The calm before the next storm.
Creative Staff:
Story: Thomas Sniegoski
Art: Michael Sta. Maria
Colors: Omi Remalante Jr.
Letterer: Troy Peteri
What They Say:
Writer Tom Sniegoski continues to weave a post-apocalyptic tale featuring a literal hell on earth as a reborn Vampirella fights against the literal forces of chaos to save humanity from its ultimate destruction!
The war between Order and Chaos has come to an end, and as the dust settles, humanity begins the process of rising from the ashes. Vampirella, forever changed, must begin a journey across the barren landscape of a world ravaged by the supernatural…
But is it too late for her to regain her lost humanity?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve definitely been enjoying Thomas Sniegoski’s run on this book and there’s a good sense of closure with this issue. There’s still more of this tale to come that he has in mind but what we get here takes care of the initial main storyline that involved Vampirella being brought back to life This installment gives us a bit more of Michael Sta. Maria on the artwork and as it’s a mostly dialogue-oriented one, it definitely is captured well to set the mood with all that’s happening. This is pretty much an epilogue installment and it handles setting up what the next phase of the series is to be like and that covers a lot of characters.
With Nyx out of the picture, for now, that leaves the winners the real problem of what to do with all the monsters. They know the best course of action is complete eradication but there aren’t the numbers for it and someone will rally them before they can get much accomplished, which is the bigger worry since the vacuum of leadership will get filled. For Vampirella, she’s in a serious struggle all of her own here as her being as violent and angry as she was with Nyx has her worried about her true nature, the pull of dark and light within her that has set her apart. It’s a good introspective piece brought out beautifully through the visuals, but it gets to the core of her making the decision about who she wants to be and how she wants to move forward, something most everyone is afraid to ask.
Which our young character has no problem with as she fills them in on the group’s talk. For Vampirella, she knows that she has to take some control over the monsters without being a full-on leader of them. And she does handle it creatively enough so that she can partake in the events of the real world, further establishing her place in things. It is amusing that nobody feels they can ask but since she already knows, it’s something that’s dealt with well, giving the monsters a chance to settle down and figure out some form of co-existence as otherwise, it’ll be utter destruction. It really is just kicking the can down the road for a bit but it sets in motion for Vampirella to get some time away from all of this, a little time to journey and not fight in the same way so she can rediscover herself in this new world.
In Summary:
Vengeance of Vampirella continues to deliver the storytelling for the character that I enjoy the most and I’m excited to see where the next stage of it. That it took twenty issues to tell this particular tale is something that I really liked as I can imagine many would cram it down to pure basics in six issues and it would just be an overstuffed run. There are plenty of places the book can go from here and I’m excited to get a slimmed down cast for a bit with a focus on Vampirella and seeing more of what this world is like as Nyx’s power and rule wanes.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 21st, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
