VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 6) #671, by Dynamite Comics on 8/14/24, begins the Monster arc, wherein Katie imagines a future/past world for Draculina. Meanwhile, Dracula enlists Nyx’s help to find his daughter.
Credits:
- Writer: Christopher Priest
- Artist: Iván F. Silva
- Colorist: Werner Sanchez
- Letterer: Willie Schubert
- Cover Artist: Lucio Parrillo (cover A)
- Publisher: Dynamite Comics
- Release Date: August 14, 2024
- Comic Rating: Teen
- Cover Price: $4.99
- Page Count: 22
- Format: Single Issue
Covers:
Analysis of VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 6) #671:
First Impressions:
Just when you thought Christopher Priest was out of multiverse-spanning nonsense ideas, he surprises you with even more multiverse-spanning nonsense. This time, the nonsense is intentional fiction, and the titular character is nowhere to be found. It’s hard not to conclude Dynamite is deliberately trying to scuttle the Vampirella brand because this comic is Grade-A Horse Pucky.
Plot Analysis:
When last we left Vampirella in issue #670, the Beyond arc concluded when Vampirella found Shane the First Man and Mad Astronaut to force him through the portal between worlds to bring the reality loop to an end. When reality reset back to its original configuration, Vampirella was reunited with her kidnapped infant child.
In Vampirella (Vol. 6) #671, we catch up with young Katie, a school-aged girl who is the younger version of Draculina from an alternate dimension and timeline. She’s busy doodling away in her notebook for a project in front of her classmates. What’s she creating? A world that existed 55 years ago, starring the adult version of herself from an alternate reality and timeline.
In other words, the ‘Monster’ arc is a fictional story about the past from Katie’s imagination and starring an alternate version of herself. Where’s Vampirella? She doesn’t appear anywhere in this comic.
Katie starts with an action scene in progress. Police hurry to the scene of a crashed bus and find an injured Draculina sitting in the back. The rest of the passengers are dead. Why? Draculina and everyone around her were attacked by a pack of ravenous chupacabras. The lone police officer who manages to lend a hand, Adam Wendel, tries his darndest to help Draculina, but he gets knocked out in the melee.
Why is Draculina fighting Chupacabras in broad daylight in the middle of the Bronx in 1969? Where did the chupacabras come from? What does any of this have to do with Vampirella? All good questions, and Christopher Priest, in typical Priest fashion, answers none of them. It’s all random.
Later, Officer West wakes up in his apartment to find Draculina cleaning off in his shower. She found his place from the ID in his wallet. She warns West not to bother reporting anything that happened since nobody will believe him. More importantly, everything West sees, hears, and experiences is a manifestation of the Dark World.
“Huh? What?” you might wonder. That’s fair. How can the story be a product of Katie’s imagination and a product of the Dark World? Technically, Katie is supposed to be out of the Dark World, which would put Draculina in the Dark World, so this plot is either Katie’s imagination or she could be subliminally picking up Draculina’s experiences in the Dark World. Either way, it doesn’t matter.
The issue ends with Nyx killing a group of looters. Afterward, she receives a call from Dracula, who needs help freeing his daughter from the Dark World.
So, it’s all fiction… maybe. There’s a connective thread concerning the Dark World… maybe. And, none of this issue has anything to do with Vampirella… certainly.
Overall, it’s all so very tiresome. Priest’s tenure on Vampirella has largely been a mess of incoherent gibberish and random noise. Yes, we’re going to continue to cover the title, but what should be a joy is increasingly becoming a chore.
Artwork and Presentation:
As a mild bright spot in this issue, Iván F. Silva’s art is decent enough under difficult conditions. Most of the issue is presented as roughly sketched pencils, so Silva has little opportunity to flex with wow moments. Plus, the intentional lack of coloring makes a few panels difficult to decipher. Still, Silva produced commendable work.
Art Samples:
The Bigger Picture:
Series Continuity:
Does it help to read the previous Vampirella arcs to understand what’s happening? Yes and no. The ins and outs of those arcs will not help in any way here, but it would be beneficial to understand who Katie is and how she connects to Draculina. Doubly so because Priest does nothing to make their connection obvious here.
Final Thoughts:
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VAMPIRELLA (VOL. 6) #671 starts a new arc with the same old mess of convoluted, nonsensical, out-of-order nonsense from Christopher Priest. The plot, if you can call it that, will make no sense to new readers, and longtime readers will be quickly frustrated by Priest’s overreliance on multiverse-hopping confusion. Priest and Vampirella are a bad combination that seems to be getting worse with time.
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