The joys of sisterhood.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Patrick Berkenkotter
What They Say:
The identity of the third conspirator behind Dr. Faustus’ insane plot to free The Accursed from their immortality by destroying the world is finally revealed–and proves to have a shocking connection to Vampirella. Also, a figure from Vampirella’s past–a character dating back to her earliest Warren magazine appearances–makes a dramatic return–with a vengeance. Discover the surprising truth about Vampirella’s origin that even she doesn’t know in the final chapter of The Accursed story arc: “The Farmer’s Daughters”.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Vampirella bringing in Draculina from the Feary Tales series, it’s definitely been interesting to pull all of that together. So many miniseries have no real impact on a main ongoing series these days that it becomes quite disposable or unimportant, which a number of fans will pass over. But the debut of Draculina in that book has tied into some significant changes to the story here with Vampirella’s origins, amid the ongoing arc about the plague that’s being set loose to try and end the world. That arc draws to a conclusion here, admittedly in a kind of abrupt way, but it fills in a lot of blanks that opens up a lot more exploration of Vampirella as a character herself, and tying together a lot of different threads to how this particular world works.
Now that Draculina has made her way into the real world, her appearance at Cain’s was a surprise since I expected it to be launched in a separate arc, but it ties in wonderfully here as she reveals that she and Vampirella are Cain’s daughters, and she refuses to let her father go with her. That provides the action component of the book, which is dealt within the first third and wrapped up tightly, but it works well to expose both how Vampirella is the same as she always ways and how she’s grown as well. Since she’s regaining memories or coming to grips with feelings of the past, the fight is a rough one for her where Draculina plays far dirtier and with more at hand, but Vampirella plays to win rather than the banter and gloating, which allows her more calculated approach to take the stage. Of course, while it ends with a win for Vampirella, it’s only so much so since Draculina is off on her own by the end and likely setting up her own vengeance for the future.
While that’s all well and good, I admit that I’m a sucker for the back story material that Collins is creating here, and getting an expansion on Cain’s past works well. Through him, we see what happened after he was exiled and the kind of long history he had with all the pain to it that comes from those that bore the Mark with his offspring. That, with his immortality, explains away some of why he was agreeable to the impossible plan Faustus had of creating a plague that could even end the lives of the Accursed, as that fear of walking a dead, lifeless world with those of the same kind instills a kind of chilling fear. The cost of such a plan isn’t something he took into account, since he figured it would never work, but that really does make it clear why he would agree to it in basic sense. But we also get a bit of exploration of how he connected with Lilith, and why it worked so well between them, but also how Vampirella had known he was her father before her memories were suppressed. It definitely reworks your view in several ways and leaves you even more curious as to how this family will operate going forward, both individually and as a whole.
In Summary:
Closing this arc definitely hits at about the right time and it’s done with a lengthy exploration of what caused all of this to really take root. It’s not shunted to just a few pages with action dominating it, but rather the reverse where the action is dealt with quickly and a real exploration of how it all came about is given time to breathe. Draculina is someone I’m hoping to see used well here as time goes on, or even a brief spinoff of her own to let her material come together, as I really want to see more of how Vampirella is going to handle her new kingdom more as well as a bit more on the Kabal and what they offer. But as we get further into the series, I’m finding myself more and more intrigued by it and wanting more than I thought I would before. The first arc took a bit to really get into it, but this one has been playing very well with its looks at the Accursed and what drives them. Definitely a lot of fun and a solid conclusion to the arc.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 8th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
