DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #6, from Dynamite Comics on 10/18/23, brings the mini-series to a close with fights, bites, and characters disappearing from sight.
The Details
- Written by: Christopher Priest
- Art by: Michael Sta. Maria
- Colors by: Ivan Nunes
- Letters by: Taylor Esposito
- Cover art by: Jay Anacleto (cover A)
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: October 18, 2023
Is DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #6 Good?
Well, you know you’re in for a bumpy finale when the artist loses track of what’s happening. DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #6 brings Christopher Priest’s bizarre spin-off mini-series to a close by pitting Draculina against her own self-doubts, the angel Samyaza against Belial, and Lilith against everyone for some unknown purpose. Truly, Lilith wanted to free Draculina from the Dark World, but we have no idea why.
When last we left Draculina, we got the bombshell, character-transforming news that Shamzaya is Draculina’s real father… or is he? Now, Katie escapes a four-way fight between Levi, Samyaz, Lilith, and Belial on a beach to join Draculina and Vampirella in the Dark World (why?). Victory survives her injuries after a passerby tries to rape her corpse (yes, you read that right). And all’s well that ends well when Draculina chooses to banish herself to the Dark World to get Victory’s help.
We’ll talk more about the art in a minute, but true to form, Priest’s plot is an incoherent mashup of chaos. So much so that the artist misses a big finale moment on the last page where something discussed in the dialog didn’t actually happen. During a pivotal moment, Draculina chose to light the candle and switch places with Victory. When the candle is lit, Victory appears, but Draculina remains. No blame or shade on Sta. Maria for goofing the key moment in Draculina’s redemption, since reading Priest’s script must be like trying to decipher the Rosetta Stone upside down and backward.
What’s great about DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #6? There may or may not be a hopeful future for Draculina, depending on how you interpret the ending. If Draculina truly is a half-angel, her doomed existence may allow for the possibility of happiness someday.
What’s not so great about DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #6? Reading this finale is a mind-boggling faceful of confusion, convolution, and uncertainty. Priest, for whatever reason, can’t follow a straight line of storytelling. Scenes jump around without context, you never know if you’re in a flashback, the present, or somewhere in between, and by the time you’re done, you’re not sure what happened. A comic should not give you a headache trying to decipher what happened.
How’s the art? Well, the art is fantastic. Michael Sta. Maria is one of the best interior artists at Dynamite, with good reason. It helps that Ivan Nunes is one of the best colorists around, so you may not understand what you read, but the chaos looks good.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #6 About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Check out our DRACULINA: BLOOD SIMPLE #5 review to find out how Victory wound up dying in a frigid forest.
We begin with Draculina and Vampirella bickering in the ever-changing landscape of the Dark World. Draculina tries to get answers out of Samyaza, but he disappears, so it’s not clear if his declaration as her father was real or not. Katie somehow breaks into the Dark World to join them for some unknown reason.
Elsewhere, Victory is rapidly approaching death. She lies on a frozen tundra near a forest, bleeding out from the wounds she sustained when Lilith tried to sacrifice her. A father and daughter hear Victory’s cries for help as they pass by on snowmobiles. When the father approaches to investigate, away from his daughter’s eyesight, the man starts raping Victory. Belial’s ring activates and kills the man, mid-rape, which helps restore some of its power.
Victory recovers enough to light her candle, switching places with the sisters. We conclude the issue with an unresolved fight, unresolved parentage, and a dance.
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: BLOOD SIMPLE #6 is a weirdly jumbled mess of a finale. The art looks fantastic, and some of the character developments surrounding Draculina show promise, but the script is so confusing that even the artist got lost in one or two spots.
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