Three tales to sleigh you.
Creative Staff:
Story: Will Robson, Vincenzo Federici
Art: Will Robson, Vincenzo Federici
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse, Matt Herms, Kike J. Diaz
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
What They Say:
WRECK THE HALLS! Vampirella is hunted (haunted?) by THE SPIRITS OF CHRISTMAS, hunters whose holiday tradition is to hunt a mythical creature every Christmas Eve! Is Vampirella prepared for an evening against the battle-ready manifestations of The Past, The Present and The Future!? By writer/artist WILL ROBSON (Fantastic Four)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The holiday special season is upon us and Vampirella is one of the first up for it. This expanded installment has three tales with the first one from Will Robson coming in at about twenty pages or so as the dominant main story. It’s a fun enough if familiar tale but it’s one worth getting just for the gorgeous and highly detailed artwork and the strong layouts that we get with it. Robson has Vampirella being marked as the game for the night on Christmas Eve by three beings that are playing at being Past, Present, and Future that are hunting her down with a number of supernatural beings under their control. Each has their own approach in how to hunt based on the name so there’s a familiarity aspect there. Vampirella manages to take a lot of hits in this one as there’s so much thrown at her but watching that is a lot of fun as is when she manages to inevitably turn the tables and put this game in its proper place. Robson delivers a simple story and straightforward characters but it’s executed so strongly with the artwork that it’s one I can see revisiting yearly.
The second tale comes from Vincenzo Federici with color work by Matt Herms and it’s a five-page or so piece that has Vampirella in Hong Kong for the holiday only to have to deal with a rampaging kaiju. It’s not deep on story for obvious reasons but it’s fun to watch her bash about with the giant beast, some light Christmas material, and a lot of blood. It’s also interesting to see how different Federici’s artwork is depending on the colorist with the next story that’s colored by Kike J. Diaz.
The final story is a wordless piece that’s hilarious in that we see her hunting in the snow and coming across Santa Claus facing off against a woodland-style monster. She joins in the fight for a great action sequence but it’s a lost cause as Santa is too wounded. That has her taking the hat and flying his sleigh, albeit one with bats for reindeer with one having a nose that glows oh so bright. It’s very cute and silly and works really well as a vibrant piece of fluff. Diaz’s color work really provides a sharp contrast to Herms in the previous story but both bring out Federici’s artwork in fascinating ways and I really like both approaches. But it is a good reminder of how much the colorist brings to the page.
In Summary:
Holiday specials can be really hit or miss and often within the same book if it’s multiple tales. We get three tales from talented creators here that are doing double duty as writers and artists. Both of them present very different things and I really enjoyed all of them overall, especially just in the delight of short-form storytelling and the challenges presented there. Robson’s artwork is just amazing to look at with all of its details and how each panel is laid out while Federici has some really great action sequences and a very different look depending on who is coloring it. This is probably one of my favorite holiday specials to read in a long time.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 17th, 2021
MSRP: $4.99
