Tag Archives: Vampirella

Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure

My 2011 novel Owl Dance, and really the entire subsequent Clockwork Legion Steampunk series, grew out of three short stories. In “The Persian Witch,” I introduced Ramon Morales, a sheriff from New Mexico, and Fatemeh Karimi, a healer from Persia as heroes with complimentary skills. They stood for right, even if they had to stand up to authority to make the right choices. In “Electric Kachinas,” Ramon and Fatemeh have their first brush with a visitor from the stars called Legion, an alien interested in all life and perhaps a little too willing to intervene with that life. Legion would go on to inspire humanity to develop new technologies to see where it would lead them. Finally, in “The Clockwork Lobo,” I introduced Ramon and Fatemeh to Professor Maravilla, an itinerant genius who had created a mechanical wolf to study real wolves. He showed how humans themselves often came up with ideas that hadn’t always reached fame and notoriety. It was interesting to see several of these ideas reflected in Bill Willingham’s graphic novel Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure, which was comprised of seven comic books that began publication in 2013.

Featuring art by Sergio Fernandez Davila, Legenderry imagines a number of Dynamite Entertainment’s heroes and villains converging in a steampunk world. The book opens when a woman named Magda Spadarossa takes refuge in a club owned by Vampirella. Magda is being chased by a mysterious group of men in armor. However, Vampirella is able to quickly dispatch them. She and her friend, newspaper owner Brit Reid, soon discover the men are all identical. We also learn that Magda is searching for her sister, Sonja, better known to those of us who’ve read comics for a while as Red Sonja. Realizing something very dangerous is afoot, Brit disappears and reappears in his Green Hornet persona. Along with his partner, Kato, the Green Hornet spirits Magda off to an airship commanded by Captain Victory, so he can take her take her to the city of Landing, where she might get help from the famous Flash Gordon.

Meanwhile a cabal of villains including the likes of Ming the Merciless, General Tara, and Doctor Moreau have gathered to summon a demonic entity who will help them take over the world so they can divide up the spoils. Indeed back on Captain Victory’s airship, some of Doctor Moreau’s creations escape their crates, attempting to get their hands on Magda. Fortunately, test pilot Steve Austin is aboard with his pal Oscar Goldman. Steve was wounded in a heliogyro crash, but Oscar has built amazing prosthetics for him and dubbed him the “Six-Thousand Dollar Man.” The resulting battle destroys the airship and our heroes survive and make their way to a mysterious island, but are separated. Fortunately Magda is found by the mysterious Phantom and his sidekick, a mechanical wolf named Devil.

As Magda continues her journey, we learn that long ago, Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless were locked in battle and crash landed on a primitive world. Ming had just taken a potion to give himself long life and disappears to contemplate what to do next. Flash started carefully sharing technology in hopes of advancing the world enough to build a rocket ship to return to his own world. He would portion out some technology, then go to a cryogenic container and sleep for a decade, then wake and portion out more technology. As such, it’s Flash Gordon who makes this a steampunk world.

All in all, Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure proved a satisfying and action-packed tale that reimagined some familiar comic book and TV heroes in a steampunk milieu. My only disappointment is that it seemed to end on the penultimate battle. It felt like we needed two or three more issues for our heroes to finally come together and confront the cabal of master villains in an ultimate battle. Alas, this is sometimes the nature of comic books.

If you would like to check out my Clockwork Legion series, you will find epic heroes and villains, including some familiar faces from history such as Billy the Kid, Dimitri Mendeleev, and even Doc Holliday in a world altered by a creature from the stars. There will even be some chapters with a mechanical wolf! Learn more at http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#clockwork_legion

Vampirella – The Movie

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been reading and enjoying the various incarnations of the comic book Vampirella. In short, the comic book tells the adventures of a vampire from another world who fights the forces of evil here on Earth. The character was created to be the “host” of a horror comic anthology magazine created by Warren Publishing. The company had success with two similar magazines hosted by the monstrous Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie. The difference is that Warren asked writer Forrest J. Ackerman to give Vampirella a backstory. The Vampirella story was so popular that her adventures became a regular feature in the magazine. Vampirella was a direct homage to Maila Nurmi’s TV horror host character Vampira with some additional inspiration from Barbarella. The character would be picked up by Harris Publishing and most recently has been published by Dynamite. Over the years, clever writers have found ways to alter Vampirella’s story and question the reliability of her memories and her own reliability as a narrator. The comic can be simple good vs. evil and it can have some really interesting psychological nuance, depending on the writer. As a result I’ve enjoyed the ride.

Not long ago, I learned that a Vampirella movie had been produced by Roger Corman in 1996. This was done during the Harris Publishing days and Forrest J. Ackerman was one of the producers, so the script pretty much followed one of the early storylines from the Warren Publishing days, which Harris subsequently continued. The movie opens in the distant past on the planet Drakulon. Vlad, played by Roger Daltrey, is a criminal about to face justice. However, he manages to attack his jailers, and make his escape. In the process, he kills the council’s leader who happens to be Vampirella’s father. Vampirella, played by Talisa Soto, vows vengeance and goes after him.

Vlad finds refuge on Earth where he adopts a name based on his home world and, you guessed it, becomes known as Dracula. Unfortunately, poor Vampirella’s craft crashes on Mars. She survives in a cryogenic tube until humans finally explore and she hitches a ride to Earth only to find that Vlad’s progeny have become a real menace. While hunting Vlad, she comes into contact with Adam Van Helsing, played by Richard Joseph Paul, who belongs to a secret organization known as Purge, whose mission is to fight monsters. After some initial mistrust, the two begin to work together and hunt for Vlad begins.

Overall, I thought the story worked. Roger Daltrey reportedly agreed to play Vlad because Keith Moon was a fan of the comic and he did it to honor his friend. I thought Talisa Soto and Richard Joseph Paul turned in fine performances. Yet, even giving the movie allowances for its low budget, the movie never quite works. I think part of the problem is that Daltrey understood the nature of the character from the early Warren days and played Vlad as a camp villain who would have been perfectly at home on the 1966 Batman TV series. However, Soto, Paul, and much of the rest of the cast played it straight and serious, much closer to the tone the Harris comics had adopted by the 1990s. What’s more, it’s clear that Purge, which was invented for the movie, was an homage to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. However, aside from the scientist character and his goofy-looking, but highly effective anti-vampire “sun gun,” we weren’t given the kind of wry, tongue-in-cheek humor the earlier show delivered. In effect, the movie couldn’t seem to decide on a campy fun approach to the material or a more serious, grim take. Thing is, either approach would have been valid, but the approaches shouldn’t have been mixed.

Reviews of the movie are almost guaranteed to point out that Vampirella’s iconic costume, as shown on the action figure in the picture above, was altered for the movie. That, in itself, didn’t really bother me. It’s hard to imagine that costume working on a real actress having to do action scenes. Also, after the film, Dynamite’s artists started giving Vampirella other things to wear and a lot of those outfits actually look more practical and well designed. However, in the film, Vampirella effectively wears a vinyl bikini with extra straps. I had no problem with the director changing the iconic costume to make it more practical. I just wish he had also made it look like something someone would actually wear!

As a fan of the comic book, I enjoyed seeing the Vampirella film despite its flaws. There are fun moments, including the scene where Vampirella meets a geeky character named Forrest Ackerman. Still, it either needed more fun moments or it needed to take itself more seriously. If you’re just casually curious about the character and her associates, I’d skip the film and go read some comic books. Dynamite has been reprinting the original Warren Vampirella issues in some lovely archive editions that are worth seeking out. They include some fantastic art by folks such as Frank Frazetta and Jose Gonzalez along with great storytelling by Archie Goodwin and Tom Sutton.

Of course, if you’re looking some vampires who fight evil, don’t miss my Scarlet Order Vampire novels at http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#scarlet_order

Vampi

Today finds me at Las Cruces Comic Con at the Las Cruces Convention Center. If you’re in town, I hope you’ll come by. This is my first event since my cancer surgery and I’d love to catch up with people.

Over the last couple of months, while recovering from cancer surgery, I’ve been doing a lot of writing and reading. One batch of reading I especially enjoyed was delving into a series Tom Hutchison of the indie comic book company Big Dog Ink introduced me to called Vampi. Published by Harris Comics and its subsidiary Anarchy Studios from 2000 to 2003, Vampi is a manga-inspired re-imagining of the classic vampire comic Vampirella. Created by artist Kevin Lau and writer David Conway, the series is set in a cyberpunk future. Early issues follow two story lines. In the main “present” arc, Vampi is trying to track down an algorithm known as “the ladder” which may hold the key to ending her need to drink blood. In the “past,” we learn about Vampi and her friends who play in a rock band and how they fall afoul of a vicious, racist street gang.

The issues strongly emphasize Vampi as an action hero. There are also some interesting character twists and turns. As the series progresses, we learn there are unexpected connections between characters. The science fictional elements of this near-future world are used to good effect. There’s one point where Vampi triggers a “self-destruct” device and the effect isn’t exactly the big fiery explosion one might expect. Vampi herself is much like her more traditional counterpart. She’s a good-hearted vampire who wants to help humanity where she can and really resists the need to subsist on human blood. I like that Harris Publishing gave Lau the freedom to redesign Vampi’s iconic costume and gave her more wardrobe variety.

I would have loved it if this comic had imagined Vampi as the Vampirella from our time having lived into the distant future. However, this comic is arguably more a part of the “Vampirella Multiverse” than part of the main Vampirella continuity. It suggests that Vampi’s origin happens sometime in the future and that the events which happened in her time with the rock band were major, early events in her life. That noted, the main Vampirella continuity has suggested at times that her memory isn’t always reliable. There’s certainly room to explore connections between the Vampirella of our time and the alternate Vampi of the cyberpunk future.

Vampi ran for some 25 issues, plus there are a few standalone issues and short sequel arcs. You can find digital issues republished by Dynamite on Amazon. However, one warning, those don’t include the introductory text from the beginning of each print issue. One thing I learned in reading the comic is that the introductory material actually complemented the material in the comic panels and helped me follow the story better.

In my Scarlet Order Vampire series, the vampires have seen a lot of history unfold and they recognize that taking human life indiscriminately would result in their own demise. What’s more, just like artist Kevin Lau and writer David Conway worked together to develop Vampi, Chaz Kemp’s artwork was a strong influence on how I developed my Scarlet Order Vampires. If you like a good action-oriented vampire series like Vampi, you’d likely enjoy the Scarlet Order Vampire novels. You can get more information at: http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#scarlet_order

The Quest for Vampirella

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I grew up with comic books and remained a fan through my college years. My interest waned after I left grad school as work, marriage, and children took increasing chunks of my time. However, as my kids reached an age to show an interest in comics, I sought out a new local comic shop in the 2010s and gradually began collecting again. Lurking on the shelves near the end of the alphabet was a woman vampire in a red outfit that was revealing by bathing suit standards. As a fan and writer of vampire stories who is also not immune to artwork designed to attract the male gaze, I picked up a copy or two. I don’t remember much about the earliest issues I read. The writing didn’t engage me enough to keep reading. I’ve since learned this was a period when the writing of Vampirella could be uneven, and a lot of the writers were experimenting with the character’s backstory.

Back around the new year, Tom Hutchison of Big Dog Ink Comics offered a special on some copies of the Vampirella archive editions. These hard cover books collected the earliest Vampirella comics as published by Warren Magazines starting in 1969. In that era, Warren sought to get around the restrictions of the Comic Code Authority by publishing black-and-white horror comics in magazine-sized editions. Their flagship publications were Creepy and Eerie, which I remember seeing on the shelves back in the day.

Vampirella was introduced as a third title to join the lineup in 1969. The title character was intended to be a horror hostess in the style of Vampira, who had been on television about a decade earlier. Vampirella’s “job” was to introduce different stories in each issue of the magazine. Vampirella herself was designed by cartoonist Trina Robbins and “revamped” by Frank Frazetta. Publisher James Warren had famed fan and writer Forrest J. Ackerman create a backstory for Vampirella, introducing her as an alien from the planet Drakulon where blood flowed in rivers, but began to dry up in the heat of the twin suns. When a hapless Earth space vessel crashed on Drakulon, Vampirella discovered that humans have blood in their veins and found her way to Earth. The story proved popular enough, a sequel was penned which described Vampirella on Earth, entering a contest to become Warren Magazine’s new hostess.

The Vampirella Archive Editions collect complete issues of those early magazines. You get the Vampirella stories and the stories she hosts. The Archive Editions are well worth reading if you want to see those early Vampirella stories in context. However, if you want to follow just her story arc, Dynamite Publishing has collected her stories into Vampirella: The Essential Warren Years.

The first two stories were silly, pun-laden fun, but weren’t really designed to engage the reader at a more emotional level. Still, something remarkable happened. Readers continued to want Vampirella stories, so Warren hired Archie Goodwin to pen several stories and the stories turned really good. Goodwin’s writing is enhanced by the art of Jose Gonzalez.

Ackerman’s last story imagined that Vampirella was on her way to a hosting gig when her plane crashed. Goodwin picked up the ball and imagined that one of her fellow passengers was a descendent of renowned vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. The younger Van Helsing is found dead, drained of blood. Of course, Vampirella is blamed. The younger Van Helsing’s brother Conrad, and nephew Adam, begin to chase the hapless refugee from Drakulon. In the meantime, Vampirella takes refuge at a hospital where one of the doctors develops a blood serum that allows her to feed without drinking human blood. Unfortunately, the hospital also happens to be the lair of the Cult of Chaos, a group devoted to evil. Vampirella escapes the cult and eventually takes a job as assistant to a nearly washed-up, drunken magician Pendragon. Vampirella’s need for blood is nicely contrasted with Pendragon’s need for drink.

Authors such as Tom Sutton and Len Wein take up Vampirella’s story in later stories which were clearly inspired by such sources as the Hammer films of the late 1960s and early 1970s. There’s a strong story arc about Vampirella meeting Dracula. This is followed by a poignant story of Pendragon finding out what happened to his estranged wife and daughter. There’s even a story that posits that vampires have their origin in Ancient Egypt and that Vampirella is, in fact, the reincarnation of an Earth vampire of the period. I couldn’t help but wonder if Anne Rice took some inspiration from these stories when she conceived of the Egyptian origins of her vampires.

Returning to these early stories has allowed me to look at some of the later Vampirella stories with a fresh eye. I see how the writers have envisioned her as a good-hearted, but often misunderstood vampire. The best writers seem to acknowledge her campy and fun roots, while also giving her a solid adventure story.

While I can’t honestly say I was inspired by Vampirella, I was inspired by many of the writings and movies that inspired Warren’s authors. My vampires have ties to aliens. Like Vampirella, many can transform into bats. The vampires of my world attempt to help humanity and while they don’t have a blood serum, they try not to take lives unless it’s absolutely necessary. Author Lyn McConchie recently said my latest Scarlet Order novel was “A clever book that amused and enthralled me.” You can learn more about my Scarlet Order vampires at: http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#scarlet_order