I must admit I'm a little conflicted by the latest issue. For years I've been campaigning for a more realistic, Warrenesque Vampi, and Mr. Jerwa has taken a big step in this direction by giving her not only a love interest, but by bringing back Adam. Vampi's quest to save Adam's soul is realistic and much more interesting than the "just kill bad guys" plots we're used to. There is also the potential for a love triangle. So I salute his efforts. The problem is, there is just zero chemistry between Criswell and Vampirella.
For instance, the backstory of their first meeting was not even on the same planet as Archie Goodwin's initial matching of Adam and Vampi. Granted, that one set the bar impossibly high - it was basically perfect in every conceivable way, but the current author could have at least borrowed some of Goodwin's themes.
Criswell suceeds on one level: he represents a portal for the reader to enter the story. He's enough of an everyman that the average reader can relate; but at the end of the day, she is out of his league so we know he can't last. Unfortunately, Mr. Jerwa's handling of Adam in previous issues was as bland as it gets. So maybe we're better off with Criswell.
Inconsistencies also bothered me about this issue. Vampi is chased by alien(?) thugs. We don't know why (I have a feeling we'll never know as this was just a plot device) and Vampi's dialog was way out-of-character with what we've gotten used to. I again salute Mr. Jerwa for getting rid of the cliched clobber-talk, but the pendulum seems to have swung too far in the other direction. Her level of fear and vulnerability was too great. Maybe if we'd seen a whole issue of her being out-matched...but these just looked like standard villians that she normally eats for breakfast. She was also bandaged up afterwards. In some issues she takes a sickening amount of damage and bounces right back; in others she's practically in a body cast. It needs to be one or the other.
And her mother. She died twice in the Harris era: crushed under God's thumb and then killed again in Revelations. If she had returned in this issue -- after Dracula changed reality -- it might have worked, but she showed up before this happened, so it bugs me that she's back. However, it could become interesting, and it helps flesh-out Vampirella as a character, so I'm on board though conflicted.
The art is okay but feels incomplete, like a storyboard prepared for a another artist who will finish things off. I also have trouble following the action scenes. I had to read the elevator incident at the beginning several times before I realized exactly what was happening (or at least thought I knew).
Great art is vital for Vampirella and makes up hugely for weak stories. By making Vampirella supernaturally beautiful, Jose Gonzalez made many a mediocre story pay off. Perhaps the answer now is to keep Mr. Michael as an inker and bring in a new penciller. It would be great if Fabio Neves or Amanda Connor could do some issues. Vampirella should really stand-out in her comic, not blend into everything else. The recent Red Room series is a good example of this; you knew where Vampi was in every panel (well, most of the time)!
So in summary, there's a lot of things moving in the right direction: a more fully-realized, vunlnerable Vampi with something of a love life; the return of a supporting cast of sorts; and plots that revolve around something more than fighting vampires. Execution is still a weak point, however. Dynamite needs to find a way to kick this up a notch, to coin a phrase.
For instance, the backstory of their first meeting was not even on the same planet as Archie Goodwin's initial matching of Adam and Vampi. Granted, that one set the bar impossibly high - it was basically perfect in every conceivable way, but the current author could have at least borrowed some of Goodwin's themes.
Criswell suceeds on one level: he represents a portal for the reader to enter the story. He's enough of an everyman that the average reader can relate; but at the end of the day, she is out of his league so we know he can't last. Unfortunately, Mr. Jerwa's handling of Adam in previous issues was as bland as it gets. So maybe we're better off with Criswell.
Inconsistencies also bothered me about this issue. Vampi is chased by alien(?) thugs. We don't know why (I have a feeling we'll never know as this was just a plot device) and Vampi's dialog was way out-of-character with what we've gotten used to. I again salute Mr. Jerwa for getting rid of the cliched clobber-talk, but the pendulum seems to have swung too far in the other direction. Her level of fear and vulnerability was too great. Maybe if we'd seen a whole issue of her being out-matched...but these just looked like standard villians that she normally eats for breakfast. She was also bandaged up afterwards. In some issues she takes a sickening amount of damage and bounces right back; in others she's practically in a body cast. It needs to be one or the other.
And her mother. She died twice in the Harris era: crushed under God's thumb and then killed again in Revelations. If she had returned in this issue -- after Dracula changed reality -- it might have worked, but she showed up before this happened, so it bugs me that she's back. However, it could become interesting, and it helps flesh-out Vampirella as a character, so I'm on board though conflicted.
The art is okay but feels incomplete, like a storyboard prepared for a another artist who will finish things off. I also have trouble following the action scenes. I had to read the elevator incident at the beginning several times before I realized exactly what was happening (or at least thought I knew).
Great art is vital for Vampirella and makes up hugely for weak stories. By making Vampirella supernaturally beautiful, Jose Gonzalez made many a mediocre story pay off. Perhaps the answer now is to keep Mr. Michael as an inker and bring in a new penciller. It would be great if Fabio Neves or Amanda Connor could do some issues. Vampirella should really stand-out in her comic, not blend into everything else. The recent Red Room series is a good example of this; you knew where Vampi was in every panel (well, most of the time)!
So in summary, there's a lot of things moving in the right direction: a more fully-realized, vunlnerable Vampi with something of a love life; the return of a supporting cast of sorts; and plots that revolve around something more than fighting vampires. Execution is still a weak point, however. Dynamite needs to find a way to kick this up a notch, to coin a phrase.
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. I'm rooting for the guy, When Vampi reunites with Helsing it definately wasn't the passion 'splosion you would expect from two star-crossed lovers who have made so much of each other. Maybe because he is a boring douche, and her "son" , geez, if helsing is a boring douche the kid is worse..the worst even, an agressive snobby douche.
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