Upping the ante each time.
Creative Staff:
Story: Thomas Sniegoski
Art: Michael Sta. Maria
Colors: Omi Remalante Jr.
Letterer: Troy Peteri
What They Say:
Who or what is Abaddon and will its dark secrets be used to save the world from Mistress Nyx and her forces of Chaos…or destroy it? Vampirella must walk the line between Heaven and Hell to find out. Plus, Mazarin and his Undead forces make their presence known—a new dark power has entered the game to challenge Nyx for world domination.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Vengeance of Vampirella series has been delivering pretty well for me with what it’s been doing, reaching into the familiar lore and giving us a future that Vampirella really needs to do something about helping. Thomas Sniegoski has kept expanding upon things with each issue but also having accomplishments come along the way as well, including adding more characters and discoveries, so it feels like we’re making progress. Michael Sta. Maria returns for the art duties on this installment and it looks great once again whether it’s dealing with the action, the interrogations, or focusing on an array of strange and unusual creatures as they get ready to slaughter a lot of people.
The opening for this digs into some of the larger history of the universe and how Abaddon relates to it, what with his being discovered in the basement of the safe house the last time around. With him basically being the final weapon when it comes to eliminating the world for the heaven’s above, he’s frustrated by not being employed but there’s definitely some sighs of relief that he’s not been used yet or in the wrong hands. The problem is that he knows that the rot in the world is strong and he’s sensed for a long time now that it’s been his calling to end things, he’s just not been able to do so. Vampirella’s obviously glad for that but there’s an amusing wink in Abaddon’s eyes about wanting to get on with things and do what he’s been put into the world to do.
Nyx, on the other hand, is moving forward with her plans to quash the rebellion and hope that’s swelling up because of what Vampirella has done. She’s managed to secure one person with some knowledge and has used some creative creatures in order to extract the knowledge of where the rest are. This makes for a terrible run on the mall where they’ve been hiding out but it also sets things in motion with the safe house as Nyx sends people to attack there as well in order to just mess with everyone. It plays to some good action but it’s really just setting things in motion where each side goes to outdo the other and in bigger ways each time. This works to some degree, at least as a reader because each of them has a lot at their disposal – especially Vampirella with Abaddon now.
In Summary:
I’m still curious as to the overall direction of this series and its intended running length as well as what comes afterward. Vampirella can easily be picked up in any time period and worked with from there so that’s a plus and I do like the potential of what this time period offers in doing something new, especially a kind of rebuilding thing once Nyx is dealt with – because Nyx must be dealt with. There are some very fun moments here throughout with the fights and the designs but it’s a slow start with the history lesson which doesn’t quite get you as engaged right off the bat as you might like. Still, it covers all the necessary ground and gets us ready for the next level of this back and forth fight that Vampirella is now part of escalating.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 22nd, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
