DRACULINA #4, from Dynamite Comics on June 29th, 2022, takes the topsy turvy reality of Katie’s life and makes it even topsier and turvier when Draculina’s betrothed spouse from a distant reality arrives to bring the old ball & chain back home, even if it means removing her powers to do it.
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 Price: $3.99
- Release Date: June 29, 2022
Was It Good?
I need an aspirin after reading this issue because it gave me such a headache. Oi! Priest is determined to pull all Vampirella-related stories into reality-warping, mind-tripping, timeline-hopping balls of tangled knots. You’ll need a marker board and several maps to keep it straight. “Which reality and whose body are we in right now?” is not a question you expect to ask more than once in a single comic, and yet, here we are.
The best parts of this issue are the art and the creativity wrapped around the central premise. More on the latter in a minute.
Sta. Maria’s art is gorgeous. The linework is spectacular, the panel composition and layouts are stellar, and all of Sta. Maria’s work is elevated leaps and bounds by richly detailed coloring from Nunes. We were impressed with Nunes’ coloring on the Barbarella series, and it just keeps getting better here.
Now, for that “latter” part. I may need an aspirin after trying to make sense of Priest’s plot, but you have to appreciate the creativity and willingness to swing for the fences by going big, wild, and crazy. To be fair, crazy without clarity is chaos, but chaos can generate its own type of fascination. Imagine tripping on acid while watching a circus clown show that keeps playing as a unicorn stampede runs through the Big Top. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but at least you can say, “well, I’ve never seen that before.”
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]
Before diving in, read our DRACULINA #3 review to get caught up.
We begin with a flashback to Katie and her “father,” Gio Stasci, walking down an LA street as he explains how Draculina was lost in time-space limbo. Suddenly, Stasci is peppered by gunfire, and he rushes off to deal with the threat. Katie was hit by one of the bullets and is forced to light the black candle to heal herself, accepting that doing so swaps places with Draculina.
Now, Draculina is confronted by her betrothed spouse, Hesiod, from a distant reality. Hesiod was ent by her “father” to chastise her for not respecting his wishes. As they fight, Hesiod displays powers that allow him to bend and reshape reality. He zaps the resistant Draculina, robbing her of her vampirism and replacing it with Katie’s humanity.
We conclude the issue with the realization that swapping works both ways, a display of power, and payback that doesn’t go as imagined.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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DRACULINA #4 increasingly defies explanation as Priest crosses time, space, and reality in every conceivable way. Just when you thought you figured it out, Priest warps everything again to keep you on your toes. You may not be able to follow the story, but you can at least respect its unparalleled creativity and gorgeous art.
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