Vampirella Vs. Red Sonja - Red City #1 // Review
Sonja has cut out the heart of the daemon. That doesn’t seem to have done a great deal, though. It’s still alive and it’s still angry. Dyna Might says that the thing isn’t going to be dead until all of its blood is drained. It’s just a good thing that Ella is there to help out. Only question is: what kind of a monster is she going to turn into? This is only the beginning of the adventure in Vampirella Vs. Red Sonja - Red City #1. Writer Chuck Brown finds a fun adventure for a couple of horror fantasy heroines with artist Paulo H. Mel. Color comes to the page courtesy of Marcos Antônio.
Ella, Sonja and Dyna are trapped in a city between worlds. It’s a fusion of magic, vampires and barbarians called Red City. There doesn’t seem to be any way out. The fusion between the world of shadow and the world of magic gets particularly dark as a fairy named Faith is cursed with vampirism. Ella, Sonja and Dyna are going to have to confront Faith if they’re going to be able to escape the city and get back home. They’re going to need to work together in order to do so.
Brown rushes through the action quite quickly. Given the scope of the story, things seem more than a little rushed. The characters in question seem really interesting. As does the overall premise of the issue. It really would've been a lot more comfortable to see this sort of thing expanded into a full series. Or at least a full miniseries. All of the basic ideas seem really interesting. And Brown's characterization of the heroes feels really appealing. This is a really cool cast to hang out with for a series of pages. But it's over way too quickly.
Mel’s art is gorgeous in numerous places. It looks a little bit awkward at times. The heroes look formidable and they look really cool doing what it is that they're doing. The monsters that they're facing look suitably menacing. Antônio’s colors are bright and crisp throughout. The visuals too often rely pretty heavily on shadowy scratchings of ink. Mel’s art by contrast has a very tight precision about it that feels disturbing on a completely different level. The bright colors and clean lines feel strangely enchanting in a world of demons and vampires and such. It’s fun.
The issue doesn’t read like a single story so much as it is a pitch for a much longer series with this particular creative team that could have been SO much more satisfying than the compressed story that’s rushed between the covers of this particular issue. This particular iteration of Sonja and this particular iteration of Ella are really enjoyable together. There’s real magic in the specific aesthetics of the series and the general energy that Brown brings to the story. Rushed as it is, it’s not nearly coherent enough to make the kind of impression it might have done as a longer series.
