Vengeance of Vampirella #22

Vengeance of Vampirella #22

Dynamite Entertainment 2019

Written by Thomas Sniegoski

Illustrated by Michael Sta. Maria

Coloured by Omi Remalante Jr.

Lettered by Troy Peteri

Vampirella and Jeannine wander the Chaoslands, exploring a world on the brink of transformation. In the tiny town of Surette they think they’ve found an example of peace and tranquility, but soon learn that looks can be deceiving. In order for there to be harmony in the town, all must feed the desires of Mandrasath—and it looks like Vampirella will be the perfect snack.

This is one of my favourite series. Vampirella in a setting such as this as she travels the lands encountering new and unique big bads that need to be taken down. Sometimes it is harder to tell who or what is the monster and that’s half the fun and joy of reading this book. Humanity can be the world's most destructive and horrific species to roam the earth and it doesn’t help when they’ll do anything, anything to survive. This tale is a perfect example of this and when we left off our girls were at dinner with the town and things started to go downhill. So what shady business is the town involved in that the Doctor warned them to leave? Well honestly you’ll have to read the book to find out because it’s really one of the best series on stands.

I am in love with 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 narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances is magnificently rendered. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we want to see.

I am very much enjoying seeing how this is being structured and the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I am honestly and truly impressed with the way we see the layers within the story open up avenues to be explored and whether they are explored or not isn’t relative because they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculate achieved.

I love the interiors here. The linework is gorgeous and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is extraordinary. That we see backgrounds utilised as we do makes me an extremely happy camper as they really do enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of 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 various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work really shows a great understanding for how colour works and how to maximise its effects.

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I’m relatively new to the Vampirella fanclub and from what I’ve read thus far this series is far and away the best one I’ve read. The creativity and imagination that brings this to life through the words and the visuals are so incredibly in sync with each other that it makes this such a strong and interesting series. From the power of the writing and the characterisation to the classic comics style interiors this is why we love our physical comics.