Review: Vampirella 2021 Holiday Special

“‘Tis the season to be scary….”, wait wasn’t that last month? Every year it seems that Christmas decorations are going up earlier than the year before. This then is trend that Dynamite Entertainment are following with perhaps the earliest of Christmas specials to serve as your stocking filler and what a great job of stocking, or thigh high boots at least, filling job Vampi does!

What we have, behind a small selection of covers, is a trio of Vampi tinged tales of yule;

“The Fright Before Christmas”
(W & A) Will Robson; (Col) Andrew Dalhouse

This tale starts of with the sort of line that exasperates me, “every Christmas….”. Does the big bads in the book really show up every Christmas? If so, how come we have never seen them before given their supernatural abilities and impacts? Once, past that little dialogue snafu, Robson’s story looks to incorporate elements of the Dickens classic. It’s a common trope for this time of year, Robson tries hard to make it interesting. Where the dialogue may seem clunky; there is a ton oof it, the art is fantastic. Robson’s cartoon styling certainly gives you a curvier Vampi than you may expect, of which I am not complaining. It also allows for a greater level of facial expressions.The colors are a bright affair from Andrew Dalhouse. A decent start to a fun book for sure.

Writing – 3.5 Stars; Art – 4 Stars; Colors – 5 Stars

“Vampire Bells”
(W & A) Vincenzo Federici; Col) Matt Herms

The second story has a different Vampi look, which longtime readers of the various Vampi books will recognise. Story wise, there is a monster terrorising downtown Hong Kong. Where else would you expect a giant monster to be stomping? There are comedy moments abound with a “Velma” thrown in for good measure. Federici’s art has an elongated style, Vampi is more leggy than cheesecake, though there are a couple of poses that show the manga influences. The bystanders are a little cherubic and the monster is well detailed. The colors from Matt Herms are a lot darker than the first story, which suits the tale.

Writing – 3 Stars; Art – 5 Stars; Colors – 5 Stars

“Sleigh”
(W & A) Vincenzo Carratu; (Col) Kike J. Diaz

The final story is a wordless affair, where Vampi has to save Santa from a demonised reindeer who may or may not have murdered Rudolph! How will Santa manage to deliver all the presents? I love comics where there is no dialogue; it is always an ambitious plan. Here Carratu uses the effect well. Essentially there is no need for dialogue; if a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, what then is a few comic panels worth? There may be some confusion over who did in Rudolph, but overall the action scenes work well and the final panel is a fantastic idea! Diaz’s colors are a tad brighter than the previous story, again fitting the tone well.

Writing – 4 Stars; Art – 4 Stars; Colors; 4 Stars

At this point I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the letters of Jeff Eckleberry, who does a great job, especially on the first story due to sheer verbosity. There is also a great cover by Joseph Michael Linsner, but then what you would expect?

A fun little special that encapsulates both Christmas and Vampirella well. Maybe not the greatest pairings for sure, but then, there is always the Christmas stocking to be filled!

Vampirella Holiday Special,

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network