff and patrons. It is an old Choctaw spirit that eats souls with evil thoughts. He calls himself Ted and requires all of the patrons to tell the most shameful secret about themselves before he will let them go.

Sookie, Eric, Tara, Sam, Lafayette, and Jason willingly tell their stories. Bill is the last to tell his. But the spirit is a trickster whose real purpose is to take revenge on Eric because Eric refused to help the trickster spirit's mother when the spirit begged for help. The spirit also kills a number of the patrons in Merlotte's including the girl who was Jason's date. But since the characters killed by Ted, in the Star Trek terminology, are all "red shirts", we don't really miss them. There deaths just serve to ramp up the sense of danger. After the trickster collects all the stories, he forces Eric to feel all the emotions he collected which is very hard on a vampire. Then he lets them go. But Eric sticks around to talk to Sookie about something he really fears - a crazy vampire that he thought Godric had staked. Then the book ends on that cliffhanger.

The story was interesting and had some backstory about our favorite characters that help make them more well-rounded people. I would have liked more depth to the story but lack of depth seems to be a characteristic of graphic novels that I don't feel the art quite compensates for.

The full-color art was well-done except for one frame early in the book where the terrible scary monster was almost completely swallowed the by center binding of the book (pp 14-15). The characters mostly look like they do on the television show. I did have trouble recognizing Tara in a couple of the frames. I liked the composition of the frames and the color palette used. This would be a good book for fans of True Blood to have if they, like me, are waiting for the next season to come out on DVD. ( )

Even before I read this, I had already purchased and read the graphic novels individually, but it was fun to re-read in order and gain the full experience.

The great part of the new graphic novel series is that you get more stories about the show than they can portray on air. In this particular adventure, Sookie and friends are stuck inside Merlotte's with a demon who feeds off other people's greatest secrets.

In order to survive, the group has to share their deepest & darkest with those around them.

I look forward to seeing what the next volume has in store.

All Together Now takes place around Season 2 and before Season 3 on the TV series. True Blood creator, Alan Ball, states in the introduction that this graphic novel reveals some back stories of the main characters. It also provides him with an alternate medium to support the TV show without the restraints to creativity.

Sookie, Tara, Sam, Lafayette and Jason are held hostage at Merlotte's along with customers by Ted, an imp shaloop. He is a trickster spirit who used to be worshiped by the Choctaw Indians. He feeds on the emotions, especially guilt, of other beings. His form is part man, part octopus or squid with a huge sharp distentable jaw.

Eric comes to the bar to speak to Sookie. Bill follows shortly after. Ted "eats" Jason's girl-of-the-day to prove he's serious. He reveals that someone in the group has wronged him and he will keep them trapped until they all reveal to him the things in their past they feel most guilty for.

A couple of rednecks try to take out Ted. He literally sucks them dry. Both Bill and Sam try to go against him and are easily brushed away. Even though ted goes after Sookie, Eric doesn't jump in. Because Ted won't leave until they all talk, Sookie decides to go first.

She remembers the day her parents took Jason and Her to Gran's house so they could leave for a working trip. Sookie overhears her parents thoughts about her and lashes out; telling them to leave and never come back and that she hates them. That was also the night they died in the flash flood. Sookie never got to apologize. Ted makes a nasty comment and Jason tries to attack him with no luck.

Eric goes next. He tells them about Rachel, a girl he knew in the 1500's in Europe. Godric had left him with a vamp named Nikolai. They're all captured by members of the Inquisition, headed by The Magister. After he takes a break from torturing Eric, He tells Rachel that he will put Eric on the wheel for more unless she agrees to give him the names of the underground rebel leaders. Despite Eric's protests, she gives up the names, including her father, to save Eric. The Magister kills her right after. Her last words to Eric ask him to make their deaths matter. He admits it was the last time he felt something about a human's death and for that, he feels shame. Godric and he destroyed all the Inquisitioners they could find. He says he felt humbled by her sacrifice and didn't like it. Some of the rednecks tease Eric and he attacks them.

During the chaos, Sam mentions that Ted is avoiding wood. He tells Tara he needs a diversion to try to find a weakness.

Tara describes her childhood to them all. She always had to take care of her alcoholic mother who would always have sketchy guys around as well. Tara watered down the liquor thinking she could help her mother. Because the booze wasn't working, one of the boyfriends gave her mother drugs. Tara found her overdosed and she had to go to the hospital. Lettie Mae's boyfriend came after her for taking his drugs. Tara's mom too his side even though Tara had been trying to protect her. She felt the guilt over her mother's overdose. She felt if she hadn't tried to stop her, she wouldn't have almost died from the drugs.

Sam grabs a bottle from behind the bar, changes into a dog and attacks Ted. He breaks the bottle into the imp's mouth.

Meanwhile, Andy and the Sheriff are outside trying to figure out what's going on. The bar is encased in a shield. While Andy wants to try dangerous ways to break through, Bud decides it's best to just wait and see what happens.

The bottle contained grain alcohol, distilled from wood - Ted's weakness. Even weakened, he still sucks dry one of the two guys who try to rip him apart. Sam stands up to protect the remaining guy and tells his story.

As a teenager, he spent a lot of time shifted into his dog form. He formed a friendship with a dog called Arthur. They were captured by guys doing some kind of medical research. Sam attacks the doctor and causes a chain reaction that sets the building on fire. He tried to set Arthur and the other animals free but the fire's gotten out of control. He finally realizes he can shift and get out. Even though he gets Arthur out, he still dies from all the smoke. Sam was used to everyone letting him down; he hated that he was the one who let Arthur down.

Even though Ted loves Sam's story, he sucks dry another person. So, Jason goes next. He talks about a teacher he had in high school. Mrs. Lemore was his friend Peter's mom. Mrs. Lemore was always trying to help Jason but soon she started hitting on him. He knew it was wrong of her to do it, but he was a teenager with hormones. Eventually, he gave into her and they were caught by Peter. Jason tried to apologize but Peter wouldn't listen. The Lemores' marriage broke up and Peter and his mom left town. He tried writing to her but she never wrote back. Even though he knew she was the one who was wrong, deep down he always felt like the outcome was all his fault.

Bill lets on to Sookie that he's working on a plan. Eric 'volunteers' Lafayette to go next to buy more time for Bill's plan.

Lafayette talks about his mother and Tara's aunt, Ruby Jean. He explains how she used to talk to herself and was seriously paranoid. One day, she walked in on Lafayette who was experimenting with makeup and cross dressing. She hauled him to the bathtub and took a wire brush to him to try to scrub the wickedness out of him. From then on he pretending to be a tough guy but it pushed her further into craziness. She started confronting people on the street - asking them if they made her son gay. Finally, he had no choice but to have her put into the psych ward. He wonders if he had been normal, would she still have gone crazy and if she wasn't crazy would he still be gay?

Jason, Sam, Tara & Lafayette sit together in support of each other. Bill is reluctant to tell his story but Ted reminds him they will remain trapped - and that the sun is coming up soon. Eric gets tense and tells Bill to start talking.

Bill's story starts around the time Lorena changed him. He returns to Bon Temps and is found by a midwife named Thistle Maybery who is a kind and helpful person. He is starving. Thistle opens the curtains and Bill's vampire nature comes out. Thistle tried to escape but Bill attacks her. he drains her and burns down her house to cover up what he'd done. Lorena finds him. He now believes she was right to keep him away from human; that he is not safe. He goes with her to make their relationship work.

Ted decides it's now time to tell his story. About a time when all kinds of creatures lived in the swamp before it was Bon Temps. His mother was also a trickster, but she wouldn't hurt anyone. She would only teach someone a lesson if they wronged her. The explorers and settlers came and killed everything in their way. His mother became ill from one of the diseases the settlers brought. He went to the one person he thought was strong enough to help - Eric. Eric turned him away. He wanted revenge and now felt he had it with the knowledge that the thing Eric feared the most was feeling because that's the one thing that is all human. He then channels all the emotions from the stories and zaps it into Eric. After, he drops the barrier as promised so they can all leave. They try to explain to Bud & Andy what happened.

Jessica meets them outside where she's been checking out the forest. She ran into another imp named Larry. Larry was looking for Ted and he was ticked off. Sookie goes back in to confront Ted and tells him she knows he was just hiding out from Larry.

She asks Eric why he came in the first place. He shows her a Fangtasia matchbook that was found with a dead vampire's remains in New Orleans. He tells her he thinks it's a warning from an insane vamp he knew 50 years ago in Berlin who he thought Godric had staked. He tells her it's not human feelings he's afraid of...it's this guy. And now this guys wants revenge...To be continued...

Great as a short story. As far as the artwork goes, I'd say 50/50. The individual issue covers are gorgeous and creative. Some of the inserts look like exact replicas of photographs and are lacking individual touches. I don't feel the artists represented a couple of the characters at all. Sam and Jason were very poorly represented. But, overall, a great way to expand the TB universe. ( )