This will not go well.
Creative Staff:
Story: Amy Chu
Art: Laura Sanapo
Colorist: Mohan
Letterer: Taylor Esposito, Rieanna Bates
What They Say:
Betty and Veronica in the worst vacation destination ever: Drakulon! Trapped on a hot planet full of thirsty vampiri. Where are Vampirella and Red Sonja when you need them?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The previous issue of this series had a fun little turn as we got to deal with a different situation, almost like a bottle episode, and now things are on track with the main storyline. Amy Chu is clearly having fun with this series and sometimes we get some good snark out of the characters that definitely feels appropriate for what they’re going through. And with Laura Sanapo back in the artist’s chair here, doing some solid work with Mohan’s color design, it’s definitely fun to shift gears to Drakulon and see how things are still pretty much terrible there. It’s certainly a familiar thing over the years but I look forward to getting something different from this place someday.
Draculina’s arrival through the portal there with Betty and Veronica in tow is certainly amusing as they make their journey forward. Neither of the girls like this place and its heat and you know neither would take Draculina’s suggestion to wear what she’s wearing there in order to cope with it. But they do need Draculina as we get some of the scavenger types hungrily coming after them now, only to be saved by one of Draculina’s servants, Vudosol. This helps to keep the girls alive but they’re only now starting to realize just what kind of plans Draculina has for them as they’re tossed in the “food farm pit” that they’ve had for decades nearby the ruins that Draculina works out of. It’s got a solid call out to Vampirella and her lack of commitment to their homeworld and where they grew up, making clear some of the tension that still definitely exists.
While the book does go and bring everyone together at the end with a mild surprise, it explores two areas before that. For Betty and Veronica, they meet a guy in the pit that has been there since 1974 that serves to essentially manage those that she brings there from Earth before they’re feasted on. That he has a connection to Jack – and is very upset upon learning Jack is a CEO – provides a little connection to events. But it’s getting more of Draculina’s story here that helps the most as we see some of the fruits of her working with Jack and his company, using her sexuality to get what she needed from him and from pork and chicken processors in order to build a way to better manage the human stock they need to consume from. It plays well and while it’s just a little unclear some of the how of what she’s doing, the Matrix-like elements are nicely placed.
In Summary:
This series continues to be a lot of fun and I like seeing how Betty and Veronica are handling their time on Drakulon. I will be disappointed if we don’t get a goofy reason to get them into the same outfits as our other leading ladies but the jokes about it are worthwhile here. Draculina’s big plan is one that honestly makes sense and one imagines that with some real dialogue is something you’d find people willing to help out with rather than being kidnapped. But that’s the fun of a series like this in that you don’t go for the real-world solutions. There’s a good bit going on here and I’m enjoying seeing Drakulon brought to life again and bringing characters like B & V here as well.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 25th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
