Vampirella #2 // Review
Fifty years from now, spacecraft will arrive. The appearance in the Earth’s orbit will coincide with the 100th anniversary of a certain vampire-like creatures arrival on Earth. They will have been following a beacon from thousands of light years away. They are the ancients. Beings of unknown origin. The story serves as the backdrop for Vampirella #2. Writer Christopher Priest continues a journey with an extra-terrestrial vampire in an issue that is broguht to page and panel by artist Ergün Gündüz. It’s an engaging mix of interpersonal drama, fantasy, horror and science fiction that feel distinctly weird and fun.
The spacecraft in question come from the planet of Drakulon...the home planet of Vampirella. It’s a world not entirely unlike our own, but it’s also a planet of space vampires, so things are more than a little bit strange. Someone takes what appears to be medical advice from a psychologist. But it's a lot more complicated than something that would be able to be understood by a simple clinician. Of course, things are very complicated with the title character for sale. She's dealing with quite a lot. And it's difficult to tell exactly what it is that is going to be able to satisfy the situation.
Priest continues to tell a story that feels like it's trying to work on too many levels at once. That being said, it's actually very engaging with the level of complexity that Priest is working with. The drama itself feels like it has some nuance to it. And it is exploring aspects of sensuality and sexuality that wouldn't normally make it into something like this. So it's kind of fun to see the way they are developing a very sophisticated look at the relations between men and women, and in a world where things get strange and exotic, it can be a really interesting exploration. It will be interesting to see whether or not Priest is going to manage to develop the thematic complexity of the story moving forward.
Gündüz’s art does manage to engage things quite well. The complexity of the interpersonal drama is not losst to the artist...and his colors DO feel like thaey’re engaging things on a cleverly atmospheric level. That being said, there’s a lack of subtlety and nuance to some of the drama that seems to be forcing the nuance of the script into awkward positions that don’t quite fit what Priest is going for.
Priest is trying to engage too many different levels. And that doesn't really feel like it's working. It’s engaging interpersonal drama and thoughts of time travel and the future and alien cultures that are very much like our own. It really is just too much. It doesn't really fit together the way it should. That being said it is deeply engaging because of its strangeness and how all of the different elements are suppose against each other. It's interesting, but it's not necessarily memorable because it's trying to be too much in too many ways in too many different scenes without really being able to render in a very compelling way.
