Review: Vampirella The Dark Powers #1

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

4 years ago

When this series was first announced, the first thing I did was put it on my pull list. I mean what’s not to like; on one hand you have Vampirella and on the other you have the Project Power team. Through in Dynamite’s version of the multiverse and you have a winner. Then I read it!

Vampi is the newest member of the Project, a kind of multi-universe team that band together to rid any of their Earth’s bad guys and monsters that are too big for one hero to handle. However, Vampi is not much of a team player, being more of a bite now ask questions later kind of gal. However not every battle needs to be gung-ho affair and without the right teamwork, the dream will never work, no matter how much violence Vampi swings at the problem.

Dan Abnett has had long and distinguished career within the industry, covering DC, Marvel, 2000 AD and a host of indie titles. No stranger to team dynamics, after his run on Titans. Here he uses Vampi’s involvement in a different way. Whilst at her core Vampi remains the same confidence person you expect to see. But as the fish out of water, she is a little out of her depth. Abnett is taking Vampi’s strengths and turning them into weaknesses. For example, Vampi has been a “stranger in a strange land” before and here, her over confidence causes all sorts of bigger problems. At this point the rest of team are akin to ciphers who apply the different emotional requirements and expectations onto their monster on their team. The dialogue is snappy without making excuses for being the first issue. Abnett cleverly hides key points in the dialogue allowing Vampi’s own reactions to feed into the readers.

Paul Davidson supplies the art for the book in a very stylised manner. Davidson has spent time on a plethora of Marvel books, which by hook or by crook I seem to have missed. For me then, this probably the first time I have seen his work. There is a European feel to his work, which translate well to locations, poses and some facial elements. Vampi’s face is probably the biggest inconsistency. I get that she may have her “vamp on” but the changing looks are distracting. Figure wise however, thing are more steady; Davidson puts Vampi in any number of situations during the fight that you would expect to see for this character. Even the new costume looks good. Andrew Dalhouse provides a kind of bleached, almost neutral penciled coloured texture. Dalhouse uses darker colors well to create a juxtaposition between the bad guys and this particular Earth. Letters are supplied by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou who is quietly going about his business, crafting clear fonts that do not affect the art or the pace of the story, regardless of the verbiage. Finally, there are a raft of different covers to choose from (this is a Dynamite book after all); my personal favourites are the A cover by Jae Lee and the C cover by Joseph Michael Linsner.

I had high expectations for this book, and once I got my head around a different style of art (hey, so I like my classic Vampi looks and outfits, sue me!), I found this to surpass them. Abnett has given us a different type of Vampi book that looks to move the character past some of her more traditional stories.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating]

Written by; Dan Abnett
Art by; Paul Davidson
Colors by; Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by; Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
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