REVIEW: Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella & Jennifer Blood #4

Writer: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Dave Acosta
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: 08/19/2015

At last, the villain revealed, the machinations drawing out the respective heroines of the night finally showing their play and none of it actually matters one bit!

Does anyone still get excited by these seemingly endless tie-ins? I am glad, that the majority of them are either over or are coming to an end.Â Still, with the schedule of the main books, there is still two months until the actual end.Â This issue features Vampirella and Jennifer coming to grips with the major bads’ proxy and the resulting mayhem brings out the best and worst (depending on your point of view I guess) in the heroines.

I have been pretty harsh regarding Nancy Collins writing in this series.Â Unfortunately, I am still not overwhelmed, mainly due to some awful dialogue between Vampirella and the villainess of the piece, some of which may feel justified in order to explain who the characters are and maybe drop hints for those who want to know more, but for the rest of us its just feels forced.

The same can be said of the art from Dave Acosta, whose work seems wooden in place and out of perspective in other.Â There are a couple of good panels, mainly when focussing on just one character, rather than trying to show too much action.Â TheÂ pace of the book, isn’t helped by yet more “previously on…” type of pages.Â I don’t mindÂ if publishers want to do a recap page, but please don’t disguise it as actual page count in the overall book.Â Let 22 pages be 22 pages ofÂ new pages not 2 pages recap and 20 pages of new stuff.

Both Vampi and Jennifer have got some hard-core fans, mainly from the previous books.Â Normally I would say that would be a good thing, but this mini series hasn’t done either character any justice.Â I have recently reviewed Vampirella’s own book (go look) and its so much better than this, as is Jennifer Blood’s book by Garth Ennis.Â If you are want to see both characters in a better light go check them out in the own habitat.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

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