Dynamite Entertainment 2020
Written by Christopher Priest
Illustrated by Jae Lee & Gabriel Ibarra
Coloured by June Chang & Mohan
Lettered by Willie Schubert
Four women are lured to rural Georgia as part of a mysterious scheme to defend an impoverished farming town which finds itself under siege by zealots. But this isn’t just any impoverished farming town, and these aren’t just any four women. The all-new Draculina, Pantha, Nyx, and Chastity have been brought together in Ashthorne in an effort to avert all-out war against nearby Sacred, Georgia. But Ashthorne has a deadly secret, Sacred has a deadly purpose, and lurking in the shadows is Lilith, the immortal sorceress and mother to Vampirella.
These characters are extremely BadAss in every way shape and form. Also Pantha is among those characters that I love and adore and as far as I know she’s not been connected to Vampirella before so this is a treat for me! Plus I am a huge Chastity fan as well so this on the whole makes me so gosh darn incredibly happy. Then of course it is written by Christopher Priest so if you are thinking about sleeping on this then you are a fool! This is far and away one of the best intellectual comics that I have seen lately. This really does make you think when you read it as it engages you in some spectacular ways.
The way that this is being told is utterly fantastic! How we see the story & plot development move forward through how we see the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid out beautifully. There is something about a history lesson that I love and more so when it involves Egypt and it’s ruling class and they are based upon actual people. The character development that we see here is really interesting. This is told as if it were in chapters and each focusing on someone different, after all this will be a really decent sized cast when it’s all said and done. Then towards the end we see more with the same characters and it leaves me incredibly intrigued to say the least. The pacing here is fantastic and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it’s easy to see how all of this works together to create the books ebb & flow.
Once we pass the prologue and get into the heart of the story we see how Gabriel and Mohan work together on the interiors here. Oh sweet mother of Pearl Bailey, price tag on the hat and all, the work is gorgeous. Their first page has this imagery that sets the stage for everything to come and it’s just simply beautiful to look at. The linework is exquisite and the way the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to draw out this level and quality in the details is mindbogglingly good. From zombies to vampires and Pantha, oh lord in her cat form as a panther it’s bloody brilliant to see, the creativity and imagination that is on display within these pages is astounding as it’s brought to life. How we see backgrounds being utilised could be a whole lot better, I mean on a film set and blank backgrounds meh. Still the utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is divine! Talk about knowing how to create the perfect mood, tone and feel, I mean the way we see the various hues and tones being utilised within the colours to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is astounding. How the colour can bring a face or body to life with the tones and shading is scary to see within these pages, by how damn good it’s being done.
The way this is structured and the way that we see the different characters and their viewpoints shows just how impressive Christopher is as a writer. The man can weave a tale that would impress Thoth and even make him jealous. This is the start of something big, epic proportions big and you’ll want to be along for every single thrilling moment of it.