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Vampirella Archives Volume Eleven

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  •  
    Todd Jordan
    Smut is good.

  • Vampirella Archives Volume Eleven


    Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
    Released on: Apr. 3, 2015
    Writers: various
    Artists: various
    Cover: Penalva (from issue #79)
    Purchase at Amazon

    Click HERE for Volume Ten's write-up.

    Dynamite's latest entry into the Vampirella Archives reprints material from issues 72 through 79, published in 1978 and 1979, giving readers another mammoth-sized book to pour through and marvel at the amazing artists employed by Warren during that period. In case you don't know, each issue of the monochromatic magazine (housed in what was usually a gorgeously painted cover) and usually featured a Vampi story varying in page count followed by a number of horror tales featuring some incredibly talented creators. Enough can't be said for the likes of Gonzalo Mayo, Jose Gonzalez, Auraleon, and Russ Heath, just a few of the artists featured in this volume, and it's probably a safe bet to say the number of comic artists inspired by works featured in Warren pubs cannot be calculated.

    What follows is a summary of each of the Vampirella segments, and a list all the stories and creators (writer first, then artist), giving some attention to some that rise to the top.

    Issue #72 cover by Enrich.
    • “Vampirella: The Beauty and the Behemoth” by Bill DuBay and Jose Gonzalez. Still working in Hollywood, Vamps and Panth (that's what they call each other) are getting Pendragon ready to be suited up by the special effects guy, as he's to play the role of a robot, one the SFX artist is particularly fond of. In fact, the SFX guy built the robot suit in order to win over the love of a woman, any woman, so he can get his groove on. Seems like a dumb plan and it doesn't go very far, but when all is said and done Pantha takes him off somewhere for some pity sex. Gonzalez portrays Vampirella in a way that makes Princess Leia's slave outfit look like a leisure suit. Jesus could that man draw Vampirella. The story is lame, but the art totally makes it worth reading.
    • “The Eyes Have It”, story and art by Auraleon.
    • “Fruitcake” by Bill DuBay and art by Azpiri. A poor little kid is cursed with the ability to see dead people and living in the slums he sees a lot of ghosts who's lives met a violent end. Things are very grotesque and lend themselves for some sites to behold, and these angry ghosts want a piece of the boy. No one else can see them, and so they think the boy is bonkers. It's an effective story, made so mostly by the creepy artwork.
    • “Scheherazade” by story and art by Esteban Maroto and in color(!)
    • “Invasion of the Cyclops Monsters” by Nicola Cuti and Jose Ortiz
    • “A Nightmare for Mrs. Agatha” by Guillermo Saccomanno and Leo Duranona


    Issue #73, cover by Bob Larkin. This issue houses a 70-page story, “Vampirella: The Gathering of Demons” by Bill DuBay and Gonzalo Mayo. In this most welcomed departure from the Hollywood storyline, two psychiatrists start things off talking about a patient one is handing over to the other. This is not just any old crazy nut-job, this one is special: she is possessed by a demon. The story that unfolds is one the old doctor is telling the new doctor and concerns the events that transpired prior to her being left in his care. And that is where the Vampirella story takes over.

    Someone has been slaying innocents and leaving a “V” at the crime scene. These murders show signs of vampire activity, which leads Dr. Van Helsing to suspect the girlfriend of his son Adam to be the killer. Adam's girlfriend is of course Vampirella and she swears her innocence. But the deaths keep happening and Vampi keeps being the suspect, until they figure out that a black magic coven is responsible. The team, including the old fart Pendragon, works together to piece it all together and try to stop a very deadly ritual from taking place. That ritual involved the young lady in the doctor's care, and her possession didn't end when all was said and done.

    Gonzalo Mayo lays down some great pens and inks on this story, which includes some nice full-page drawings and his demons are quite evil looking. And of course he draws sexy-as-hell 70s women. The grand finale of the story has a great action sequence and with the amount of space he had, page-wise, he really gets to hash it out so much more than in a 15-page spread. The script has some corny moments, and borrows a bit from a certain popular movie from the 70s that dealt with demonic possession, but mostly Bill DuBay puts down an interesting and entertaining bunch of words. It's a real treat to get a graphic novel length Vampirella one-shot story from the original run, and this issue a real highlight in this volume.

    Issue #74, photo cover of Barbara Leigh as Vampirella. Contents previously reprinted in Volumes 2 and 4. Only the letters page and the cover are present.

    Issue #75, cover by Jose Gonzalez and Kim McQuaite.
    • “Vampirella: The Blob Beast of Blighter's Bog” by Bill DuBay and Jose Gonzalez. Back to the Hollywood stuff it is…after wrapping principal shooting on her first starring role in the movie “The Beauty and the Behemoth”, her agent Pantha gets her another job on a movie but wouldn't you know it; the director and his actress wife want Vampi for dinner, and in the literal sense. She somehow doesn't realize all the hints they are giving concerning their intentions, and Vampi doesn't sense danger: something unusual for her. Pantha figures it out though and she ends the acting job on that one. If not for Jose Gonzalez artwork, this would be an absolute waste of valuable pages. Dumb story, dumb ending…dumb Hollywood story line.
    • “Peter, Peter” by Gerry Souter and Leo Duranona
    • “Sasquatch Love” by Cary Bates and Jose Ortiz. A trio of academics stumbles upon a Sasquatch in Northern California, who they name Martha. Martha likes to mimic them from afar but never lets them get close enough for a photo op, so they trick her into thinking one of them is a male Sasquatch. Martha takes the bait, and plays the mimic game, only the student in the Bigfoot suit might not like the way the game ends. A lot of build of in this one for a quick payoff, but it's a good one when it happens.
    • “Business is Booming” by Bob Black and Isidro Mones. This little sickie is about a pathologist who kills his domineering wife after years of her neglecting him and running him down. It so happens he's the one who perform the autopsy on her, so he is able hide his crime really easily and no one suspects he is the one who did the deed. He realizes the dead body was good for business, so he goes out and starts killing others at random, building up his body count and carving them up in the morgue. And in true EC fashion, the corpses come back and cut him to pieces. I nice little gory tale that isn't anything amazing, but simply a slick little revenge-from-the-grave tale. Isidro Mones displays some nicely-detailed material here and lays down some gruesome stuff (decapitated little girl, anyone?).
    • “A Matter of Principle” written by Budd Lewis and Len Wein, art by Azpiri


    Issue #76; photo cover featuring Barbara Leigh as Vampirella
    • “Vampirella: Curse of the Pasha's Princess” by Bill DuBay and Jose Gonzalez. And continuing with the Hollywood shit, Vamp and Panth go to Pakistan for a location shoot, and one night decide to go out on the town looking to get some action. They meet the governor of the region, and go with him to a séance so he may talk to his dead wife. Well the séance is a ruse for a couple of greedy people to get some dough out of the rich man, but things go foul and Vampi gets possessed by the dead wife's spirit and she turns into a very difficult woman. The governor has to lend a hand to make things right, but they all forgot about the séance phonies. It seems the “medium” in the pair has more power than she let on. The saving element in this one is Gonzalez's rendition of Vampirella in various states of dress and undress. She's practically naked, more so than usual, for half the story. Hubba hubba…
    • “Gravity Field” by Bob Toomey and Moreno Casares
    • “The Games of Sharn” by Bruce Jones and Ramon Torrents
    • “Swift Sculpture” by Bob Toomey and Val Mayerik. A warrior woman of some sort seeks out a dragon that can make amazing sculptures by breathing fire on big blocks of ice, and she finds him. He's very nice, and likes her admiration of his ice creations, so he goes with her to make an iceberg a sculpture. As a gift, they give him a lady dragon. Kind of a cute story, to be honest, with some nice monster illustrations from Val Mayerik.
    • “Time for a Change” by Nicola Cuti and Alex Nino
    • “The Haunted” by Bruce Jones and Russ Heath. A haunted house becomes a real challenge for one half of a set of twins who always wants to trump his brother, and do better things than the other. It's tough when that brother is a decorated soldier and seems to best the jealous one at every turn, but jealous guy is determined to show the golden boy up with every chance he gets. This haunted house deal, if he can stay the night when no one else ever has, will surely earn him praise in the papers for his bravery and accomplishment. The ghosts don't care much about the rivalry though, and the daredevil's girlfriend finds out a secret she wished she'd known before he went into the house. The ending is lame, but all in all a good story and told in an interesting flashback/forward manner.


    Issue #77; (a personal favorite) photo cover featuring Barbara Leigh as Vampirella.
    • “Vampirella: Shadow of the Dragon” by Bill DuBay and Gonzalo Mayo. Part one of a story that takes Vampirella, Pantha, and Pendragon to Hong Kong on a junket of some sort, and they get there on movie mogul's yacht. Also there (and ridiculously only by coincidence; neither party knows the other happens to be in the same exact place on the other side of their world), Conrad and Adam Van Helsing, investigating a paranormal rash of murders leaving the victims shredded. And partly because it is the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese calendar, a dragon is the suspect. This issue is all set up, and not much happened other than a dragon history lesson and a gay guy named Brucie getting miffed at Vamp and Panth. But…they aren't in Hollywood, so we'll take it. Oh and Pantha cut her hair off. People must have been whining she looked too much like Vampi and were confused. Count this reader as NOT a fan of the new hairdo. Story continues next issue.
    • “The Night of the Yeti!” by Michael Fleisher and Russ Heath
    • “The Night the Birds Fell” by Nicola Cuti and Moreno Casares
    • “Siren of the Seekonk” by Jonathan Thomas and Auraleon
    • “Weird Wolf” by Gerry Boudreau and Jeff Easley. Sadly, this is but a three-page quickie with some great artwork from Jeff Easly about a suit-wearing, well-spoken werewolf.
    • “Futura House is Not a Home” by Nicola Cuti and Idsidiro Mones


    Issue #78, photo cover featuring Barbara Leigh as Vampirella
    • “Vampirella: Kiss of the Dragon Queen!” by Bill DuBay and Gonzalo Mayo. Part 2 in Vampirella's Hong Kong adventures puts the sexy scarlet one and new-hair-do Pantha looking for a night on the town with ol' Brucie. After Pantha bashes the man for his gayness, she takes off with some random stranger to go get down and groove. That leaves Vampi to fly about as a bat looking into the murders and she sees something she finds disturbing: a flesh-eating dragon tearing apart a drug dealer. While she's recovering from that, Adam and the Inspector are tromping through the tunnels under the city, as a witness claims a big dragon went down there. The accompanying cops kill an alligator and everyone seems cool with the notion that the alligator was in fact this so-called “dragon” some old bag was going on about. Everyone except Adam that is. He saw the shadow of a winged creature down there and he's pretty sure alligators don't fly. He could be on to something. Speaking of on to something, Vampi meets the Dragon Queen, a “Chinese cat” (Vampi's words) who sells drugs to the community. The claws come out a little, but not much happens. A busy little chapter for sure, with Pendragon getting kidnapped by some thug he ran across in a bar to add to the mix. Story continues next issue.
    • “Little Guy” by Bill DuBay and Auraleon. A pissed-off midget clown and a chainsaw he isn't afraid to use. That's all you need to know about this nasty little story.
    • “Passion” by Steve Englehart and Jose Ortiz
    • “The Service” by Bruce Jones, art by Jim Starlin and Alfredo Alcala. Space adventurer Reggie returns home from a business trip after a long time away, and spends some quality time with his number one girl Cynthia. But he can only stay a couple days and he has to get back to work and so it's off to another planet. He gets to the next planet but not for the business he hinted at, but rather some business with his other number one girl Glory…and then he's got to back to work. See you in a few months, Glory. New planet, new number one girl, this time named Amy. But Reggie comes down with something and it isn't Chlamydia, and suddenly can't perform for Amy. That interruption in her “bio-relief service” pisses her off enough to make an urgent call and after that the story really kicks in. Get ready for robot rape (the robot being the victim), lots of bare boobs, and a lube oil drinking addiction. It's weird sci-fi from Bruce Jones with some killer pencils and inks from Starlin and Alcala.
    • “Zooner or Later” by Bruce Jones and Russ Heath


    Issue #79, cover by Penalva.
    • “Vampirella: Shanghaied” by Bill DuBay and Gonzalo Mayo. Part 3 in the Vampirella Hong Kong tale makes things seem hopeless for Pantha, Pendragon, and Vampi. Pantha went off with a stranger and set sail on his gigantic and high-tech yacht; Pendragon is on the ship of a large Chinese man, and held captive; Vampi learns the true intentions of the Dragon Queen, Belasco (the movie mogul who brought them all to Hong Kong), and even Brucie. Along with being drug dealers, they also run a white slavery racket and guess who is set to be enslaved…yes all three. But they still have no idea the Van Helsings are in town investigating a series of brutal “dragon murders”, and you know the two groups will meet up. DuBay produces some goofy dialogue here and there (hunky man exclaims “Oh Panth….Doll!” and then Pantha says “Take me you savage beast!”) but he puts out a good crime story with lots of layers and characters and keeps things really interesting. Gonzalo Mayo's pencils and inks again steal the show, and he lays down some really nice stuff. Vampi makes Belasco hallucinate through her hypnosis and the shit he sees is awesomely evil. But…this is part three and part four won't come about until the next volume. Wicked bummer. It would have been nice to finish the story up all in one volume. Oh well, something to look forward one can suppose.
    • “Edward & Griselda” by Cary Bates, art by Val Mayerik and Joe Rubenstein. Griselda, young maiden, is on the run from the abusive Lord Edward. A group of upright reptiles, kind of like dinosaurs but not dragons, seem to chase her at the same time, but they aren't chasing her; they are looking to help her. Once Edward catches up to her he threatens to cut her foot off for running away, but the maiden and her new friends have other plans. Told as though the reader witnessing what really happened while Lord Edward tells the tale to some people visiting him. His story and what really happened don't exactly match. Val Meyerik and Joe Rubinstein make a good pencil and ink team, as the art is finely detailed and highly appealing.
    • “I Think I'll Keep Her” by Cary Bates and Auraleon. Voodoo and salt do not mix. You'd all too well to remember that. Dean should have, but took his zombie wife on an ocean cruise all the same. The jackass got what he deserved, messing with voodoo and corpses. His poor wife didn't ask him to bring her back from the dead, but she'll still make sure she never leaves his side. Auraleon's art is as great as it usually is, and even though the story was pretty lame, the art keeps it from sinking along with a couple certain passengers on the cruise.
    • “Night of the Squid” by Michael Fleisher and Jose Ortiz
    • “Fungus” written by Archie Goodwin. A photo comic story, that truthfully was dull. Leo Duranona took the photos and also provides some artwork mixed into the photos in a few places, but the quality of the photos as printed in the mag leave a lot to be desired.


    A good batch of stories in an archive of course well worth picking up, even though some of the Vampirella segments fall under the dreadful Hollywood story line. The full-issue story was a real treat as was the Dragon Queen serial, even if it does continue in the next archive, months away. Dynamite does a fantastic job with these classic Vampi collections and this latest installment falls right into line with the others.
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