Dynamite Entertainment 2021
Written by Ray Fawkes
Illustrated byÁlvaro Sarraseca
Coloured by Salvatore Aiala
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
It’s always darkest before the dawn, right? Let’s tell ourselves that, because not only is Lilith getting very creative with her “corrupt the incorruptible, end the world” plan, but a powerful new player has decided to get involved for the giggles… but mostly for the Armageddon. Things are shaping up to get massively out of hand, which is the perfect time for Vampirella and Purgatori to start fighting each other instead of their enemies—not!
Well now that we know who has been masterminding Lilith’s information it is time for Hel to play a little more active role in all this. The opening is simply amazing as we learn who has been feeding Lilith the information through her oracle while Hel has bound a few to her as well and the interaction that we see is beyond fabulous. Purgatori and Vampirella are each doing their own thing and I find it interesting and fascinating that they are working in concert and yet never see each other just makes you wonder what Purgatori has up her proverbial sleeve. Ray is able to get the reader engaged in this story beautifully with all this.
I really like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is extremely well presented. The character development is wonderful as the dialogue, character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really does wonders in fleshing them out. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way has this way of continuing to build this delicious tension.
I am enjoying the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and newly emerge. These layers help with the overall picture come to life and add this depth and complexity to the story that you wouldn’t get otherwise. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow and how it moves the story forward is greatly achieved. I love this as it has all these elements that suit both women and yet it’s personality that really sets them apart.
The interiors here are fabulous! There is this wondrous creativity and imagination that we see throughout and when Vampirella goes underground to find a woman what we see surrounding here is gorgeous! I mean c’mon now this is how you unleash that creativity and imagination so the reader is left with mouth agape in awe and wonder. The linework is beautifully laid down and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work is utterly sensational. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is phenomenal! How the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely nice to see.
This is unlike anything else we’ve seen from Dynamite or even elsewhere on stands right now. There is a wonderful sense of drama, intrigue and mystery that permeates through the story giving it this amazing textured feel within the layering that really accentuates just how strong and independent these women are. Thus far we’ve seen these ladies doing their thing and not really having to cross paths too much and I’m waiting to see if and or when things heat up to the point where it is a free-for-all fight.
These characters have so much in common and are so alike that working together was always going to be a roll of the dice and I’m waiting for the sixes to stop and for craps to come up and until then this is absolutely Dynamite!