VAMPIRELLA: THE HARRIS YEARS
1988 to date

When the Vampirella character was revived after being bought by Harris Publishing (subsequent to Warren's bankruptcy) changes were made to her origin.

In the Morning In America series, we are reintroduced to the companions of Chaos and Nathan Shroud. As the story unfolds we find that Vampirella has been "missing" for ten years. Shroud had altered her memories and she had been working as a teacher under the nom de plume of Ella Normandy, unaware that she was really Vampirella. In a complex but absorbing tale which forms a bridge between the Warren version of Vampirella and the new, up-to-date Harris version, Vampirella gets the first hint that her origin is fallacious.

Vampirella first began to suspect all was not as it seemed when she was given a glimpse into her future and past by the demon Nuberus (who tempted her with her true origin in order to gain access to Earth). In the vision she witnesses a woman faintly outlined, but cannot see who she really is. Later we discover this is an image of Lilith.

And then the story starts to blur. It appears that Vampirella's memories are all false, placed into her mind by her evil brother and sister - Madek and Magdalene - but even this is false!

In truth, Vampirella is the daughter of Lilith, the first wife of Adam. Lilith was created by God himself and then cast out of Eden for failing to submit to the will of Adam. God's second attempt at creating a partner for Adam was Eve - who went on and did the "apple and serpent" bit.

Presumably, after two failures God gave up on trying to create a "perfect" partner for Adam ...

Vampirella was born to provide redemption for her mother. After she was cast out of Eden Lilith had "lain" with demons and gave birth to thousands of demons of her own - the race of demons we know as vampires. Lilith also bore two others, Madek and Magdalene, in the hopes they would give her the redemption she seeks, but they abused their power and decided to follow the path of evil.

On finding her brother and sister Vampirella attacked them, but they prove to be too powerful for her. Rather than kill her they provide her with false memories of Drakulon so that she will leave them alone to continue their quest for evil without alerting their mother, who would try to find another way to thwart them.

Vampirella's adventures continue and she meets Mistress Nyx, a demon who allies herself with an old adversary, Hemorrhage. After her death at the hands of Nyx, Vampirella awakes to find herself in Hell, but it was a part of Hell known as Drakulon and this is the true place of her birth. She is still a child of Lilith, but instead of ridding the world of Madek and Magdalene (who are now dead anyway following the conclusion of the Mystery Walk series) her mission was now to provide redemption for her mother by destroying all vampires on Earth. This she must do because Lilith's time in Hell is ending, and she can only find redemption through her daughter, Vampirella.

With the help of Adam van Helsing (also finding redemption in Drakulon) she restores the Styx, the river of blood that provides nourishment for the inhabitants of Drakulon (which we now know to be vampires) and bids her mother farewell one last time before Lilith is taken by the Hand of God. But it isn't quite over yet. Although Vampirella spends some considerable time ridding the Earth of vampires as she promised her mother, she finds herself back on Drakulon (Hell) again. This time she is seeking the Heart of Darkness, the heart of Malkuth - an angel created with free will who chose evil and was killed by another angel, Metatron. Lilith (who it appears has not told the entire truth to Vampirella) created Vampirella in Malkuth's likeness, yet created her as a force for good so she could release the spear holding Malkuth's heart, and thus end creation. This was Vampirella's true destiny, to remove the lance and destroy everything as Lilith's final vengeance on God! This she does, and destroys creation, but then by destroying Metatron's heart immediately afterwards she creates a new beginning for life, the universe and everything. Returning to Earth, Vampirella continues with her more mundane crusade to rid the world of vampires, trolls and any other nasties that prey on humans. But still, all is not right. Her memories sometimes contradict themselves, or (on closer inspection) are obviously ridiculous. With the aid of a psychic she regresses and discovers that her mother (Lilith) and her lover (the Demon Lord, Belial) had created Vampirella out of Lilith's blood and the soil of Drakulon to be the ultimate killing machine. Lilith was being drained of energy by all her vampire children, but when Vampirella destroyed a vampire that vampire's energy returned to Lilith, making her stronger and stronger. Alone since Lilith had been destroyed by the Hand of God, Belial kidnaps Vampirella returning her to Drakulon where he manipulates a mass battle where she destroys thousands of vampires in a berserker, killing frenzy. As his minions die at the hands of Vampirella, Belial uses the surge of energy and Vampirella's blood to revive Lilith. The revived Lilith shows her true colours as an arch-demon, and casually destroys her daughter who is now surplus to requirements. In her dying moments, Vampirella draws on the life force of Drakulon itself and manages to destroy Lilith.

Returning to Earth, Vampirella has to come to terms with the fact that she was purely a tool created to empower her evil mother, Lilith, and she is now merely a highly efficient killing machine with no purpose in life ...

VAMPIRELLA: 1969 to 1983