VAN HELSING: INVISIBLE WOMAN – Review

In VAN HELSING: INVISIBLE WOMAN, available from Zenescope Entertainment on August 4th, 2021, Liesel Van Helsing’s life of monster hunting is interrupted by a visitor with a dangerous ability and a serious grudge.

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The Details

• Written By: Pat Shand
• Art By: Rodrigo Xavier
• Colors By: Ceci De La Cruz
• Letters By: Taylor Esposito
• Cover Art By: Igor Vitorino, Ivan Nunes (cover A)
• Cover Price: $5.99
• Release Date: August 4, 2021

Was It Good?

At this point, Zenescope is one of the few publishers who’ve taken the Multiverse concept and executed it in such a way as to open up existing characters to a whole new realm of stories without creating gobs of confusion. Dynamite might be a tie with it’s Sonjaversal series, but either way, they’re doing It right (sorry, DC and Marvel).

When you have a monster-hunting Van Helsing running around the city streets, there’s only so many ghouls and demons you can dream up before things start to get stale. Eventually, you’ve got to get some fresh blood (*ahem*), and a multiverse is just the ticket to get things going.

If wasn’t clear from all this setup, the main villain of this book is not from around here, and the explanation of the villain’s arrival makes perfect sense.The multiverse concept is also the perfect mechanism for introducing new heroes and villains that have long, rich histories but have never crossed paths with the titular hero before.

That said, Shand borrows on what’s becoming a trope regarding multiverse travel that’s hard to look past. The main villain knows they’re on a different Earth. They know this Liesel is not the same as her Liesel, and yet, they carry a grudge against this Liesel as though all versions of a character are the same or doomed to repeat the same sins. It doesn’t make sense.

In multiverse speak: I’m different than the other me, so I treat the other me as a different person. But the person I hate from my Earth is the “same” as the person from your Earth, so I hate you both. It doesn’t add up, and it becomes an inescapable pain point throughout the rest of the issue once the villain is revealed.

To be clear, the story is good on it’s surface. The dialog is strong, Liesl deals with monsters but also has some emotional beats dealing with a crumbling love life, and the action is fairly intense. If the motivation of the villain made more sense, this would be a stellar issue.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the art is typical Zenescope house style. It’s consistently good compared to most publishers, so you’ll enjoy the visuals a lot. I especially liked the bat design of the Alpha vampire in the opening prologue.

In short, great art, generally strong writing, but the villain motivation is a persistent down point.

What’s It About?

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

Liesl Van Helsing is partnered up with Julie Kekyll to clear out a particularly nasty vampire nest. They get the job done without too much trouble, but they don’t realize they’re being watched.

Later, Liesel meets with her boyfriend (who now knows about her night job) to try and figure out how their relationship can work given her regular brushes with danger. The Lunch doesn’t go well. Before it ends, Liesel gets a call to meet back at Jekyll’s lab.

The hidden figure follows Liesel and breaks into the lab, hoping to get access to Julie’s equipment. Before the visitor can break or steal anything, Julie and Liesel rush in because they suspected someone was following them.

They were right, of course, and they soon figure out the visitor is invisible. A bloody fight follows, and Liesel’s combat skills are too much for the visitor. Liesel figures out the visitor is wearing bracelet tech to gain invisibility and she damages the bracelet to reveal the enemies true identity. We conclude the issue with a shocking reveal, a daring escape, and a flashback that suggests the Invisible woman’s grudge ensures her fight isn’t over yet.

Final Thoughts

VAN HELSING: INVISIBLE WOMAN isone of the better examples of using a multiverse concept to introduce new villains and more stories. The art is excellent, and the general story is goo, but the villain’s motivations make little sense.

Score: 7.5/10