Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Comics Review: VAMPIRELLA Year One #2

VAMPIRELLA  YEAR ONE VOLUME 1 #2
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Christopher Priest
ART: Ergün Gündüz with Giovanni Timpano (prologue)
COLORS: Ergün Gündüz with Flavio Dispenza (prologue)
LETTERS: Willie Schubert
EDITOR: Matt Idelson
COVER: Collette Turner
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2022)

Rated Teen+

“The History of the World”


Vampirella is a vampire and female superhero created by the late author and science fiction and horror expert, Forrest J Ackerman, and designed by comic book artist, Trina Robbins.  Vampirella first appeared in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969), the debut issue of a black and white horror comics magazine from Warren Publishing.  Writer-editor Archie Goodwin changed the character from a hostess of horror comics to a leading character in her own stories.

In 2010, Dynamite Entertainment obtained the character and has been publishing new Vampirella material since then.  In the wake of Vampirella Dracula Unholy comes a new series, Vampirella Year One Volume 1.  This new series is written by Christopher Priest; drawn by Ergun Gunduz; colored by Gunduz; and lettered by Willie Schubert.  Hunted seemingly by every natural and supernatural on Earth, Vampirella has taken refuge in an undisclosed location where she questions why she came to our world in the first place.

Vampirella Year One Volume 1 #2 (“The History of the World”) opens in a cave in Mount Sage, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.  There, Vampirella has found sanctuary with her friend/lover, LéGere.  Early in her pregnancy(!), she is recording her history for her unborn child, beginning with the story of preteen Vampirella.

Having fled the elite underground city of New Asema to hide from Lilith's enemies, a preteen Vampirella takes refuge on the surface world, which has been ravaged by a drought caused by her mother's machinations.  Taken in by a wealthy aristocrat, Vampirella learns compassion for Drakulon's underclass.  That leads to a comical petty theft that brings her into confrontation with her mother's mysterious Lieutenant.  He may expose the child's secret and ruin her one chance to escape her mother's influence.  Plus, the origins of the planet Drakulon and of the mysterious alternate reality Earth, “Arcadia,” are discussed.

THE LOWDOWN:  Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Vampirella Year One Volume 1 #2.  It is one of many Vampirella comic books that have engaged my imagination this last year.

As with his previous Vampirella comic books, writer Christopher Priest offers lots of subplots and many characters.  So far, I have not warmed to Vampirella Year One, but this series may be exactly what Vampirella readers want.  It is by no means mediocre.  I am simply not crazy about it.

I still like the art in this issue, drawn by lead series artist, Ergün Gündüz, and by Giovanni Timpano, who draws the two-page prologues that lead each issue  There is enough Vampirella stuff in this second issue, as in the first, to bring regular bloodsuckers back...

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Vampirella comics will want to read Vampirella Year One Volume 1.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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