Two women you most certainly do not want mad at you.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Dave Acosta
What They Say:
In the final issue of this ground-breaking mini-series, “The Vampire and the Vigilante”, two of the Dynamite Universe’s most dangerous female characters must put aside their differences in order to combat a common enemy determined to destroy them. While Jennifer Blood must figure out how to kill legions of the Prince’s un-killable Shard Men, Vampirella throws down against fellow-bloodsucker Chastity to decide, once and for all, who is the greatest female vampire-turned-vampire hunter of all time!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With varying types of miniseries running alongside the main event for Swords of Sorrow, there’s been plenty of familiar structural elements as one would expect. Though we’re getting the gang together in full in the main book, these side series have allowed us to focus on the lesser known characters to an extent while they end up coming into a position of looking for the more powerful members/generals they need to lead the way. Which is what Vampirella is, so having her off to the side running around with Jennifer Blood, first as opponents and then on the same side, has worked well to give them both cause while setting up for things in the future between them and others. Predictable to be sure, but it’s been well executed and with some very solid artwork along the way.
With the finale here, it goes about as you’d expect as we get the final fight now that the real “mastermind” behind events has revealed herself. With Chastity having taken the job of retrieving the sword from Vampirella for the Prince, she’s worked a fairly elaborate plan by drawing her to this world and then using what’s going on there to her advantage. Unfortunately, after seeing both Vampirella and Jennifer against each other, the local gangs made things a lot more complicated for her and essentially turned it all around so that the two were now on the same side against a common foe. Again, familiar storytelling and familiar superhero comic routine. But there’s been some fun in seeing how the two have viewed what’s going on, Vampirella being a world where there’s nothing like her there, and Jennifer as she copes with the idea of vampires and large scale interdimensional acts going on that could spell the end of her world.
This installment largely turns on the action though, which has a good deal of fun as it unfolds. Jennifer has to deal with the rank and file and it’s mostly just her trying to stay ahead of them while realizing her bullets aren’t doing that much – what little ammo she has left after dealing with the gang members. This turns most of the attention on Vampirella as she works against Chastity, who naturally spends some of her time with the background exposition and whatnot. It works well for the most part because we see Vampi being kept on her toes and pushing back at her own pace while Jennifer gets a few good nods in as well, proving that she and Vampi can still definitely work well together. Everything is set up towards what’s to come in the end, but the arc itself is one that has worked out well, coming together with a sense of closure here but also of what the next chapter brings.
In Summary:
Though I went into this arc without knowing anything about Jennifer Blood, it was something that worked well even if it went into too much background exposition early on. That’s part of the point of the spin off series so I can’t begrudge it too much because it is trying to introduce readers to more of the characters in Dynamite’s stable. I liked this issue overall for what it did since it was mostly action focused, had some decent banter along the way and paired our two leads together in a solid way. Acosta’s artwork comes through well, even if the usual heavy hand of dark coloring is used throughout to obscure detail, and giving us a lot of time between Vampi and Chastity feels like a lot of payoff right there. It’s a solid installment that brings things to a close while letting you know that it’s all really just getting underway in the bigger picture.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 19th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
