Vampirella versus Purgatori #5

Vampirella versus Purgatori #5

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Ray Fawkes

Illustrated by Álvaro Sarraseca

Coloured by Salvatore Aiala

Lettered by Tom Napolitano

All the players are out in the open now, and the field’s starting to get bloody. Sacrifices are being made and heads are rolling… and now, of course, Vampirella’s finally got to face it: Purgatori’s not on her side. She’s not on the enemy’s side either. She’s on a side all her own, and the stakes are even bigger than before. Bigger than the whole world? Yeah. That’s right. And now this whole damn fight's going to have to get UGLY.

We’re going to level with you: the bad guys have this one sewn up. Lilith’s won. Or… Purgatori’s won. The human world is finished. May as well pack your bags and head back to Drakulon or wherever you’re from. Unless… Vampirella’s got a surprise up her sleeve? A deadly surprise involving spectacularly gruesome mayhem? LET’S FIND OUT!

I have enjoyed this series immensely and while Vampi and Purgatori are never going to be besties they can be allies on occasion and with the way that this plays out I can see them getting together a few times as friends and adversaries depending on what the situation calls for.

I really rather quite enjoy the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continue to flesh them out extremely well. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story and bringing us to the end it keeps us glued to the page all the way through.

I’m really liking the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. The avenues that we’ve seen being explored and how they contain the plot twists, characterisation and more have added that much needed depth, dimension and complexity to the story and it’s been done with aplomb. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved perfectly.

I am a fan of the interiors here. The linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised throughout to create the detail work is amazingly well rendered. That we see backgrounds utilised judiciously, see sparing, it is really up to the composition within the panels that bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story that takes centre stage. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work steals the show on the interiors here. The backgrounds that are just colour are done with such verve and pizzazz that it really manages to draw the eye through the page beautifully.

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One of the things that I really like about this story is how it sets things up for further adventures. Yes it sets up Purgatori’s upcoming series and yes it furthers how we see Vampirella but I don’t like Lilith being her mother but then that’s just personal preference and the whole Alien Vampire species that Vampirella is. All of this, however, is small potato’s to the fact that what we see sets the stage for some seriously great storytelling that’s still to come. This is a great stand alone story as well as a conduit for what’s to come and Ray has told one heck of a sensationally good story.