RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #12

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artist: Maria Sanapo

Jack Pulaski has been defeated but he died killing Draculina. Vampirella gives her sister a burial. The people of Draculon now look to her to lead them. She appoints Viktor as her advisor. He starts to find underground reserves of blood and slowly the planet’s ecology starts to come back. Sonja trains the Vampiri on how to fight. Soon it is time to leave and Dilton manages to get the wormhole open to Earth. Vampirella decides to go back and leaves Viktor in charge. The four girls then find themselves back on Earth only in Hyrkania in Sonja’s time.

The final issue to this series was a sort of tie up all the loose ends. Pulaski was defeated at the cost of Vampirella’s sister. Then they get Drakulon back in shape and the girls go back to Earth. Only they find themselves in the Hyborian age and it ends with a possible sequel. This series was a very uneven on. Some stuff I like and some I didn’t. I feel kind of neutral in having a follow up. On one hand I can see possibilities of an adventure back in the Hyborian age. Yet I wouldn’t be sad if they just didn’t bother. Given the state of comics nowadays I don’t really have any confidence of a sequel appearing. So we will move on to something new next week.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #11

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artists: Maria Laura Sanapo & Giuseppe Cafaro

Jack Pulaski has come back to Drakulon only he is now a cyborg. Complete with Doc Octopus like arms. He also has an army of killer robots. So everybody has to retreat. Betty, Veronica, Dilton and the old man Viktor who is Pulaski’s younger brother go to Draculina’s castle. Because that is the only power source on the planet used to keep humans in a coma to drain their blood. Dilton with his cell phone gets the wormhole working again. The captive humans wake up and they are lead back to Earth. Vampirella and Draculina reconcile and join forces. They manage to distract Pulaski long enough for Sonja to sneak up and chop his head off. One of Pulaski’s cybernetic arms still manages to grab Draculina by the throat and strangle her.

This issue actually has a lot going for it. It was fast paced and kept the story going. I actually kind of liked it. Vampirella and her sister Draculina get back together and there is a tragic cliffhanger to end the story. The artwork looks good. I think Amy is starting to wrap this series up in a good way. I actually am looking forward to seeing how it all ends.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #10

“In the Shadows of Darkulon!”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artist: Laura Sanapo

Betty and Veronica are prisoner of Draculina. They have been kidnapped to Drakulon where she plans to use the two for food. They have to fight off some starving vampiri but eventually they get dumped in a pit. There they meet an old man who has been there since 1974. Viktor tells them he is responsible for taking care of the prisoners. That he was betrayed by Pulaski back on Earth. Draculina and Vudosol are milking humans for blood with plans to breed them like cattle. Back at the pit Draculina and Vudosol arrive to drink Betty and Veronica. At this time Sonja and Vampirella come through the wormhole. They are joined by Dilton and a cyborg Pulaski.

I have to say I was very underwhelmed with this issue. Nothing really exciting happens and it just kind of meanders along. At the end we get Sonja and Vampirella back. We also get Dilton and a cyborg Pulaski which is sort of just out of nowhere. They are getting really lazy with this series. You would think during the lockdown they would have time to really concentrate on the writing and art. I guess they are too busy looking for some job outside the dying comic industry.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERNONICA #9

“Back to the Future Red Sonja and Vampirella’s Excellent Adventure”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artist: Dan Parent

Red Sonja and Vampirella fall out of the wormhole and find themselves in Riverdale 1973. Getting a ride to town they find Betty and Vernoica about to be attacked by Draculina and Vudosol. They save the two and Veronica takes them back to her place. In the morning they go to Dilton so he can build a time machine to get the two back to the future. Vampirella takes a nap and wake up to find Sonja out exploring the world. She finds Sonja in Cambodia fighting some soldiers. Vampirella brings her back to Riverdale so they can use the time machine Dilton build to get back to Drakulon.

Now this was one weird issue. It was drawn just like the old classic Archie comics. I liked the art but otherwise I found the whole story just weird and incomprehensible. So are they in an alternate reality since all the gang from Riverdale is there. Is the point that the characters are eternal teenagers. I didn’t really care for this story. Hopefully they will have some more down to Earth adventures on Drakulon.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #8

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artists: Maria Laura Sanapo & Silvia Califano

Betty and Veronica during their interview with Pulaski find out he has a rare blood disease that should have killed him in his twenties. Yet he looks good until he suddenly starts to get weak. He calls for his treatment and Draculina shows up. She is the sister of Vampirella and has been providing her blood to keep Pulaski alive. Only now she decides to end their relationship and let Pulaski die. She takes Betty and Veronica captive in the chairs they are sitting in. Then takes them to the basement where a wormhole exists that leads back to Draculon. They meet up with Vampirella and Sonja. Draculina continues on to Drakulon and sabotages the gate trapping Sonja and Vampirella in the wormhole.

I have to say that I like this second storyline a lot better then the first. They have moved it out of the high school which was really dragging down the story. This new story that involves Draculon and a conspiracy with an Earth pharmaceutical corporation has some potential. Now this issue was a heavy exposition one so not much action but leaves open for some more action oriented issues.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #7

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artist: Maria Laura Sanapo

The gang is eating lunch at the mall food court talking about their respective worlds. Vampirella tells of the draught on her world and how an Earth spaceship landed. This is how she arrived on Earth and now wants to go home. Just then a man comes up to them and asks from help. Before he can say anything else a man in a skeleton mask and hood stabs him. He gets away because he has inhuman speed. The dying man gives the girls a flash drive and a cryptic message to stop someone from killing us all.

The man turns out to be a scientist at Pulaski Pharmaceuticals. Dilton can’t unencrypt the flash drive but does figure out that Vampirella’s spaceship crashed on the site of Pulaski Pharmaceuticals. So Veronica uses her dad’s influence to get an interview with the founder of the company. They meet with the founder who has a mostly automated futuristic office. Meanwhile Vampirella and Sonja sneak into the building and find Vampirella’s old spaceship. They are attacked by robots and forced to flee through the air ducts. They fall into a hole and find themselves on Drakulon the home of Vampirella.

So the second story arc starts and so far it’s good. It has an interesting setup. The plot was easy to follow and coherent. There is one artist so the arts good. It introduces several things that raise many questions and get the reader’s interest in continuing on. Moving the action out of Riverdale was probably a wise idea.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #6

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artists: Maria Laura Sanapo, Ivan F Silva with David Anton

Betty and Veronica are prisoners of the Vampiri who have been responsible for all the deaths. Their science teacher who was missing and thought dead and a guy who dresses like Dracula but named Vudosol are the leaders. They have been using their followers by giving them a Drakulon blood serum that enhances them but is highly addictive. So some have been getting greedy and they decided to frame the Cult of Chaos for all the murders. Just then Vampirella comes to the rescue. She finds out the two and others have followed her from their planet which is in the middle of a blood drought. Sonja also comes to the rescue with the football team. The two Draculons are holding their own until Dilton comes and hits them with a school bus. The two vampiri disappear and the teens that were helping them are arrested. Later Vampirella is determined to go back to her home and the others pledge to accompany her. Outside Vudosol and Eve are watching. Eve is in fact Vampirella’s sister Draculina.

OK so there was a bunch of stuff going on in this issue. In fact it seemed to be a bit rushed. Now the series was originally meant to be a six issue run. But it was so successful that Dynamite extended it for another six. So this story arc is coming to an end and another starts next issue. Now I don’t know how this extension affected the ending for this one. So far it ended on a very confusing note with really no explanation of why Sonja and Vampirella came to Riverdale. I will say that the next idea of visiting Draculon is an interesting idea. So we will see where it takes us.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #5

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu and Alexander Chang
Artists: Maria Laura Sanapo, Luis Garcia Marina, Ivan F. Silva, with David Anton, Marlano Taibo, and Alvaro Sarraseca

Riverdale is on edge with all the unsolved murders. Dilton has come out of his coma. Only he doesn’t remember much about his attackers except they were more than one and they were hooded. Veronica comes up with a plan to lure the attackers out of hiding. So Betty and Veronica go on Youtube and announce that Dilton will reveal who attacked him. The school newspaper editor hears this and calls an editorial meeting. So Betty and Veronica go while leaving Sonja and Vampirella to guard Dilton. A good thing for the hooded cultists attack. They reveal themselves to be like Drakulions. Meanwhile Betty and Veronica arrive at the meeting and find out the editor is part of the cult. The two are captured and taken to the cult’s leaders.

The story is picking up a bit. We finally find out that the school editor is part of it. She apparently became a vampire to help her get into an ivy league school. Guess you need that kind of extracurricular activity nowadays. The leaders are revealed to be what looks like Dracula and some blonde chick. The story was OK but nothing really spectacular. What was really disappointing is the quality of the art. From the credits you can tell it was drawn by committee and it shows. Well next week the big final confrontation with the Chaos Cult.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #4

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artists: Maria Laura Sanapo and Ivan F. Silva with David Anton

Veronica uses her wealth to bail out Vampirella from prison. Veronica goes to the blood bank to continue her investigation while Betty goes to a Pussycats benefit concert. Vampirella and Sonja are to stay out of sight at Veronica’s home. While investigating Veronica finds out that all the victims had a rare blood type. Betty has that blood type so she tries to contact her. Only Betty is busy interviewing the Pussycats so she calls Sonja and Vampirella instead. They jump into a sportscar and take off for the concert. They crash the car and arrive just in time as some hooded goons attack. Only Betty, Veronica and the Pussycats manage to kick their asses. The lights come back on and the hooded goons have disappeared. At the hospital Dilton comes out of his coma.

Another issue and I can’t say I am impressed. It seems to be a very slow moving story. I would like the plot to be picked up a bit. So we found out that all the victims have O negative blood. Great but otherwise nothing much happened. I hope they pick up the action next issue.

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #3

“Untitled”
Writer: Amy Chu
Artist: Maria Laura Sanapo

Betty leaves the library with her find of women who looked like them back in the seventies. After she leaves someone kills Dilton who works at managing the library. Betty comes back with Sonja and discover a hooded man over the body. The man runs out chased by Sonja. Only Sonja unfortunately because of the no weapons policy can’t stop the man. Dilton though is still alive and manages to make it to the hospital.

The next day Sonja takes out her frustration on the tackle dummy. She gets called to the principal’s office because of her carrying a sword and drinking beer. Also she is failing all her classes. Luckily like many high schools the coach intervenes and this is overlooked because winning football is everything. The girls get together later and Sonja teaches Betty and Veronica how to fight. The next day Betty goes down to the hospital to donate blood and Vampirella tags alone hoping to help herself. The police get an anonymous tip of another murder at the hospital. They arrive and find a doctor murdered and Vampirella in the blood bank covered in blood. She is immediately put in jail.

The saga continues. The evil cult is still up to no good. Yet the girls still have to deal with all the bullshit of high school. I still love Sonja. This girl has a beer for breakfast and that is definitely my kind of woman. I sort of appreciate the subtle humor of this title whether intended or not. Still it does tend to drag more into the drama of the Archieverse than the more action verses of Red Sonja and Vampirella. It interests me enough and I enjoy the art. Also I am curious to see where its going.