Vengeance of Vampirella #21

Vengeance of Vampirella #21

Dynamite Entertainment 2019

Written by Thomas Sniegoski

Illustrated by Michael Sta. Maria

Coloured by Omi Remalante Jr.

Lettered by Troy Peteri

Mistress Nyx is no more, but the evil she was responsible for still infects the world. Vampirella wanders a wasteland on the verge of rebirth while searching for her own, lost humanity. Will she find it, or will she succumb to the darkness that still grips the world once ruled by Chaos?

There are only a handful of issues left in this series and that makes me sad. Thomas has been telling one heck of a tale and while I know Nyx is dead and basically the big threat has ended so there’s little else to really explore but by golly I don’t want this to end anytime soon. I’m really a big fan of Jeannine’s and what she adds to the story and how by travelling with Vampirella she could be the key in regaining her humanity. She still might be we’ve got a few issues left for this to happen. What really impresses me the most is the fact that Thomas manages to get us so invested, engaged and involved in this series to such a degree as I am here.

I am a huge fan of 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 exceedingly well. The character development we see through the dialogue and the way that they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter. This continues to flesh these characters out as believable people. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we become embroiled in the exploits.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is really rather magnificent to see. The layers are where we see the bulk of the characterisation, the plot twists and the events or occurrences that open up new avenues to be explored. What all of these do is add such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story and it adds so much to what we see. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is greatly achieved.

Nyx really did a number on this world that now has humans and demons living in this near post apocalyptic world. So the creativity and imagination that we see on display here is really extraordinary. The linework is nice, clean and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail in the work we see throughout the book does a phenomenal job bringing this to life. That we see backgrounds used fairly often expands and enhances the moments while also working within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is gorgeous. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a brilliant eye for how colour works and how to apply it to create the maximum effect that it can have.

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This is an exciting chapter of her long and storied life and while it may not necessarily be canon it is one of the most intriguing stories that we’ve seen. Also that it is basically one long story, kind of like a soap opera and it’s been brilliantly handled. There is some beautiful storytelling going on here with strong writing, fascinating characterisation and strong beguiling interiors.