It’s been a fun run these last several months watching Vampirella as she takes out ultra rare vampires in a bid to strengthen her power so that she may resist the curse that has been placed upon her that will make Ms. V. the living vessel for Umbra, The Lady of Shadows who plans to enter the earth and jumpstart the Apocalypse. This is a pretty nasty possible outcome that has even caused Vampirella to lose her relationship with The Vatican which had been a strong one. But since the dispatching of The Witches Hammer by The Vatican, it is safe to say that that bridge has been burnt. Now only with the assistance of a Nosferatu vampire named Drago, Vampirella is off on a mad dash around the world taking out these rare vampires so that she may absorb their power and prepare her for a final battle. Nancy A. Collins has written Vampirella as a confident yet confused heroine who has heart and a strong conviction, but who also has fear regarding what may be coming to her in the very near future. Along the way, we have gotten a nice little lesson of various vampire types from around the globe that has made this arc as informative as it is interesting.
Up next for Vampirella in this issue is the Leptiricia, a moth like lady of the evening who abides along the ancient graves of Eastern Europe. Despite the impressive build up of the Leptiricia, Vampirella makes rather short work of her taking her out anticlimactically. But it’s all good as she is now given information upon her final target which resides in Transylvania along a small abandoned village called Kauzstadt. Residing there is the King of the Nosferatu. Vampiralla receives some insight from Drago regarding the King and his history (a pretty ugly little baby he was) and what gives him his strength in spite of his rather undesirable physical attributes. Once at the village, Drago disappears and Vampirella is left to the mercy of the King’s minions. She does get to encounter the King at the end in what promises to be an interesting end for the final issue. That’s all I can say.
As for this issue, it has mixed moments. There is some good to it, but also some drag. The wrap up of the Leptiricia is quite a disappointment as we spend way too long on the build up to have her dispensed so quickly and almost easily. From that point however, the preparation and the ending in regards the Nosferatu king was interesting. Even so, I don’t believe that this issue hits its mark (no pun intended) as well as the ones that preceded it. This is the most disappointing one to date.
Still though, Patrick Berkenkotter continues to do an impressive job with the art. His depictions here are given way to a little more sexiness as he gets to depict some er uh copulation scenes with various demons to demonstrate the origins of the rare vampires and their mother Lilith as well as getting to play around with the darkness that Vampirella is experiencing regarding the coming power and evil of Umbra. Prominent in much of the art is the Mark of Umbra that really sticks out in this issue. It is well done.
Even with the nice art however, I found this issue to be disappointing overall. I know that the previous issues have been wonderful and the ending is set up to be quite good. But somewhere here, things never quite land where they need to land in providing the build up. It was quite simply a “blah” issue. But, one issue doesn’t make a series and I fully expect things to return to their normal solid state with the arc wrap next issue.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Nancy A. Collins Artist: Patrick Berkenkotter Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 10/1/14 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital