Vampirella #6

Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Andy Belanger
Colourist: Lee Loughridge
Published: Dynamite Comics

After a pretty ingenious conclusion to the last issue where we had Vampirella outsmart a manifestation of Lucifer and his twisted version of Heaven and unwittingly brought back all of humanity back to life, whether they liked it or not, Vampirella now faces the consequences of her actions. Or, she would, but Cornell changes lanes in this issue.

Since being awoken from a thousand-year sleep, Vampirella hasn’t really had a chance to rest. Now that she’s conquered Lucifer, her, her new pal Vicki and their pet cat Grit finally get a chance to rest and to dream. What they get however, is a shared manifested dream within Vampirella’s consciousness with a pretty fun backdrop of gothic Europe.

As she emerges within her dream, Vampirella is shown a palatial estate, greeted at the door by an anthropomorphized Grit, the “Mighty Bringer of Food for Helpless Humans” as she calls herself and is introduced to what we come to learn is her home, or more specifically, her subconscious manifested as her home. As I mentioned above, this is a shared dream, so Vampirella groups up with Vicki, dressed as a maid, and is then confronted by her anima Vampirello: the male representation of her subconscious.

When it comes to explorations of the mind, comics can sometimes be a pretty great medium to do so since we get to see the creator’s vision of what the characters mind would look like. It is a brilliant idea of Cornell and guest artist Belanger to set Vampirella’s mind in gothic era Europe. I also have really enjoyed Cornell’s take on Vampirella with this run: she’s brasher, doesn’t seem to think of the consequences of her actions, even though she always seems in control, and is just plain fun.

Guest artist Belanger does admirable work on this issue. Sticking with the esthetic established in this run, there are no bright colours to be found, even with a ballroom soiree included in this issue, and everything is kept just the perfect amount of “rough” on the page. My favourite page of this issue is by far a full page drawing of Vicki and Vampirella descending a tight, spiral staircase: a perfect visual of movement.

Vampirella continues to be a fun read from month to month. Cornell’s take has been quite refreshing and as a fan of his, I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.