VAMPIRELLA: YEAR ONE #6, from Dynamite Comics on March 20th, 2023, ends the arc with a battle between Vampiri and Demi-demon for control over the Book of Chaos.
The Details
- Written by: Christopher Priest
- Art by: Ergün Gündüz, Giovanni Timpano
- Colors by: Ergün Gündüz, Flavio Dispenza
- Letters by: Willie Schubert
- Cover art by: Collette Turner (cover A)
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: March 29, 2023
Is It Good?
Oof! Buckle up, Kiddos. VAMPIRELLA: YEAR ONE #6 ends the arc with a lot of spectacle, too much nonsense, and an ending that doesn’t qualify as an ending to conclude a Year One story that doesn’t qualify as a Year One story. This one’s a headscratcher.
Yes, that’s right. This issue is billed as the finale. How? Who knows. It doesn’t read like anything remotely resembling a finale, but here we are. Christopher Priest picks up from the end of issue #5 with Vampirella communing with the Mad God Chaos in the Nethervoid. Now, Nyx arrives to force Vampirella to read the book before Pantha steals the book to request Pendragon to read the book until everyone figures out nobody can read the book. That’s it.
Yes, that’s it. Everyone fights over a book nobody can read, and Vampirella ends up making the Mad God Chaos Mad, scuttling her chance of petitioning Chaos to get home. In a series that doesn’t cover a particular year, spends most of the time following Vampirella during her childhood to adulthood, and only spends a few weeks on Earth, it doesn’t make sense to call this a “Year One” title and doesn’t qualify as a story with a clear beginning, middle, or end.
“Wait, what about the baby? Maybe the ‘Year One’ title refers to Vampirella’s child’s first year,” you wonder. Nope. The present story about the baby doesn’t end. It’s simply left hanging.
In other words, the criticism brought up in our review of issue #1 has proven correct. This is a story with no point or direction, and it failed to justify its own existence. Truly, this is a story about nothing. It adds almost nothing to Vampirella’s history and doesn’t further her story in the present. It’s a 6-issue filler arc and a wasted opportunity.
The art is fine. Gündüz’s illustration style works out better in this issue with detailed backgrounds to offset the digital glossiness, and the coloring adds motion and movement (through the subtle use of action lines) to offset the stiffness in Gündüz’s style. In general, Timpano’s art in the epilogue suits this material better, but the overall quality of the art is solid.
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]
We begin with Pantha waiting for Pendragon outside the carnival so the two can catch a train. Growing impatient, Pantha ventures into one of the tents to find Pendragon but encounters Vampirella communing with the Mad God Chaos in the Nethervoid egg/bubble/thingy.
Vampirella begins to ask for help from the Mad God to be sent home when Nyx suddenly appears as the Mad God’s emissary with a demand. Vampirella must read the Book of Chaos to find the spell to free the Mad God from the Nethervoid. Unfortunately, a spell prevents Nyx from reading the book, so she believes Vampirella, Lilith’s “daughter,” can.
Before Vampirella can attempt to read the book, Pantha leaps into action and snatches the book away for herself. We conclude the issue with shenanigans.
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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VAMPIRELLA: YEAR ONE #6 ends the arc in the weirdest way possible with a Year One story that’s not a Year One story and an ending that’s not an ending. The action comes off as an unintentional comedy of errors, and the conclusion confirms this series truly had no point or value.
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