BloodRayne: Raw II: As with the first RAW one-shot, BloddRayne Raw II is a collection of, well, *raw* artwork and a few short text snippets to go with the penciled pics. Think of the Raw one-shots as a behind the scenes extra to the BloodRayne DVD. As such, along with a look back at the recent Tibetan Heights one-shot it gives the readers previews of various future minis and one-shot specials. Definitely not worth the $4.60 (Canadian) sticker prize, this one is solely for the hardcore ‘Rayne fans and/or the completists.

Conclusion: Too Raw (and damn expensive) to stomach, excellent artwork notwithstanding.

RATING: 2.5/5

Strange Embrace #1 (of 8): Strange Embrace is the story of Sukumar, an (American-?)Indian teenager. Splitting time between school and working at his parents’ grocery store, Sukumar has been afflicted with some rather odd nightmares lately, two months to be exact. As it happens the nightmares started just after Sukumar started on a new delivery route to a rather eerie scary place. It is on one such delivery run that Sukumar meets a mystery man (who may or may not have ‘starred’ in a Sukumar’s nightmares). The man leads the young man to a secret hideout/lair/whatever where, after a couple of eye opening revelations, he starts to tell him a story. This is the abridged story of Strange Embrace #1. Although it is touted/marketed as a psychological horror story, this first issue doesn’t have all that much horror in it. Sure, it has its scary moments but those could easily be explained away as mystery-thriller elements. The artwork is good clean if slightly sparse on the flash n’ flair.

Conclusion: Not particularly exciting but a good first issue nevertheless.

RATING: 3.5/5