Vampirella #5

Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist & Colourist: Jimmy Broxton

In this new iteration of Vampirella, written by Cornell and Broxton, they have flung our heroine into the far-off future, the year 3000-ish, and placed her in a world that just doesn’t seem quite right. After a final page shocker in the last issue, we, as the readers have to ask: has Vampirella completely lost it?

Well, the answer is no. One of my favourite things about Cornell’s run on Vampirella up to date has been his brilliant writing of our heroine. Yes, she may have slept for over a 1000 years and woken up in a strange new world, but she has taken this “minor” inconvenience in stride and has adapted pretty quickly. When she learned that this new “Hell” she was just sent to was but a virtual reality gone nuclear and led by a man who sees himself as the Devil, her plan is at once brilliant as it is pretty damn crazy. Since Vampirella is a vampire, it is no surprise that we learn she can boost her fledgling power (we learn last issue that this Hell sapped her of her powers) by accepting a massive blood sacrifice. And who does she ask this of? None other than her newfound allies who, after finding out this is nothing but virtual reality, acquiesce to her demand.  

What follows is her plan set in motion. Another fun tidbit we learned in the last issue is that Vampirella’s cat that she picked up along the way, found itself in Hell with her, but is actually still very much alive, and is quite the disruptive force when it comes into contact with this virtual reality. And Vampirella knows just how to use this to her advantage: disrupt the one circle of hell that has the biggest population and that will spark the biggest revolution of their own accord. This leads to a fantastic confrontation with the Devil himself and fun ending that lends itself well to the next issue.

I won’t lie, Cornell has always been one of my favourite comic writers in the past decade ever since I read his amazing take on Lex Luthor in Action Comics seven or so years ago, so I was delighted when he hopped onto Vampirella. Like I mentioned above, his take on Vampirella has been a lot of fun and he has done an excellent job making me feel invested in the character.

His counterpart on art, Broxton has been equally great. All of his characters are a little rough around the edges, but that works for the book. I really enjoy his take on Vampirella as well since he brings a certain coquettishness to our heroine. You know, just by looking at her that she not only has a plan in mind at all times, but knows that she will prevail in the end. It also helps that he is inker and colourist of his own work since it keeps the art consistent throughout, a major plus these days in the comic book world.