Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: Brandon Jerwa
Artist: Heubert Kahn Michael
Release Date: 18th December 2013

With a cover image of a bloodied, nude woman having her hip bitten by an equally bloodied and nude woman, Vampirella #37 is the kind of comic that might draw dirty looks if you whipped it out on the bus. Still, this kind of smutty, quasi-Heavy Metal style cover is to be expected on a book with a title like Vampirella.

The interior of the comic doesn’t bear much relation to the cover (so no girl on girl hip-biting) but it does share its love of scantily clad women. This issue finds Vampirella’s mum – a demon named Lilith – confronted with the talking, severed head of an old foe. This head has been gathering power and plotting her revenge for many years since her death. The time has come to put her plan into action.

With its depiction of demons and vampires and boobs (oh my!) Vampirella offers some solid artwork. While there are some flamboyant looking characters and some nifty use of panels (Vampirella’s gauntlet through a labyrinth is particularly good) it’s a shame so much of it seems obsessed with its title character’s décolletage and gusset. The dialogue is a little on the nose and perfunctory but within all the S&M-vampire-demon-T&A silliness is the core of a good story. When Lilith is forced to make an impossible choice between wounding her daughter mentally or injuring her physically, it seems similar to classical Greek tragedy. Albeit a classical Greek tragedy centred on a vampire in a leather bikini.

Rating: 5/10.

The writer of this piece was: Joe Morrison
Joe is Freelance film journalist based in Glasgow.
You can also find Joe on Twitter.