REVIEW: Vampirella No.22 (2021)

After reading the pentiumilate issue of “Sacred Six”, I almost shed a tear knowing that one of last year’s best books to drop on the indie scene is coming to a close … Now that I have read “Vampirella” number twenty-two helmed by “Sacred Six” scribe Christopher Priest, I know that I have nothing to worry about as the story continues.

Care has been put into “Sacred Six”, and I’ve never been a big Vampirella reader as I thought it was just pure fan service that you could find in the restricted section of a comic book shop. “Vampirella” number five, along with whatever Priest touches within this mythos, taught me well to not judge a book by its cover, and I am happy to see that same care has been transferred over to this book as well. The story starts off with a Dracula/Van Helsing standoff that would make Bram Stoker proud. A virus, an injection and a gold digger these are all the elements that set up the opening leading to a home invasion and a gunshot through a door leaving the occupants guts on the floor in a shocking turn of events that I could only have expected to be displayed on a big screen production.

Then there’s a group of spatial vampiric teens (that could make the Legion of Superheroes jealous knowing their shtick) who end up in hot pursuit of the new Draculina, who happens to be a a middle schooler with a mouth like a ’70s Roger Corman film hooker – so she passes the ID test when she morphs into the age-old succubus.

Though Draculina is not the only returning member of the Six, as Victory gets massive shine here opening up portals for Vampirella, as Vampi warns her of the danger within the trinket ring that is the source of her power. All this leads into a cliffhanger featuring the home invader from the beginning of the issue springing foreword into the next arc.

Yes, the book is busy and jam-packed with so many different characters and plot lines from different books you need to be sure to read the editor’s notes when dealing with this series. But, if you’re anything like me and would rather loosely follow along while still being entertained by the level of deep storytelling occurring here in a book that looks like an expertly drawn Tijuana Bible (seriously, some of Gunduz’ pencils here belong in a museum at the most, a screensaver at the least) then Vampirella number twenty-two will be right up your alley.

SCORE: 3/5
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writer: Christopher Priest
artist: Ergün Gündüz