A vampire after my own heart.
Creative Staff:
Story: Leah Williams
Art: Maria Sanapo
Colors: Ceci de la Cruz
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Mardi Gras may still be a couple weeks away, but that doesn’t mean spirits aren’t stirring! Valentine’s Day is New Orlean’s version of Halloween—the one day a year that’s a supernatural free-for-all, when all the ghosts and ghoulies come out to feast on the spirits and flesh of horny tourists. Let’s just say there’s going to be big trouble in the Big Easy!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
We’ve had a lot of different specials and miniseries for Vampirella over the last couple of years that has taken her to crossovers and some solid explorations of her own. The crossovers with other properties feels like there’ve been more of those lately so getting to a standalone story that has her dealing with the other creatures of the night is surprisingly very welcome. Leah Williams puts together a story that feels very Vampirella here as she heads down to New Orleans and it’s made into a really enjoyable work thanks to Maria Sanapo and Ceci de la Cruz. The artwork on this is wonderful with great character designs, a really solid flow for the story through the layouts, and the color work that gives us some strong vivid areas as well as some great darker areas. It’s a fantastic team that I already want more of.
The story for this one is fun if a little busy as we get Vampi being called down to New Orleans to help figure out what’s going on with thirteen kids having gone missing. That setup goes south quickly as she discovers a Lamia at the address that had called her and it’s gobbled the kids up like pizzas being delivered, resulting in a lot of eggs being laid. As it turns out, she was actually called by a local named Val who orchestrated it in a way to conceal who was behind it as he wants her help in dealing with a number of other issues. That it’s the last day of Mardi Gras means that there’s a lot of creatures of the night out and about and they’re causing a lot of trouble – but also are a lot more accessible for someone like her. And Val, with a heavy accent, has a fair amount of skills himself in the fighting arts that lets him stand by her side in dealing with it.
The book works us through a few different types, which is definitely enjoyable as it reminds me of a run on Vampirella a few years back that explored the various creatures that exist, their histories, and why Vampirella deals with them as she does. This delves into women that were brought to Louisana two hundred years ago as brides to be with interesting stories behind it that aren’t always true. We also get werewolves and more along the way. There’s a bigger story and a slight twist of sorts that isn’t too hard to see along the way when it comes to Val but the reality is that the story is fun and engaging because of how well they work together. The individual smaller stories are wrapped up quickly as it’s a busy night to get things done but Williams never makes it feel like it’s rushed. It’s just appealing through both story and artwork as it’s brought to life.
In Summary:
This issue also includes a short backup story from the 2005 Vampirella Summer Special that’s a fun littel black and white theater piece from writer/artist Michael Golden. It’s a nice inclusion but it reminds me that I’m more interested in where Dynamite is taking Vampirella today than they were almost fifteen years ago. With this modern special, there’s a lot to like here. Williams crafts a straightforward story overall that may be somewhat predictable but it does it with style and flair that works very well, even if some of the dialogue aspects felt a bit forced when my mind would “hear” them regardless. Maria Sanapo has been a favorite artist of mine that I don’t get to see enough of for a while now and her work here, especially with the beautiful colors from Ceci de la Cruz, is just fantastic. I love how Vampi looks, the New Orleans elements, and how Val is presented. It’s a great little one-off story that has me hoping for a revisit with the two down the line someday.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 13th, 2019
MSRP: $4.99
