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VAMPIRELLA Monthly - 2002
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Vampirella 5 (January 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Mike Mayhew Fear of Mirrors - Part Two: Vampirella hitches a lift to Coogan's Bluff in a lorry. The lorry is attacked by what initially looks like zombies, but are in fact Zelators. Zelators expose normal people to a magic mirror which turns them into more Zelators, but it didn't work on a woman who then escaped with her son. They join Vampirella and they then meet O'Hare and Mulligan, FBI agents who specialise in occult cases. The FBI agents have been tracking astral energy from a mystic mirror, the one that was used to bring Vampirella into this world and the Zelators have it. Holed up in the local police station they are surrounded by Zelators. Arming herself with pistols and a shotgun Vampirella goes into the night to meet them ...
Action from the go. A thoroughly engaging story complimented by stunning artwork from Mike Mayhew. I'm sure I have mentioned the incredible detail of Mike Mayhew's art before, but what strikes me is that all his characters look like real people. Each character is drawn complete with warts, wrinkles and other imperfections and a range of facial expressions which make you believe in them as real people. The detail extends to background items such as clothes which have creases and folds as real clothes do - even Vampirella's costume looks like it made out of material and not "sprayed on". |
Vampirella 6 (February 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Mike Mayhew Fear of Mirrors - Part Three: Outside, Vampirella engages in bloody battle with Zelators; inside, the woman Vampirella rescued dies as a demonic being called a Hexxen erupts from her body. The Zelators are the midwives for the Hexxen and have been pursuing the woman for the Hexxen incubating inside her, which came from the mystic "black" mirror. Vampirella and the crew destroy the Hexxen and the Zelators, but the black mirror is still out there somewhere.
It goes a bit against the grain to see Vampirella toting guns in favour of her more natural weapons, but (to give her her due) she certainly knows how to use them. A great story with ac anticlimactic ending which was very reminiscent of a number of zombie films from the 1970s. |
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Vampirella 7 Ash Can (February 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew (1,500 copies) $5.95 Writer - John Smith : Art - Dawn Brown A selection of black and white sample pages and cover from the impending Vampirella and Pantha stories starting in Vampirella Monthly 7. |
Vampirella 7 (April 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Dawn Brown Hungry Ghosts - Part 1: Vampirella has found shelter in the traveling circus that covers for the FBI's ghost busting team. She meets Harry Krishna who tells her that all is not as it seems ... Writer - John Smith : Art - Mark Texiera Pantha - Part One: We are reintroduced to Pantha - Vampirella's fellow shape shifter from the Warren era. Pantha is working in a show at Las Vegas and is visited by a member of Cult of the Cat who invites her to meet "Tongueman". Meanwhile a lorry of Nazi werewolves (frozen since 1945) has crashed, and the pack is loose.
Not the most action packed Vampirella story, but informative and it sets the stage for the issues to come. The Pantha story is a bit strange, and the oddness of the story is set of perfectly by Mark Texeira's stunning oils. Connie, the one legged, prostitute, cat cult member is quite a unique character and more important than seems initially. Cramming two stories into one comic book means something has to suffer (and it is rarely the advertising that is cut), so both the Vampirella and the Pantha stories aren't "full length" stories.
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Vampirella 8 (May 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Dawn Brown Hungry Ghosts - Part Two: Vampirella visits a haunted house which is occupied by many strange phantasms ... Writer - John Smith : Art - Mark Texiera Pantha - Part Two: The Nazi werewolves go on a rampage until they inevitably meet Pantha.
Hungry Ghosts starts to pick up pace as Vampirella gets drawn in to the haunted house, which holds a few secrets of her first days on Earth. Texeira must have had a field day with this story, the blood and guts are flying throughout. You just know this storyline isn't aimed at younger readers!
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Vampirella 9 (June 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Dawn Brown Hungry Ghosts - Part Three: Vampirella "sees" some of the horrors that were perpetrated in the haunted house in the past and she picks up an ethereal stalker. Writer - John Smith : Art - Mark Texiera Pantha - Part Three: Pantha shifts to her Panther form to defeat the werewolf that attacks her, but the main pack are after Connie, the Cult of the Cat member.
Vampirella sees how she was conjured to this world, at the expense of thirty other women who were sacrificed for the rituals. How do you deal with the fact that you were "responsible" for the deaths of thirty innocent victims - albeit vicariously? There is a strong suggestion that she was abused when she first came to our world. The writer seems to piling on horror after horror. This is not a good day for Vampirella. Pantha is well on form and the story continues apace. It isn't clear why the wolf pack are after Connie, but I suppose sometimes some things are lost between the story and the art .... |
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Vampirella 10 (June 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Dawn Brown Hungry Ghosts - Part Four: Vampirella remembers being dragged into this world via the Black Mirror and the spells of the local coven. But the spells weren't complete and a horde of other demons came into the world with Vampirella. Remembering her "birth" on Earth, Vampirella destroys the house and the "ghosts" it contains. Writer - John Smith : Art - Mark Texiera Pantha - Part Four: The werewolves meet their match in Pantha, but she is too late to save Connie.
As the Hungry Ghosts storyline ends, the next story line begins. The suggestion of sexual abuse is confirmed. Sexual abuse is always a tricky topic to cover, and Vampirella has always been considered a strong, independent woman who can handle herself. It makes you stop and think a moment. If abuse can happen to Vampirella, it can happen to anyone. The Pantha story concludes in less than satisfactory fashion. The werewolves are defeated, Connie is a casualty of war, but it was never explained why the Wolf Pack were after her in particular ... If anyone knows please get in touch! TRIVIA: The Limited Edition (Alex Horley) comic book is numbered 09 on the back cover instead of 10, and the cover art is credited to Dawn Brown. I think they may have just cut and pasted the information from issue 9 and forgot to make all the relevant changes. One thing I found irritating about this series was that there was no issue number on the cover (which may have contributed to the typo on the Horley edition). If you keep your comics bagged and boarded (which you should) then it is awkward trying to keep them in order if you have to take each comic out of the bag to check the issue number each time! Fortunately, Harris started putting the issue number on the front of the comic book again from issue 11 onwards ... |
Vampirella 11 (August 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Writer - John Smith : Art - Mike Mayhew The Wilding Sanction - Part One: As the World's End Circus moves on they set a trap for Vampirella's ghostly stalker. He turns out to be a convict on death row who can astral project, but he is aware of the Hexxen and where they are. Next stop, Hong Kong ...
There is a short piece where Vampirella is working out her frustrations on a punch bag. Having been involved in the martial arts for many years myself, I was quite pleased to note that Vampirella had a correct fist position, good guard and executed quite a good flying side kick. It makes you wonder if Mike Mayhew has any martial arts experience or whether this was just good research on his part. |
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Vampirella 12 (September 2002)Regular cover - Mike Mayhew $2.99 Jay Company Comics (published November 2006) Writer - John Smith : Art - Manuel Garcia, Jimmy Palmiotti The Wilding Sanction - Part Two: Arriving in Hong Kong, Vampirella swims to the island fortress of computer magnate Max Wilding. Wilding is aware that something is not right and has protected his island with the most sophisticated physical and mystical defences. He is unaware that what he fears is inside him - a gestating Hexxen. Vampirella fights some half human, half animal ninjas and ends up surrounded by them.
This issue was for the November 2006 Wizard Texas convention. |
Vampirella 13 (October 2002)Regular cover - Manuel Garcia $2.99 Writer - Benjamin Raab : Art - Mike Mayhew The Wilding Sanction - Part Three: Vampirella continues her battle with the semi-human ninjas, as Harry Krishna and the crew try to break through the force field defences with disastrous effect. Vampirella and Harry are attacked by Zelators in the guise of dragon's, then discover that their local ally is in fact an demonic foe.
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Vampirella 14 (November 2002)Regular cover - Manuel Garcia $2.99 Writer - Benjamin Raab : Art - Manuel Garcia, Jimmy Palmiotti The Wilding Sanction - Part Four: The astral spirit of Felix Bruckner helps Vampirella and Harry defeat the demons, destroy the Hexxen in Wilding's body and finally smash the black mirror. In the process the Hexxen calls Vampirella "sister", and claims that they are both outcasts from Eden.
As one door shuts, another door opens. There are lots of loose ends here. The astral body of Felix Bruckner permanently disconnected from his comatose body, the reptilian demon Wong Jing escaped into the night and another tantalising hint that Vampirella's knowledge of her origins and purpose is not as it seems. |
Vampirella 15 (December 2002)Regular cover - Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti
$2.99 Writer - Jay Faerber : Art - Matthew Clark, Ron Randall The Pack - Part One: Two campers are torn to pieces in the woods and the police are at a dead end. A "profiler" dressed in a skimpy red costume appears out of nowhere and then vanishes just as mysteriously after inspecting the scene. Vampirella hears of a gang of bikers nearby, who she feels may be a werewolf pack so she joins them for the evening. Meanwhile the real pack are turning under the light of the moon.
After the previous string of intellectually challenging issues with the Hexxen and their occult links to Vampirella's origins, it is a refreshing change to get back to something as mundane as hunting down a pack of werewolves. Matthew Clark and Ron Randall do a superb job with the artwork, presenting a stunning "new look" Vampirella - more sultry, statuesque and physically powerful. The first appearance of Vampirella is almost iconic, and instantly you know that this isn't quite the same Vampirella you have known in the past. |
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