VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 5) #22 – Review

In VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 5) #22, available from Dynamite Comics on August 4th, 2021, Vampirella finally makes it back to “our Earth,” but she must rush to stop Shane the Mad Astronaut from killing his alternate self and family.

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The Details

• Written By: Christopher Priest
• Art By: Ergün Gündüz, Marcelo Borstelmann
• Colors By: Mohan
• Letters By: Willie Schubert
• Cover Art By: Lucio Parrillo (cover A)
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: August 4, 2021

Was It Good?

This is the first issue in a new story arc, so you’d think we have a great opportunity for a fresh start and to tell a clean, compelling story right from the beginning.

Halfway through this issue, I’m already getting a headache.

To Priest’s credit, he puts some effort into adding captions and expository dialog between the assortment of characters to catch readers up to what’s going on. However, if I was a new reader coming into this run, I’d be completely lost. I’m partially lost, and I’ve been following this run since the beginning.

Oy!

The specific plot points are covered in the next session, so we’ll cover the broad strokes here to recap where we’ve been and how well it comes off in terms of the reading experience.

Arcadia is an alternate Earth from another timeline. It’s a desolate wasteland after years of war with Drakulon. Drakulon is actually Arcadia’s moon that was terraformed by a colony of Vampiri who arrived through an interstellar portal. In other words, Vampirella and Lilith hail from a terraformed version of our Moon in an alternate reality/timeline.

Shane the Mad Astronaut hails from Arcadia of the past but he was frozen/marooned on his Moon before it was terraformed into Drakulon as punishment by his fellow astronauts for killing his family. Shane was resuscitated in the present Drakulon after 1,000 years by rebels loyal to Lilith, and he’s been hiding in the caves underneath the Drakulon capital ever since. There he learned to use spells and magic, including those used to open up space portals.

When Vampirella used a transport ship to jump realities from our Earth to Drakulon and rescue her mother (see the Interstellar arc)… well, that’s too much to recap here. By the end of that arc leading up to where we are now, Vampirella, Katie/OG Drakulina, Cauldryn, Victory, and Shane the Mad Astronaut are all in the present and on our Earth.

I’m mildly impressed I remembered half of that recap, but this gives you a flavor of what you’re in for.

Now, take all that background, continue it, and layer on top a completely new story thread involving multiple, alternate reality Draculas?!? If this level of over-complication and convolution sounds like a fun read, you’re in the right place.

At least the art is fairly good. We’ve reserved praising Gündüz’s work in the past for being a little too copy/paste with the characters on the backgrounds. The work here is better. Significantly better. And I’m looking forward to seeing this level of art quality going forward.

What’s It About?

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

Before you get too far, read our VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 5) #21 review to help get you situated.

We begin in Romania 1969 with a prologue between Dracula, Van Helsing, and Dracula’s former wife, Cadiratra. Van Helsing is now Dracula’s friend and tries (and fails) to save Dracula from dying via poisoning at the hands of Cadiratra.

Back to now. Shane the Mad Astronaut pays a deadly visit to this Earth’s Shane. Mad Astronaut Shane never gives a reason as to why he killed his own family back on Arcadia 1,000 years ago or why he wants to kill this version of his family, but I guess that’s why he’s Mad. Vampirella storms in to try and stop him, but she’s foiled when Shane uses portal magic to zap her to Alaska.

Meanwhile, Katie/OG Drakulina (two beings that occupy the same space in reality) is hanging out in Lilith’s penthouse when she encounters Cauldryn. A fight ensues until Drakulina convinces Cauldryn she’s one of them.

We conclude the issue with Vampirella being rescued by Victory. Shane the Mad Astronaut surrounded by the police. And a revelation that the current Dracula looks very familiar.

Final Thoughts

VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 5) #22 is complicated. The prior arc was a mind-bending, headache-inducing strain to read. This first issue in a new arc is at least more linear, but it carries so much baggage from the prior arc, the new story is getting buried under the weight of the past.

Score: 6.5/10