VAMPIRELLA/DRACULA: UNHOLY #1 – Review

VAMPIRELLA/DRACULA: UNHOLY #1, from Dynamite Comics on December 15th, 2021, picks up where the main Vampirella title left off with our favorite Drakulonian married to an FBI agent who may or may not be the reincarnation of Dracula. It’s complicated.

The Details

• Written By: Christopher Priest
• Art By: Donny Hadiwidjaja
• Colors By: Mohan
• Letters By: Willie Schubert
• Cover Art By: Lucio Parrillo (cover A)
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: December 15, 2021

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Was It Good?

It’s complicated. It’s so complicated that the entirety of VAMPIRELLA/DRACULA: UNHOLY #1 is taken up with backstory exposition interwoven into a honeymoon trip to Transylvania just to catch readers up. As a jumping on point, this is the best a new reader can expect because the journey to get to this point was such a convoluted mess.

That said, this first issue is… okay. There are two points to consider when diving in.

First, Christopher Priest is still Vampirella’s main writer at the moment, and it’s fair to say his sense of narrative flow is chaotic. Admittedly, it’s better in this issue than the previous arc but that trademark style of presenting conversations and scenes with no clear beginning or end before jumping to the next is still omnipresent. Some readers like Priest’s writing style, so it’s fair to say it’s an acquired taste.

Second, we have a new artist partner for Priest in this run via Donny Hadiwidjaja. The last time we saw Hadiwidjaja was in a Zenescope quarterly back in February 2021, so this is an opportunity for a different visual take on Priest’s writing. Does it pay off? In some areas, yes. Hadiwidjaja uses a rough sketch style which gives the panels a grittiness that suits the horror genre. However, sometimes the sketchiness is a little too rough and you lose the definition of characters’ faces and anatomy.

A second down point for the art comes via an area we rarely touch on – the lettering. We firmly believe lettering works best when it’s so organically integrated into the art that you don’t notice it. Here, Schubert’s lettering sticks out when it shouldn’t because the lettering is so clean and crisp. It doesn’t mesh with Hadiwidjaja’s rough visuals. That’s not necessarily Schubert’s fault, but the contrast looks like the lettering was pasted on, and it’s noticeable for the wrong reasons.

What’s It About?

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

This issue is almost all exposition, so if you want a little more clarity about how Vampirella got to this point, read our VAMPIRELLA #25 review.

We begin with a flash forward to an ancient castle in Romania. Vampirella and someone who appears to be Dracula stand defiant on one of the castle’s parapets as a military force approaches to take them down. The military call for surrender, but Dracula and Ella swoop down and begin to easily decimate the military forces.

Back to today. Matt Ecsed, the carrier of the Dracula virus and potential host for the Prince of Darkness’s resurrection unless Vampirella can stop it by marrying him and performing a mystical ritual, and Vampirella have taken their honeymoon in Transylvania to gather ingredients for said ritual. I told you it was complicated.

As they travel the Romanian countryside, Ella reinforces her desire to see Matt freed from the infection by any scientific or mystical means necessary. As they talk, we get heaps of exposition to catch readers up from the last 25 issues of Vampirella’s run.

We conclude the issue with Matt and Ella discussing the physically intimate (*ahem*) elements of the ritual, a visit to Dracula’s castle-turned-tourist-attraction, and confirmation that the tourist trap has an authentically vampiric presence.

Final Thoughts

VAMPIRELLA/DRACULA: UNHOLY #1 kicks off a new arc following up from the last Vampirella volume with Ella married to the man who could be reborn as Dracula and their mission to stop the worst case scenario from happening. Priest’s writing style is consistently chaotic, which may be an acquired taste for some, and the new artist on the team has a solid eye for gritty designs, albeit a little too gritty in spots.

Score: 7.5/10

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