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Free To Be As Racy As She Wants To Be: Cult Character ‘Vampirella’ Bought By Dynamite Publishing

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Talk about cult icons in comics, ‘VAMPIRELLA’ has been steaming up the covers of comic book covers since her first appearance all the way back in 1969 in Warren Publishing’s “VAMPIRELLA #1”, and has stood alongside such comic great as ‘UNCLE CREEPY’ and ‘COUSIN EERIE’. It has been a long, winding, tumultuous, and kinky journey for the scantily clad lady of the night, and today it was announced that the rights to the character would again be changing hands, this time to “THE BOYS” publisher Dynamite. Read on for the details.

Here’s An Excerpt From Bleeding Cool News Who Broke The Story,

“New York publisher Dynamite Entertainment has bought the character Vampirella, lock stock and two smoking canines, from Harris Publications. Oh, and bought Harris as well.

Created by Forrest J Ackerman in the late sixties as a new horror magazine lead, a kind of superheroine vampire for Warren Publications, developed with Archie Goodwin and Frank Frazetta , Vampirella revived the horror comic. Over time her skimpy red costume got skimpier and skimpier, though with the bankruptcy of Warren in the eighties the character was lost.

The character was revived by Harris in 1991, attracting creators from Warren Ellis to Mark Millar to Alanm Moore to Grant Morrison to Amanda Conner to Joe Quesada to Kurt Busiek to Jeph Loeb to Adam Hughes. In 2007, Fangoria claimed that they had purchased the character from Harris, something Harris denied and they continued to publish Vampirella books.”

Additionally Here Is A Press Release From Dynamite Themselves,

” March 17, 2010 – Before Twilight. Before True Blood. Before Buffy. Before Blade. There was…Vampirella! Leading comic book publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, is proud to announce it has acquired the Vampirella property from Harris Publications. Vampirella will become part of Dynamite’s thriving comic book line-up, which includes Project Superpowers, The Boys, Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Army of Darkness, Red Sonja and more.

Vampirella debuted in 1969 in a black & white magazine titled simply VAMPIRELLA. With a stunning cover by legendary artist, Frank Frazetta, Vampirella #1 quickly made publishing history with its depiction of a vampire heroine, and its success prompted comics giants DC and Marvel to launch horror titles of their own. Vampirella appeared in this magazine format throughout the 1970’s. Many of these classic stories were illustrated by the legendary artist Jose Gonzalez and have remained quite popular with comics fans to the present day. After a brief publishing hiatus, Vampirella returned in 1992 and quickly regained her reigning status as the queen of all female comics characters! In continuous publication since her early 90s comeback, Vampirella has been written by top talents including Alan Moore, Mark Millar, Grant Morrision, James Robinson, Jeph Loeb, Warren Ellis, and illustrated by fan favorite artists such as Joe Quesada, J. Scott Campbell, Michael Turner, Jae Lee, Adam Hughes, Mark Texeira, Joe Jusko, Arthur Suydam, and many more! A Vampirella feature film premiered on Showtime Networks in 1996, and the character continues to appear on numerous items of licensed merchandise.

Nick Barrucci, president of Dynamite Entertainment said, “Vampirella is one of the most well-known and longest-running comic characters in the history of the business. Outside of Marvel and DC characters, very few comics characters that debuted in the 60’s still resonate with fans today. Our acquisition of this iconic brand is another step in Dynamite’s exciting growth and builds on the ongoing success of our line.”

“I am incredibly pleased to be passing the stewardship of Vampirella on to Dynamite,” said Stanley Harris, president of Harris Publications. “Dynamite has proven to be one of the premiere publishers in the comic book industry, and Vampirella couldn’t be in better and more caring hands!”

You can read the full report over at Bleeding Cool News. All I can say on this one is that it is a great deal for both parties. Dynamite continues to snag some top-notch names to add to their already impressive library, and ‘VAMPIRELLA’ gets the freedom to show even more of herself to mouth-breathing creepers everywhere. Gotta say this is a win-win. What say you?

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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