REVIEW: Dawn / Vampirella #3

Joseph Michael Linsner (w/a/c)
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

I read this because I’ve never read a Vampierella or Dawn comic before and this covered both bases. Don’t think I’ll bother again.

It’s a comic about Vampirella and Dawn, two characters who traditionally ponce about in a swimsuit and lingerie respectively. In this crossover between the two they do little else but talk, sometimes with a demon, mainly about a man, so it throws the Bechdel test out the window for a kick off. There’s a subplot about a pregnantÂ woman leaving her abusive father that bookends the main plot that actually seemed interesting, but I’m not buying this for a few pages of ”˜interesting“.

The art is about the best thing here, especially in terms of telling what little story there is. Linser has a good eye for sequential storytelling, the problem is I“m not entirely sure what kind of story Linser was aiming for. You get the feeling he was struggling to make it seem like these two Playboy models were in someway not dressed like they were hanging at Heff“s by making them do nothing but talk in pseudo meaningful waffle, but he completely buggers that up by making most of Dawn“s dialogue about a man who gets the only action scene in the comic, albeit in a flashback.

The core premise is actually ok, even if it’s trying to sound like Sandman with the basic tell a tale to save your life plot device. The problem is it looks like the Halloween catalogue for Anne Summers and if all this demon wants is a story from two woman who were sculpted by a pervert then either the character is gay or Linser missed a trick. The plot could have revolved around the two leads trying to escape being objectified, at least then there would have been a plot and some kind of message, but there’s not.

The objectification of women verses healthy sexual expression is a good theme that could have been explored in this missed opportunity.

It’s an overtly sexual looking comic that’s trying so hard not to be sexual, it comes across like Kelly Brook in a wimple.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]