Vampirella #8 // Review
They are eyeing it with a suspicion. And who can blame them? It’s a very primitive conveyance. it's crash landed on the planet. And there's just this guy in a primitive space suit. no telling what dangers he might pose. However, the guys unconscious on a rock. So it's not like he's any threat right now. And there's some question as to what exactly it is that they're supposed to do under the circumstances. This is happening now, but it’s not happening now in Vampirella #8. Writer Christopher Priest and artist Davis Goetten continue a long and winding saga with artist Adriano Augusto.
There a robot that's taking her to this point in the past. But actually, it's not a robot. It's not an android either. It's an algorithm. And it's taking her into her own mind. Taking into her own memories of the past. This was a very crucial moment for her. She just felt the need to protect this man. And so she got back into his craft. And found an emergency return button. It seemed perfectly fine. She figured she would be back right away. Of course, she wasn't. And things got a little confusing from there. And they're even more confusing now.
Priest explores the past of a character with a surprisingly long history. Even for those who had been following her for decades, there's been quite a few angles and avenues and corridors of her past, which seemed to continually pop up in strange moments at odd angles. Priest seems to be trying to consolidate it all in a way that makes some kind of sense while also embracing the complexity of a character who has been around for as long as she has. It's a great deal of fun. Seeing her navigate through her own past and try to make some sense of it.
Goetten is asked to move through a lot of different locations. Not all of them necessarily have a very strong visual print on the page. The important thing is that the action itself is rendered with a great deal of dynamic range. There's some subtly nuanced drama that's hitting the page. There's quite a lot of action. And some very subtle horror as well. Through it all, the title character has to be firmly rooted in herself enough visually to be able to be thrown through a whole bunch of different locations. Goetten does a pretty good job of moving through everything with quite a range of different moods and emotions.
The fascinating thing about this particular character is the fact that she is someone who's been through a lot of different periods in the course of her history. It was the late silver age when she was first introduced. And she had a long running series. There was a lot that had taken place over the course of the years. And she's been through every major period in the history of comic books sends. It's quite a project to try to bring it all together. But it's not the kind of challenge. It would be with so many other characters. Because she's had the benefit of being distinctly her own in her own series for much of that time. It's just really cool seeing it happen. It's really cool seeing someone try to make some sense of it all.
