POBB February 25, 2026

Pick of the Brown Bag

February 25, 2026

by

Ray Tate

Welcome to the Pick of the Brown Bag.  My name is Ray Tate, and I review comic books.  Pick of the Brown Bag started on the usenet way back in the nineties.  Comics Bulletin, then Silver Bullet Comics, head-hunted me into their fold.  Now I'm back, baby, with the Pick of the Brown Bag, under the auspices of my own blog.

In Vampirella issue eleven, writer Christopher Priest and artist Ergun Gunduz begin a new story that's easy to follow and an excellent jump-on point.  They keep things simple by skillfully introducing newish characters through Ella's witty first person narration and reinforcing the canon of the star.

Thanks, Ella.  I had no idea who she was.

I admit.  It's a little dicey describing a magazine/comic book series that's been around for so long with the word canon. 

Vampirella Magazine was 50 Cents!

Many writers and artists left their brand on Vampirella. The lion's share, including Priest, still adhered to the basic idea from issue one.

Despite her name, Vampirella isn't a vampire.  She's an alien.  She comes from the planet Drakulon where blood flowed in the same way water does on earth.  Notice that the original creators, aware of their black and white medium, puckishly played with the theme.

Co-creator Forrest J. Ackerman's concept isn't as far-fetched as you may think.  Human blood is mostly water with some iron thrown in for color and oxygen transportation.

As you can see by the depiction, Drakulon suffered from a planet-wide drought.  When the Arthur Clarke crashes on Drakulon, the still surviving government sends Vampirella to investigate.  

Unfortunately for the space explorers, they choose not to come in peace.  As a result, Vampirella discovers the truth about humans, by snacking.

The highly intelligent Vampirella repairs the ship and pilots it back to earth.  She escapes Drakulon's now inhospitable environment and forges a new life on our planet.   

In one fell swoop, Priest and Gunduz dramatically distinguish Vampirella from the vampires of 19th Century legend. 

I spoil this scene only to demonstrate Priest's respect for the past and to exemplify Gunduz's striking visuals.  Loving the red western look for Ella.

How in the world did Vampirella end up in the old west? Priest has got you covered.  

Incidentally, this is not the old west.  Rather, it's the turn of the century west; the brief period of time where horses and cars roamed the dusty trails.

The story opens with Earnest Darling, a fast-talking robber baron, welcoming vampire U.S. Marshalls to Utah.

The vampire Marshalls are here to enforce violence on Mormons.  Or so, Darling thinks.

The vampires are actually here to extend their own selfish existence.  

All of which flies in the face of Vampirella's belief system.  Vampirella is very much a live and let live kind of gal.  Oh, but she takes vampirism very seriously.  It's the antithesis hedonism.

Believe it or not.  Vampirella killed monsters for over five decades.  

She made a pledge long ago in Vampirella Magazine and continues to stick by it.

Of course, she collected more reasons to kill the monsters, including human ones.  Nevertheless, I still find it smashing that everything that shaped her character before still applies.

You may be asking yourself why Darling seeks to exterminate the Mormons.  The original mormons despite marrying multiple wives expressed a strange dichotomy against corruption.  I'm not sure how successful they were in the history books, but Darling certainly believes their protests against his operations--"gambling and whores"--issues palpable threat.

Some of Darling's operations include the exploitation and expungement of the Native population.  This doesn't sit well with Priest-created Vampirella hero Legere "Saint" Holland.

As it turns out Darling completely underestimated his undead partners.  A common failing among those tainted with hubris.  Dr. Sandra Mornay, the Nazi scientist in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, thought she had the upper hand.  Alas, Dracula.  

In this case, four coffins with their vampire U.S. Marshall arrived, but four hundred coffins are on their way.

Arliss expresses her step on a butterfly objections.  They make sense, and it's clever for Priest to use her--the most science fiction based character--to remind Ella of the dangers of time travel.  The hero's made his decision.  Arliss hopes to talk Vampirella, the pulp senior, into siding with her.  Ella's just not built that way.

Vampirella is way better than I even hoped for.  Despite being out of the series for awhile, I found re-immersion painless.  The stakes easy to understand.  Vampirella's monster fighting nostalgic, and the story just turned into a heist.  Back on my subscription list.