In VAMPIVERSE #4, available from Dynamite Comics on December 8th, 2021, the league of Vampirellas loses one and grows by two as Bloodwing decides killing the other Vampirellas isn’t enough to make her quest against the Artist a reality.
The Details
- Written By: Thomas Sniegoski, Jeannine Acheson
- Art By: Daniel Maine
- Colors By: Francesca Cittarelli
- Letters By: Taylor Esposito
- Cover Art By: Madibek Musabekov (cover A)
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: December 8, 2021
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Was It Good?
In issue #3, Sniegoski and Acheson embraced the idea of a universe that bends reality in unique ways (e.g. B&W 50s sitcom Lilith). In VAMPIVERSE #4, that embrace turns into a full-on bear hug from a long lost uncle with Vampirellas that you probably never would have expected to exist making their debut. And, it’s gloriously fun.
In fairness, the main plot involving Bloodwing hopping from one dimension to the next to kill every Vampirella for their power while the survivors band together is getting a tad repetitive. Vampirella shows up in another universe looking for Book’s pages, Bloodwing follows close behind, and Vampirella either escapes to another dimension with another Vampirella joining her group or Bloodwing adds another kill to her scorecard. Rinse and repeat.
That may sound like the series has grown monotonous, but it hasn’t. The key reason is the aforementioned creativity put into each new universe created by Sniegoski and Acheson. I would never in my wildest dreams have conceived of Vampizilla. The concept alone is almost worth the cover price. Admittedly, it’s a shiny spoon distraction, but it’s never a bad thing when creators to take a chance to have some fun.
What helps the insanity of this multiversal romp is Maine’s big action sequences. You get portals, kaiju, uzi fights, grenade explosions, and more. It’s as if somebody said to Maine “Go big or go home”, and he went for it. I sincerely wish more comics creators would stretch their imagination like this.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
To get caught up on the madness before you head into more… madness, first read our VAMPIVERSE #3 review.
Vampizilla. Yes, Bloodwing arrives in yet another universe as a brief flashback to the prior issue’s cliffhanger and confronts Vampizilla. When the battle is concluded, Bloodwing hears the call of the cult leaders from the last issue summoning the Chaos Lords. A summons Bloodwing happily answers.
Back to now and the cliffhanger at the end of the last issue, Bloodwing arrives in the museum and begins killing anything that gets in her way. Through the fight we learn (always a good idea to further the story through the action) that Bloodwing not only wants to kill all the other Vampirellas to consolidate their power into her own, but she also needs Book to locate and kill the Artist.
The following battle is big, flashy, and loud. Ultimately, Prague sacrifices himself with a Chaos grenade to take Bloodwing out, and it appears to work. However, Vampirella and crew break one of the most fundamental rules when dealing with a superior foe – they ignored the double tap, and Bloodwing springs back up to continue the pursuit, snatching Book in the process.
We conclude the issue with a new portal with two new Vampirellas to recruit, cave paintings and dinosaurs, and a new mission.
Final Thoughts
VAMPIVERSE #4 takes the sheer insanity of a multiverse to a whole new level. It’s this kind of creativity and imagination that’s sorely missing from comics, and it greatly enhances a story with some admittedly repetitive elements. The art team equally embraced the fun by giving readers big action sequences and non-stop chaos, in a good way.
Score: 9/10
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