“Old School”
Creative Staff:
Story: Christos Gage
Art: Marc Borstel
Colors: Jordie Escuin Llorach
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
demonic and human sides — a curse that could cause their utter destruction! But now a crisis looms as her brother, Unison, comes into his cosmic powers and threatens to consume all of reality! Nyx must team up with her partners from the swinging ’70s — the Vampirella and Pantha of that far-out era — to stop the end of everything. But if it comes down to it, can she kill her own brother? She’ll have to if she’s going to save the universe itself!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Nyx handling the kids as best as she can and having come up with a decent plan for it, the variables are starting to show more and we’re seeing how it’s spiraling out of her control. Kids have a mind of their own and there are others that get in the mix as well. As we’ve said, this series has been a surprise as Christos Gage’s work with it has delivered a pretty good experience, which is something I wasn’t getting from the Vampirella books where Nyx previously appeared. This one feels like a natural evolution and Nyx is able to take a far better place in things on her own. Marc Borstel has a decent handle on the artwork with designs that work but some of it just feels awkward at times with how Nyx carries herself and some of the flow of the action.
This installment takes us back to either the late 80s or early 90s as we see Pendragon trying to drum up some funds with Pantha and Vampirella as the magic act is faltering. That means the women are doing horror movies of sorts and there’s some decent humor mixed in with that. The problem is that it all falls apart quickly as the arrival of Adam and his father reveals that some big evil is inbound. That turns out to be Unison, who has decided that he needs to consume the universe in order to understand it based on what he’s learned about the world so far. It’s pretty standard semi-teenager kind of rebellion stuff and Nyx even gets some of that from the pair she assigned to raise him as Unison shifted them from hippies to yuppies during the 80s and they’re in a really strange place. It doesn’t help with dealing with Unison though.
Nyx joining up with everyone as they battle against Unison in New York City is amusing because she has the context of the years to come and even Unison calls them out on it along the way in how all their lives will change. It’s fun to see Nyx realizing how wrong she had these people for so long and at this time before she met them for the first time and it’s amusing to see how she leans more toward Adam’s father in order to deal with Unison and even lets Pandragon know that his legacy is a good one. It’s not what you would have expected out of Nyx prior to this series or even at the start of it and it shows her growth well. As does how she struggles with what she has to do with Unison – and the trick she uses to get him to defeat himself – which makes it a hard thing to watch in general. It’s made worse when she goes to check in on another of the kids after the fact with those feelings only to discover that dear old dad has already gotten involved.
In Summary:
Nyx continues to be one of the best surprises of the past year or so for me as it took its original idea and really built on it beautifully. We’re seeing some more of the fallout from what Nyx has attempted to do in order to deal with her father and other issues and it’s going to be a mixed bag all things considered. But that was really a given. It’s definitely fun to see this come together as it does and by taking this sidebar into the past and referencing, albeit lightly, some of the events of the 90s era Vampirella storytelling is definitely enjoyable. The book continues to be engaging with how its characters interact and Borstel’s artwork really does work well, especially when dealing with oddities like Unison.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 20th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
