Book Review: Aliens/Vampirella

Book: Aliens/Vampirella (issues #1-6) by Corinna Bechko with illustrations and inks by Javier Garcia-Miranda, color by Inlight Studios and letters by Simon Bowland

Cover art by Gabriel Hardman and color by Jordan Boyd

Edition: Digital

Description:

Two iconic horror franchises collide, as Vampirella - the fan-favorite supernatural heroine - faces the most nightmarish creatures ever to appear in cinema: the Xenomorphs from Alien! As the first human colony on Mars digs deeper into the crimson soil, they discover the catacombs of a hibernating civilization, tens of thousands of years old. The evidence suggests that they are Nosferatu, an ancient and sinister species that Vampirella is all too familiar with. Called to the Red Planet to investigate, the monster hunter and her human allies find a chamber with hundreds of ellipsoidal, leathery eggs... and after they hatch, the true horror begins. In space, no one can hear Vampirella scream!

Comic Book News #13: A New Vampirella Series, Comixology Publishing Comic Books and More

I'm happy to post new Comic Book News for everyone, here are some books to look out for:



- Dynamite Entertainment will be publishing a new Vampirella series in 2017. It will be written by Paul Cornell with illustrations by Jimmy Broxton.

According to reports, Cornell said “I’m delighted to be writing a Vampirella that takes onboard everything she’s been and moves it forward into a new setting, where the gothic meets science fiction. I’m also delighted to be working again with my old friends, the incredibly talented artist Jimmy Broxton, and the incredibly talented editor, Matt Idelson."

“I’m hoping especially to find a female audience,” said Cornell. “The character’s often been regarded as a nostalgia item, cheesecake, and we’re building on previous efforts to keep moving away from that to something more interesting. I’m excited to be building a whole new world, I’m loving what Jimmy’s art is doing (Barbarella! Hepburn!), and I hope that excitement communicates itself to the reader.”

I'm not sure how I feel about this new take on Vampirella because I never regarded the character in a bad way. I always thought she needed a new costume which she recently got but I really don't want to see the character turned in a clone of Audrey Hepburn, Barberella (who is also getting a new comic book series in 2017) or some sort of fashionista. She's a butt kicking vampire and I hope that doesn't change.

- Digital comic provider Comixology will be publishing their own comic books. The comics will be co-published with companies such as Boom! Studios and Valiant and the first three digital books to published are Adventure Time Marshall Lee Spectacular (One Shot), Valiant High and Marley's Ghost. Valiant High will be a four issue miniseries follows the characters as high school students and Marley's Ghost is going to be a modern take on Harvey Kurtzman’s unfinished graphic novel of Marley's scenes from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Since Amazon.com purchased Comixology in 2014 you can also pre-order (or buy when the comics are available) from the retailer.

I've said this before, I don't really like to buy digital comics (unless there is no other option available). However,  I am interested in reading all three of these books and I already added them to my wishlist.

- DC Comics is bringing back the comic book series WildStorm with an imprint series. Warren Ellis will write the main series but will edit or curate the other books associated with the series.

WildStorm will be published in February 2017 with a monthly comic to be titled The Wild Storm. The series will be written by Warren Ellis with art by Jon Davis-Hunt. The series will reboot the WildStorm universe while also introducing "newly" created WildStorm characters: Grifter, Voodoo, The Engineer, Jenny Sparks and more.

According to reports, The Wild Storm is set to launch several future series: Michael Cray, WildC.A.T.S. and Zealot. So far no creative teams have been announced yet for those books.

- This December Image Comics will be published a new series titled Rockstars, it will be written by Joe Harris with illustrations by Megan Hutchison. Although the series will take place in the present it will focus on the unsolved mystery surrounding the murder of groupies that occurred during the 1970s. The first issue will be in comic book stores on December 14th.

Book Review: Swords of Sorrow: The Complete Saga

Book: Swords of Sorrow: The Complete Saga story by Gail Simone written and illustrated by various writers and artists

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review (Plus, I also read my own single print issues of Swords of Sorrow)

Publication: Available now

Description:

Dynamite's fiercest females appear in a massive genre-spanning crossover event featuring an all-star line-up of female authors, headlined by Gail Simone (Batgirl, Birds of Prey)! The ultimate pulp adventure features Vampirella, Dejah Thoris, Red Sonja, Purgatori, Lady Demon, Chastity, Jungle Girl, Jennifer Blood, Kato, Lady Zorro, and many, many more! Villains and heroes from a dozen worlds and eras face off against a legendary evil that threatens all their homelands. Written by Gail Simone, Mairghread Scott, Nancy A. Collins, G. Willow Wilson, Erica Schultz, and Leah Moore, and featuring artwork by Sergio Davila, Mirka Andolfo, Dave Acosta, Noah Salonga, Francesco Manna, and Cristhian Zamora!



Rating: 1 1/2 stars

Review:

I usually don't request a book that I already have, however, although I have all six issues of the Swords of Sorrow miniseries. I do not have all the additional issues of the one-shots and miniseries that tie-in with the main series.

This was not good, the writing was very clunky and felt like a total waste of a crossover with these amazing characters. Reading this felt like I was reading one big filler issue because the story didn't seem to be going anywhere. It was very random with no clear purpose other than good vs. evil.

The story follows the mysterious Traveler who has gathered a group of female heroes to help her stop her evil nemesis, The Prince (as in Prince Charming from Snow White) who has also put together a team of female villains to carry out his plans. Unlike the villains in this story, the heroes had no idea what was going on as they were unknowingly thrown together and given special swords called Sword of Sorrow.

I was disappointed with this and not only for the bad writing, poor dialogue, thin plot but also because so many of the characters were written and shown out of character. There were only two things I liked about this, one was Jennifer Blood (in the Vampirella & Jennifer Blood miniseries), who was probably the only character in this book that was well-written and interesting to read about. And second was the artwork, which ranged from good to average with a few issues showing artwork that appeared slightly cartoony.

This crossover event had so much potential but it got lost somewhere in this muddled story.

Book Review: Vampirella Feary Tales

Book: Vampirella Feary Tales (issues #1-5) by various writers and artists

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Description:

Nancy A. Collins (Swamp Thing, Sunglasses After Dark) has called upon some of today's finest creative talents — including Gail Simone, Steve Niles, Joe R. Lansdale, Devin Grayson, Stephen R. Bissette, and many more — to celebrate Vampirella's 45th Anniversary by crafting an anthology of twisted tales, bizarre bedtime stories, and fearsome fables in the tradition of the original Warren magazines, each featuring everyone's favorite sexy, kick-ass vampire-turned-monster hunter. 

While exploring the Transylvanian castle she's recently inherited, Vampirella discovers a strange old book of "Feary Tales" that seems oddly familiar. Upon opening it, she is sucked inside its pages and lands in a weird alternate reality, where she is compelled by a disembodied voice calling itself 'The Storyteller' to live out each of the 'feary tales' if she ever hopes to return to reality. Collects the five-issue Vampirella: Feary Tales comic book series, with a complete cover gallery.



Rating: 2 stars

Review:

First and foremost it's about time that Vampirella had a costume change. She can still be sexy with a new costume.

Anyway on to the review, Vampirella Feary Tales was okay. For a celebration of 45 years of Vampirella, this could have been much better. A bulk of the book contained stories that were a retelling of fairy tales and most of them were hit or miss.

The book begins with Vampirella exploring her new castle with one of her staff with the two heading towards the castle's library. While they were there, they uncovered Feary Tales, a mysterious book that some how seemed familiar to Vampirella. A problem occurred when she opened the book, doing that caused her to literally be sucked into the book.

She soon found herself dealing with an annoying narrator and going from one altered fairy tale to another as she tried to find a way out of the book. Meanwhile, there seemed to be a mystery with Vampirella trying to find out who this blonde woman that many said resembled her was.

Sometimes, I found a small number of the stories to be good or great such as in the case of story "Thirsty, Thirsty Town" (a retelling of the Little Mermaid) but most of the time the stories ranged from okay to awful such as with "Snow-White Revamped" which was really bad from the rhyming to the ridiculous plot.

This book was dark yet very campy usually that's a good mix but not this time. I really wished this had been a better read, instead of it being so mediocre.

Book Review: Vampirella Sourthern Gothic

Book: Vampirella Southern Gothic (issues #1-5) by Nate Cosby with illustrations by Jo Se Luis

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

Vampirella, the beautiful and bloodthirsty heroine, travels to Mississippi to help an old flame solve the mystery of his murdered fiancee... a woman who appears to have died thirty-seven times before.

Burdened by a mystical wound that will not heal, can Vampi hack through racist demons, evade corrupt lawmen, and solve this strange Southern mystery... or will the man she once loved sacrifice his soul to get the answers instead?



Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Don't let the cover stop you from reading this. The story is quite interesting. It started with Vampirella fighting off a horde of demons and ended up getting cut. But something like that isn't usually a problem for her, she would usually heal after a while but this cut wasn't getting better. And just when she thought a good night of sleep would help, she receives a phone call from an old friend. He needed her help.

Despite being hurt, she traveled down to Mississippi where she soon found herself in the middle of all types of horrific mayhem.

Vampirella isn't your normal hero, she doles out her own unique brand of justice which makes for a interesting read.