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Christopher Priest's Biggest Vampirella Epic Yet Coming
The Long Night Presents a Cyberpunk Apocalypse & "100th Anniversary"
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December 12, Mt. Laurel, NJ: Dynamite Entertainment is proud to announce the new phase in the legendary Christopher Priest's take on Vampirella, with a new series and perfect jumping-on point coming this March. Priest is joined by and reunited with the artist who started his run, Turkish virtuoso Ergün Gündüz.
The new story, "The Long Night" will introduce fans to parallel perspectives of the Daughter of Drakulon in the present dealing with a severe case of postpartum depression, even while finally reunited with her previously stolen infant son — and on the other hand a vision into a possible cataclysmic, cyberpunk future brought on by a bitter Vampi's nuclear holocaust!
Attentive fans may recall mentions of "The Long Night" in previous issues of Priest's run as a prophetic nightmare mentioned by Vampirella herself and other characters. It is akin to a "vampire Ragnarök" end of days, said to be brought on by a child of Lilith. When the demon Belial uttered it upon the birth of Draculina, the assumption was that it would be the fate of Vampi's raven-haired, oft-evil sister — and not in fact herself. Priest's other working title for this storyline was "Season of the Witch," referencing the titular antiheroine's spiral into darkness and transformation into the Witch of Ashthorne.
It all kicks into action in March's Vampirella #1 — while keeping a dual "legacy numbering" along the march to #700, marking this issue also as #676 — as a mysterious man going by the name of Cicero appears in Vampirella's life, claiming to be her son from the future. As a timeless vampiress, the Daughter of Drakulon's life extends well past her 50-plus years of publication going back to 1969, yet she still appears young and vibrant. The same logic carries on to her son, with the twist that he's come back from a time of her 100th anniversary!
"I think the best kinds of challenges you can toss at a protagonist are the ones they cannot punch through. There’s way too much boring violence being used to resolve conflict in today’s comics," said Christopher Priest. "Good writing involves conflict but conflict isn’t always about violence. You put your character in a headlock, in a no-win scenario, ideally in a mess of their own making, and then follow them as they resolve that conflict through their strength of character. Vampirella’s present situation, her being suddenly confounded by the unimaginable impact of motherhood, is the direct cause and effect of the future story and the reason her son, an adult many decades in the future, has returned to warn her."
Fans are invited to hop into this new series and celebrate this peek into Vampirella's deep psyche as well as a dark future. The critically acclaimed team of Priest and Gündüz are back once more, joined with head-turning covers from the likes of Lucio Parrillo, Greg Land, Elias Chatzoudis, Jay Anacleto, and cosplayer Rachel Hollon. Rising superstar Mark Spears, beloved for his Monsters series, also contributes covers.
VAMPIRELLA #1 is solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors’ January 2025 Previews catalog, the premier source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, and slated for release in March 2025. Comic book fans are encouraged to preorder copies of the book with their local comic book retailers. It will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of Comixology, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Dynamite Digital, ComicsPlus, and more!
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About Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Red Sonja, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high-profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Gail Simone, Christopher Priest, Leah Moore, Kevin Smith, David Walker, Vita Ayala, Danny Lore, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Mark Russell, Brandon Thomas, Amy Chu, Reginald Hudlin, Nancy Collins, David Walker, Steve Orlando, Greg Pak, Jenny Frison, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles - including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger's Project Superpowers - have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
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