The past is such a drag.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Rahner
Art: Jethro Morales
What They Say:
Ash’s pals in 1300 A.D. are so happy to meet Vampirella that they introduce her to a friend of their own: Black Friar Thomas, who wants to put her on trial as a witch! That is, a trial by ordeal! And with the massive Deadite onslaught imminent, what better time?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though the first two installments of this series weren’t knocks out of the park, I’ve found myself enjoying the Vampirella and Army of Darkness crossover for what it is. Simple, straightforward, and fun. Bringing these two characters together in 1300 with all the problems that comes from it while dealing with their personalities works surprisingly well. Most of the personality comes from Ash as one might expect, but Vampirella’s gotten in a few good nods herself with what she’s doing, especially since the first issue had her in full on super-vampire mode and then recovering from that the last time around. Which is probably for the best as he’s not quite ready to suffer the backwards and superstitious lot that exists in this day and age.
Which makes things more complicated here since she’s now been formally accused of being a witch. That’s not an easy thing to deal with, particularly since so many of the things that can classify you as being one are things that any person would have happen to them. When Arthur sets Black Friar Thomas to oversee the trial of Vampirella, the first trial by ordeal that she has to go through is sticking her arm into a boiling cauldron of holy water. If her skin burns, she’s a witch. Which at least has Ash realizing that it’s pretty stupid/crazy. His reactions to a lot of this are enjoyable to watch as he knows she’s being railroaded and recommends she gets out of there while speaking to her on the side and sly. Unfortunately, since it was his screwup that brought her there, she needs him and those he’s with to try and get back to her time. So she can’t just cut loose and deal with everyone in a simple way.
The two trials she faces are fun in the sense that you know she’ll breeze right through them so you end up enjoying the commentary and snarky remarks that go on. But you also enjoy it when Vampirella takes control of the situation, using her knowledge of of this period of history to push back against the friar and all that he’s doing. It’s not a surprise that so many are avoiding getting involved, owing to the supremacy of the church at this point, but she has a few choice remarks to make and combined with her making it past the trials it ends up putting her in a good spot. The amusing thing is that they’ve latched on so hard to her being a witch that when they try to find out if she’s lying, she says clearly that she’s a vampire. Not one there to devour them, but one nonetheless. It has a great Army of Darkness sensibility about it that keeps it light and almost silly to the point where you’d bang your head against the wall if you saw it in person.
In Summary:
This crossover miniseries largely continues in the same vein as what we had before but now it has more of Vampirella’s attitude sprinkled into it. She’s not one to suffer fools lightly yet she knows there are times when you have to play by the rules of another before you can assert yourself. She does well here in suffering listening to Ash as he continues to be largely useless so the dynamic there is certainly amusing, more so since I’m a Vampirella fan more than an Army of Darkness fan. Rahner’s script captures that Army of Darkness style well though and it makes for some silly and light reading as we had into the finale next time around. Morales’ artwork is again solid and appropriate here, giving us an interesting little nudge to the usual Vampirella design, while mostly hitting the time period right. It’s light on backgrounds and overall stage dressing but it manages to work for the period and the general minimalist approach that lets the characters take the focus. There’s definitely some fun background character images to be had this time around.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 9th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
