When a job ends, usually your employer’s don’t try to kill you.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Patrick Berkenkotter / Dennis Crisotomo
What They Say:
Upon learning of Vampirella being marked as a vessel for Lady Umbra, Demon-Queen of the Shadows, her contacts in Cestus Dei label her a threat and send an elite hit-squad of monster-killers–the Mallus Maleficarum, aka the Witch-Hammer–lead by the implacable Father Nicodemus, to dispose of her. With her world abruptly turned upside down, Vampirella finds herself unexpectedly allied with the strangest bedfellow imaginable.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While the opening installment of Vampirella under Nancy Collins didn’t knock my socks off, she provided a pretty solid starting point that made it fairly accessible for new readers to jump on. With the character celebrating a 45th anniversary this year, there’s a lot of history there that can be daunting for some fans. So making it accessible is important if you want to bring on new fans while also providing all sorts of spinoffs and one-shots to engage the existing fanbase, many of whom will jump onto a new work regardless. Collins worked well with the art team of PAtrick Berkenkotter and Dennis Crisostomo so we ended up with a book that was solidly put together and opened a decent enough storyline but felt like it was missing something critical to make it a must-read book.
With this issue, that’s starting to change. And in a pretty interesting way. While we saw Vampirella dealing with what she was sent to face in the opening issue and discovering that the old adversary of Ethan Shroud was involved, it did not go well for those she was trying to help and that’s left her in a bad enough place mentally because failure certainly takes its toll. But what’s worse is that Shroud managed to place a curse on her that has corrupted her status with the organization she’s been working with/for. Because of that corruption, she’s now on the outs with them and hasn’t realized it. This has its potential, though it’s awkward executed in a way as the organization sends their best hunter after her, a man named Nicodemus. But before he arrives, they evict her from her residence as a way to get her out to a new safe house that’s actually a trap. It just feels like it’s too big of a warning in a way, though it does work because she’s so confused by the events that she’s easily taken advantage of. A mixed moment to be sure.
The encounter with Nicodemus in the dark of the night is done rather well since she is trusting of the other priest that takes her out there since she has had a lengthy and solid relationship with the organization. But when it turns to her being attacked, and feeling some pretty intense attacks coming from Nicodemus, she definitely wakes up to the reality of it and that’s a plus since it now severs the relationship she had, at least for now. But it’s where it goes that makes me intrigued. She ends up being rescued by a Nosferatu in large bat form that whisks her away. His time with her is largely dialogue filled as he makes it clear that a lot of the “apex hunters” of his kind have come to enjoy the way the world is now and view what’s coming as the real threat. Enough so that a joining of forces should be at hand. There’s a lot of distrust to be put into play here, even with Vampirella seeing the smartness in at least checking it out, and that’s definitely for the best. Whether Vampirella is really trusting him or not, she doesn’t seem wary. And you’d think one would be after Nicodemus and the others that were pulled from her life. Still, the idea of bringing in those things that go bump in the night to work with her offers a clear cut if potentially twisty path for her to follow and that gives the series a direction that wasn’t really apparent in the first issue.
In Summary:
While I was excited to have a new Vampirella series that I could get in on at the ground floor for the most part, the opening issue felt like it was missing a bit of an opportunity to make it truly accessible. It provided enough but I felt like it could have done a bit more. It also didn’t sink its hooks in enough to really say you must come back for me. With this issue, you can feel the hooks sinking in though as we see where Collins wants to go with the story, at least for the moment. Putting a hunter in league with those she would normally hunt isn’t an unusual angle to work with, even in the larger context of her being corrupted and hunted by those she worked with before, but it has a good feeling here because of the bigger picture and how our new vampire makes it clear there are some real goals to be had here that align together. The enemy of my enemy… it does work. This issue definitely increases the interest level and sets the stage for where it’s going to go in a clearer way.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 2nd, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
