The world just isn’t right.
Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Cornell
Art: Jimmy Broxton
Colors: Jimmy Broxton
Letterer: Travis Lanham
What They Say:
After a sleep of over a thousand years, Vampirella finds herself back among the land of the living, but in a world far different than the one she remembers, where hope is laced with fear and blood has a far different taste. And speaking of taste, finding an appropriate outfit for the era leads our fanged fatale to a chance encounter that will garner her not one but two potential allies.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Vampirella getting a shorter zero issue earlier last month, Paul Cornell and Jimmy Broxton set up an interesting shift for the title character to go through. Having read a lot of Vampirella stories from Dynamite over the last few years and getting into more of it than not, this run is shaking things up a bit in the same way that the crossover with the Aliens property did. Putting the character into something new, something uncertain, gives it a fresh approach while also making sure that there’s enough of a hook for fans to keep sticking with it. Cornell certainly attempts to do that here, though I think it might be a bit divisive, while Broxton’s style and attempt at going in an amusing direction of “normalizing” her attire makes for a very worthy read.
We saw before that she had been asleep for a thousand years only to be awoken now, climbing out of some deep tomb to discover a world that smells of sulphur and hell in a way that she can’t quite pin down. Her origin point here, upon discovering the book that recounts her own confusing and conflicting past, is just by Mount Rushmore and that has its own questions. What it does serve is a launching point for her to find something normal after dealing with strange people in angelic/demonic suits of armor that are trying to kill her with no real reason or reasoning behind them. The push toward Los Angeles makes the most sense since that’s where she was most recently in the present day and if you’re going to get a handle on the world that is, well, might as well go to what’s likely one of the more extreme places for it.
Broxton and Cornell present a very disturbing future here in this smaller but clean and sterile city that’s contrasted with such outgoing and garish people that are in a strange kind of forced happiness. It’s unclear of the why and how of the mindset as the dialogue from the people of this place and time is weirdly stilted and nonsensical to someone from the past, and in a way it’s not as far gone as it needs to be considering the gap in time. But Cornell uses it well to give us a strange world where Vampirella’s usual desire to dress and look shocking would not stand out, hence forcing her way to getting something “reserved” that she insists is classy. Combined with a short haircut, Broxton’s new design is just fantastic and it allows us to see how the darker side of her is coming to life as she explores what life – and death – is like in this world now and how she can be the tool of disruption that she now craves to be.
In Summary:
I have no idea where the team here is going with things and that’s exciting. Broxton’s future Los Angeles is weird (and feels like it’s filled with strange dildos attached to much of the architecture) and alluring at the same time as is how Vampirella reverses her usual approach in order to shock. Cornell is obviously working with a solid plan for the opening arc with what he wants to do and past works certainly earn a lot of trust since there are some pretty weird directions that he likes to go that make for some really solid introspective moments and explorations. Though the zero issue in some ways works a bit better for me, the combination of that and this issue opens Vampi up to a whole new world and I’m excited to see how she’s going to cut loose and shake it all up. I’m fully on board and am hoping for a few more answers, and more intriguing questions, sooner rather than later.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 15th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
