Vampiverse #4 Review

Writers: Thomas Sniegoski and Jeannine Acheson

Art: Daniel Maine, Francesca Cittarelli, Taylor Esposito

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 8th, 2021

Reviewer: kcscribbles

Bloodwing continues her assault on different universes in Vampiverse #4, as we see different versions of Vampirella in action across the multiverse.

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THE STORY

Multiversal stories are all the rage these days and for good reason, it’s fun to see variations of a beloved character. In Vampiverse #4, we’re treated to a Godzilla-like Vampirella and a Buck Rogers style Vampirella, complete with a retro-50’s sci-fi helmet and blaster rifle (my favorite version of Vampirella so far), who gives them surprising new information about the multiverse.

Our Vampirella, along with alternate versions Lilith and “Emma Peel” Vampirella are now dedicated to helping the spectral Book (the ghostly embodiment of “The Book of Prophecy”) find the remaining pages of “The Book of Prophecy” in order to learn how to defeat Bloodwing, who is the Thanos of this story, moving from universe to universe and wiping out Vampirellas, then absorbing their power.

Bloodwing’s motive for doing this are disappointingly simple, though. She just wants to become a god, and can only do it once all the other Vampirellas have been destroyed. I wish there were more to her purpose than this, it reduces her to the stereotypical moustache-twirling (or in her case, fang-dripping) villain.

I get it, Vampirella was never meant to be very deep and complex, but one of the other Vampirella comics by Christopher Priest and Ergun Gunduz has managed to tell a wonderfully layered story with some psychological elements to it over 2 years. I wish we got more of that here, learned more about the alternate Vampirellas than just surface traits. The Lilith version, for example, could be a lot more interesting than just her being an orphan from the 50’s. Perhaps as the story continues we’ll get more information about her.

ART

Daniel Maine’s art for Vampiverse #4 captures the unique aspects of each Vampirella with nice touches (such as Lilith always being black and white in the midst of color panels). The art is best during slow scenes, with character expressions conveying emotions nicely, but the action gets a bit muddled during battle scenes.
He draws Bloodwing and her massive armor best, she really comes of as an imposing threat.

The backgrounds in many cases lack detail, but since this is a multiverse-hopping adventure, details aren’t as important to the story as a down-to-earth vigilante type story would require.