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Vampirella: The Second Coming #2 (of 4)

By Andy Frisk
October 19, 2009 - 19:52

Kelly, the social worker with the newly demon possessed husband, who appeared at the end of last issue in Vampirella’s outfit and sporting her powers, bites her friend Lauren, passing on the Vampirella “virus.” Lauren knows she’s sick, but exclaims, “…am I falling into disease or recovering from a chronic one I never knew I had?” She finds herself drawn to the night club In The Blood, where she encounters a multitude of women dressed as Vampirella indulging in vampiric practices. She is appalled at what she sees, but now has to power to see true evil, namely the demonic agents of Chaos, for what they are, literally. When she witnesses a jogger being attacked in a park, she can no longer resist giving in to Vampirella’s call…and she isn’t nearly the only one.

Hester continues to portray Vampirella as “...a comic book, a video game, a cartoon…a viral marketing thing” who is somehow recruiting women into becoming daughters of the night with all of the vampiric superpowers of the self same comic book character. It appears these women have been “kissed” by Vampirella’s liberating, spiritual power at some point or another, or by herself, again literally, before she had to retreat into the world of fiction where, “she is secure-immortal in the minds of her followers,” as longtime companion of Vampirella, Pendragon states. Either way, an army of “Vampirellas” is massing, and as it appears, just in time to meet a hugely destructive demonic threat to the world.

Artists Daniel Sampere and Al Rio split the artwork in this issue, but both artists continue to supply readers with what catches the eye of the potential Vampirella reader: lots of female skin. While there’s no explicit nudity, of course, there’s plenty of the aforementioned skin as the Vampirella “virus” births more and more “Vampirella’s” and they all don that legendary, barely there Vampirella outfit. Sampere, in particular, supplies readers with some PG-13 girl on girl bloodsucking in the club scene, but again this is expected, even wanted, of a Vampirella comic book by most readers. Both artists display excellent mastership of the…ahem…”perfect” female form, if you will, and do a pretty good job with the demon forms as well. All in all, there’s nothing to complain about artistically in Vampirella: The Second Coming #2.

What really makes this series interesting is Hester’s unique take on Vampirella’s rebirth. We’ve seen a plethora of Vampirella drawings, live model pictures, etc, etc. over the years so while it’s always appealing (in that adolescent way), the Vampi bikini has been on display, along with Vampi bodies for years now. A good story that has more than cheesecake slathered all over it and a good writer to craft that story are about the only things that can keep Vampirella around. Hester is filling the bill on both counts, thus far.

Overall, the world’s most famous, most published, most lusted after, and most modeled female vampire continues the rebirthing process in Vampirella: The Second Coming. Along with her, we just might be witnessing the rebirth of quality Vampirella tales as well.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12