A dangerous opponent becomes more so.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kristina Deak-Linsner
Art: Joseph Michael Linsner
Colors: Ceci de la Cruz
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
What They Say:
Vampirella and Evily are hot on the trail of their prey due to a hot tip from a Florist friend. Evily realizes she must have Klovus, her “Agathion” present to successfully perform the “Arrow Of Time” spell. Clare is sending them telepathic messages from her comatose state. Blake and Natalia are scheming to find their next victim.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a four-month gap between the first and second issues, the three-month gap between the second and the third is at least something of an improvement. Again, I think Kristina Deal-Linsner is doing a solid job with the script here as it’s an enjoyable enough work and wrapping it up in the next issue is smart as it doesn’t overstay its welcome with the cast of characters and the story itself. I also continue to like Linsner’s artwork on the series as it has a particular style that clicks well and fits in with other takes alongside it in other series. But the gaps between issues are just making it hard to really engage with the book as a whole. I enjoy the story as it unfolds here and the characters but there’s no momentum going into it and coming out of it you just wonder how long until the next issue. Supposedly it comes out in two weeks, but we’ll see.
With this issue, the two women have definitely clicked well together and their diner time in the last issue was definitely solid. Here, they’re off to visit Vampi’s friend Parish who runs the flower shop where the roses have been coming from. He’s actually managed to snag the woman who was in for the latest rose and that gives them some opportunity for questioning. There’s some amusing material in the introduction of Parish as he’s a vampire as well but we get some nice trust out of Evily from the get go since she’s far more interested in Natalia, the woman who came in. Because she’s a junkie and all over the map mentally, Parish knocked her out with a bite and that’s letting Evily get inside her mind. Which, naturally, is a non-linear mess and impossible to really get a read on.
Her waking up doesn’t help matters either as she’s just an argumentative mess and playing up her role for Blake in a way that indicates she’s lying about a lot of things. But she does get a little help from him from afar in unleashing some vipers that Parish had, leading to a fun little action sequence. But the meat of the book comes more toward the end as we see Blake in his apartment where his narration goes on with him enjoying the memories of the women he’s destroyed in the past, quenching a thirst that nothing else can compare. Natalia’s arrival there, after some screwups along the way, just puts him in an even more foul mood and her end is practically here with how badly he treats here for all that she messed up. Blake’s still something of an enigma but as a Big Bad he’s given us what we need with this to make it quite clear, if the earlier material wasn’t enough already.
In Summary:
With this issue, I find myself quite liking Vampi’s new outfit and some of her casual elements in how she carries herself as always. Even when things are bad there’s a lightness to her that shines through and that helps a lot. Evily has some good moments here as well but she feels a little reduced compared to the first two issues, which is fine since it’s more of an ensemble piece here with all that’s going on. I continue to like the concept, the book, the characters, the artwork… everything. But it unfortunately becomes forgettable because of the delays considering that it started last June.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 30th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
