Vampirella #2, written by Priest, with art by Davis Goetten and colors by Giovanni Caputo, continues the storyline “Family Plot”, which gathers all of Vampirella’s cast of supporting characters together as Vampirella (who accidentally turned Draculina back into a vampire days before) alternates fighting crime for a mysterious organization while desperate to keep Draculina from using her rekindled vampire abilities to wreak havoc.
Vampirella is proof that letting a great writer take control of a character and letting them stay with the character over the long term pays off in a grand way. A decade ago, Vampirella was just a bland, mildly sexy character who bounced aimlessly from one forgettable adventure to another, never really having a past and definitely not having much of a future. But then Priest took over the character and over the last few years has fleshed out Vampirella’s past on Drakulon and Earth, gave her a colorful roster of supporting characters and made her complex and relatable; a far cry from the one-dimensional busty vampire of a decade ago. I also love how Priest has melded the “rules” for vampires from Drakulon with the trappings of classic vampires, with Dracula now being able to walk in the sunlight thanks to “acquiring” blood from Draculina.
This issue, Priest deftly juggles multiple storylines, with Vampirella, Draculina, teenage ragamuffin Katie (with her talking rat Stan), the superheroic Victory and Dracula himself all having story beats which converge in Los Angeles.
Dynamite
Ironically, Vampirella’s plot is the least interesting in the book and I found myself drawn more towards Katie and Draculina’s stories. I especially enjoy Katie’s appearances because she always seems like a character from a John Hughes movie stuck in the Vampirella universe. Like most teenagers, she’s impulsive and borderline crazy, but there’s also a sadness to her, a loneliness that comes to a head when a gizmo tech she likes wants her to come back with him to Drakulon.
Draculina hates Vampirella for making her a vampire again and she’s planning revenge against her. Having lost her powers to Dracula, she lived a quiet life in Kansas as a normal human. Now a vampire again, she alternates time between reliving her peaceful life in Kansas and plotting her vengeance.
Victory is the closest thing to a traditional “superhero” in the book and she’s a great counterpoint to the other characters in the book, a genuinely good person filled with integrity who’s going to have her powers challenged when she faces Dracula. The cliffhanger ending of the book involves her and it’s fantastic, setting up Victory and Dracula’s face-off to come.
If the idea of a book that blends horror, superheroics and (of course) lots of vampires piques your curiosity, you’ll love this new Vampirella series. It’s so loaded with great characters and situations, you’re guaranteed to discover something you’ll love within its pages.
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