DRACULINA #1 – Review

DRACULINA #1, from Dynamite Comics on February 9th, 2022, puts Lilith’s daughter at odds with herself as she looks for a way to stop sharing her place in the universe with a 13-year-old named Katie.

The Details

• Written By: Christopher Priest
• Art By: Michael Sta. Maria
• Colors By: Ivan Nunes
• Letters By: Willie Schubert
• Cover Art By: Collette Turner (cover A)
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: February 9, 2022

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Was It Good?

DRACULINA #1 is an interesting test for Dynamite readers. It’s a loyalty test. A test to determine how much you’ve been keeping up with (or not) Christopher Priest’s run in Vampirella and Secret Six. Why? Because most of what’s happening in this issue relies heavily on making sense of Draculina’s current status after the events in those titles. If you come into this issue cold, you’re going to have a tough time.

However, we here at ComicalOpinions.com have been keeping up with all the titles, so that helps. It helps a lot. Coming out of both the Vampirella arc and Secret Six arcs, Draculina is a Vampiri half-trapped between timelines and universes, forced to share inter-dimensional space with a 13-year-old Vampirella fan named Katie. If that doesn’t sound weird enough, the two swap bodies when one lights a mystical candle and the other falls asleep. Again, it helps if you’ve read the other titles to make any sense of it.

If you’ve been reading our reviews for a while (of course you have because you’re the best), you know we’re not fond of Priest’s jumpy, erratic, chaotic narrative flow. Invariably, Priest doesn’t like to follow a straight line in his storytelling and that often makes for a cumbersome reading experience. That said, this reviewer was mildly shocked at how clear and direct Priest’s writing came off in this issue. The captions spelled out the background of the character and her current predicament clearly. The crux of Draculina’s mission makes sense. And Priest’s penchant for sarcasm made this issue a reasonably fun read.

Regarding the art, we’re no stranger to Michael Sta. Maria’s work, but it looks better than you may remember in this issue. It could be because we’re used to seeing Sta. Maria paired with Omi Remlante Jr. on colors, but his pairing here with Ivan Nunes looks fantastic. The lines are sharp, the character designs are expressive, and the color shading is gorgeous. The high art quality is almost as surprising as the clarity of the writing.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with an NYC cop paying a visit to a hotel in San Francisco. Her visit isn’t official, as she sometimes takes off-the-books dirty work for extra cash. This time she’s got a doozy.

13-year-old Katie wakes up in a hotel room next to a dead man, drained of blood. This happens often, apparently, since Katie’s existence in the universe shares space with Draculina. When the two swap places, Draculina aggressively searches for mystical artifacts that will separate her from Katie’s space. When Draculina falls asleep, Katie returns to clean up the mess… literally.

We conclude the issue with Draculina’s day job/identity as River East keeping her schedule very full, death on the highway, and word about Draculina’s pseudo-return reaching demonic ears.

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