Review: Vampirella Strikes #1

I may have said this before, for every Batman book from DC there is a Vampi book from Dynamite. I was going to say X book from Marvel, but truth be told nobody puts out as many one type of book as the merry mutants and their going nowhere island. Anyways, following on from the success of Vengeance Vampirella, Thomas Sneigoski returns to the Sneigoski-Vampiverse!

Fifteen years after the death of Mistress Nyx, the world is held together with spit, sawdust, magic and a prayer. As humans and monsters try to co-habit peacefully, the ties that bind can be easily frayed, Of course, with a proliferation of magical weapons hitting the streets, the ties can just as be easily ripped apart. Step up then, chief officer of seeing crazy stuff, Vampirella to save the populace.

Thomas Sneigoski is as synonymous with Vampi as say, Todd MacFarlane is to Spawn. Establishing his own version of the Vampiverse, with little side jaunts with Jannine Acheson aside, Sniegoski continually demonstrates his for the character. It is as if he created her himself. Consider this, there are some writers that just fit characters. Sniegoski goes with Vamoi the way crackers and cheese match, or fish and chips. Here, Sniegoski is kind of world building, though keeps some thing close to his chest in order to give Vampi a touch of mystery to which detect stuff. There are a number of new characters to get to know, though not everything is explained, of which I am quite pleased. It is also apparent that Sniegoski has Vampi’s playful banter and dialogue down pat. It is this familiarity that puts a smile on my face as I read this new series.

The art is provided by Jonathan Lau who does a great job across several parts of this issue. First off, let’s talk the heroine of the piece, Vampi. Lau’s pencils capture the sexiness of the character well, helped out by the ubiquitous shower scene oft seen in certain movies of the 80’s. That said, there are a couple of issues here, the long coat for example and as good as the pose on the cliffhanger looks good the costumes look odd. Secondly, Lau’s world building is par excellence with nods to Alan Davis for good measure. Lau is helped out by the color scheme of Omi Remalante Jr. who mixes up the brightness of day with the darkness of a bight full of dark deeds. Letterer Jeff Eckleberry does a great job with the various voices in this book. The disembodied bubbles add a certain mystique to proceedings. Of course there are variant covers; at this stage its buyers choice.

Thomas Sneigoski has a lot of credit in the Machine bank; part of it is that he is a great guy, a consummate pro. The other part is that he know how to tell a great story. This new book is no exception!

Writing – 5 Stars

Art – 4.5 Stars

Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 4.5 Stars

Written by; Thomas Sneigoski
Art by; Jonathan Lau
Colors by; Omi Remalante Jr.
Letters by; Jeff Eckleberry
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment

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