Faced with ultimate darkness and chaos, Vampirella is at a serious crossroads.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Patrick Berkenkotter
What They Say:
In “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, the final chapter in the “Our Lady of Shadows” story arc, Vampirella must battle the King of the Nosferatu- the oldest vampire in existence-if she wants to keep the demonic Lady Umbra from laying claim to her body and soul, thereby triggering the start of the Apocalypse. As she frantically races against the clock, the sudden reappearance of Father Nicodemus and the Vatican’s elite hit squad, the Witches Hammer, threatens to ruin everything. Can Vampirella break free of Lady Umbra’s control in time to save an innocent little girl from being sacrificed by Ethan Shroud, or will her heart finally fall into eternal shadow?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Vampirella has largely worked well for me throughout this six issue storyline involving our lead doing her best to stave off the chaos of the end of the world. Having been marked by Lady Umbra, Queen of the Shadows near the start through the machinations of Ethan Shroud, she’s been on a whirlwind journey around the world to meet and eliminate a number of rare and ancient vampire breeds in order to gain their power and strength. It’s a familiar enough concept in this world and watching as she worked through different cultures and the creatures that lived within them was fun. It was like educational entertainment in a way, just in regards to creepy vampire stories. All of it turned into a not unexpected direction in the fifth issue though when she ended up in Kauzstadt where Drago made it clear that he was the final boss.
I think everyone saw that coming. Not that it’s not a bad plot device, but it has a certain predictability after the way the two worked together for awhile that even Vampirella knew that things were going to end up in this way but she had little other choice but to work with him. Drago has been a mixed bag with his personality, and that carries right through here as he makes it clear why he did it all. While Vampirella only needed to kill and drink his blood in order to face Lady Umbra and eliminate the Mark, she was nowhere near strong enough to do that. So he took her on the journey to build her up and put her in a position where she just might defeat him. His reasoning for all of this feels shrouded, though some of it may just be that he wanted to finally face someone worthy and had to elevate them himself. Or he may just wanted to be done with this world, which is the case (we believe!) after the multi-page fight plays out as Vampirella goes all out in just trying to cut him down. With time running out, she’s in no mood for his usual talkative nature.
I like how it all played out as the two certainly make for an interesting fight and some decent back story comes to light as well. We even see how things shift after Drago’s death and Vampirella becomes the Queen of the Nosferatu, something that I’m really hoping gets explored as there’s a lot of potential there. But it has to deal with the Lady Umbra storyline first, and that’s its own kettle of fish. Her confrontation, after dealing with her minions, is really fun to see since you have someone like Umbra who is similar to Drago in a way where it’s a lot of talk instead of doing as she enjoys the playtime part of the encounter. Vampirella, on the other hand, is all about just getting things done. And boy does she. It’s not a short sequence and there’s a good sense of power and evil about Umbra that works well both in dialogue and visual design, but it feels like it could have been an issue all to itself to really delve into it.
In Summary:
The conclusion of this arc, the opening storyline of this new series, is pretty strong. We’ve had a lot of Vampirella material in the last few months as we see different portrayals of the character, but I’m enjoying what Nancy A. Collins is doing here with her take on it and doing something larger. There was a little predictability with the ancient creature of the issue storyline, but it’s built up well to an intriguing conclusion here that has me far more interested in seeing where it’s going. She’s managed to provide the right kind of creepy factor to things and examine the scale of the darkness of the nosferatu in the world while Patrick Berkenkotter has done a great job of presenting it all with its variety and design – all while not making Vampirella nothing more than cheesecake shots. Playing it straight with her here has been a big boon for it to be taken a bit more seriously while still finding plenty of appeal in the design and general nature of the characters sexuality, which I hope will find a place in this series at some point.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 5th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
