Comics
Review: ‘Vampirella Strikes’ #1
Vampirella is one of the characters that has been consistently plagued by terrible writing. During the 90s Vampirella was at the forefront of the “Bad Girl” craze that featured female protagonists using their sexuality as a weapon. The story was typically secondary to the artwork, which often featured Vampirella striking a series of cheesecake sexual poses for fanboys to drool over.
WRITTEN BY: Tom Sniegoski
ART BY: Johnny Desjardins
PUBLISHER: Dynamite
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: January 2nd, 2013
It wasn’t until writer Tom Sniegoski took over Vampirella with his 25-issue run on “Vengeance of Vampirella” that she finally developed some substance. In his two year run, Sniegoski laid the groundwork for Vampirella to become a fierce bloodthirsty warrior with a purpose. His work on the character should be used as the benchmark for all “Vampirella” stories, as his “The Mystery Walk” origin story arc is one of the best story-arcs ever written in the character’s near fifty year history.
One of the smartest moves Dynamite Entertainment made was bringing Sniegoski back into the fold to write the new six-issue mini-series “Vampirella Strikes”. In this debut issue Sniegoski wastes no time and picks up exactly where he left off. He gives Vampirella somewhat of a Max Max style persona, as she opens up to a bartender about the monster within after shredding through a pack of demons. The framework is set for future issues to tackle Vampirella’s internal struggle to find balance between her humanity and her animalistic urges, while a war between heaven and hell threatens to break loose. In just one issue Tom Sniegoski has already demolished the “Bad Girl” underpinnings that so many writers had used as a crutch. He lays a new foundation for Vampirella to have strength, purpose, and most importantly, substance.
Artist Johnny Desjardins’ style is very reminiscent of the hyper-detailed work of David Finch. Desjardins delivers a solid first issue and he does his best to portray Vampirella in a realistic manner rather than the porn star poses that she is typically fashioned in. Although his characters can look a little stiff at time, he makes up for it with a dark, gritty style that compliments the tone of the story with an emphasis on shadows and silhouettes.
The first issue of “Vampirella Strikes” is the shift in direction that “Vampirella” has desperately needed for some time. Although the first issue was mainly an introduction to the characters and major plot points, “Vampirella Strikes” already has the potential to be one of the best storylines that this character has seen in years.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Skulls
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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