Vampirella Versus the Superpowers #2 // Review
Feds are talking. Crooks are talking. The scuffle at The Red Menace has everyone talking. Apparently, a lot of the talk has to do with the woman who runs the nightclub--Ella Redding. She took down some guys with some very, very impressive muscle. Now, everyone wants to know who she is in Vampirella Versus the Superpowers #2. Writer Dan Abnett continues a journey into retro mystery with the popular vampire hero that is coaxed onto the page by artist Pasquale Qualano. Colorist Ellie Wright adds a cool and shadowy atmosphere to the visuals. Abnett weaves a fun story that works on a couple of different levels that narrowly avoid crashing into each other.
Los Angeles. 1948. It’s a world where people with superpowers have had quite an impact on history. S Division has heard about the event at The Red Menace. It wants a few words with Ella. Meanwhile, Mr. Fix would like a word with her as well. Mr. Fix has the rather disturbing ability to make people do what he wants. What’s worse: no one can remember what he looks like. Someone like him could do a hell of a lot with the powers of Vampirella if he was to get her under his control.
Abnett cleverly moves around the traditional trappings of a retro superhero story. In the foreground is the title character. She’s not local. She’s working for Project Superpowers. (She’s native to “Plural World 0666.”) She’s a hero from another place and another time. Traditional superhero stuff. Abnett places her in a world that feels like The Untouchables meets Watchmen. Feds. Organized crime. Superpowers. The mid-20th century. There are a lot of politics streaming through a hell of a lot of dialogue that doesn’t exactly engage the comic book on a visual level. It almost compromises the appeal of the comic book...but there’s just enough tone and mood to the visuals to keep the pages turning.
It helps that Qualano has a very precise hand in delivering crime drama to the page in a compelling way. The drama hits the page with straightforward energy. Qualano gives dense conversation between characters just a few slightly skewed angles...just a few tight close-ups...just enough to add accent to the drama without upstaging it. Wright’s colors add a shadowy tone to an issue that takes place mostly at night in L.A. in the late 1940s. She lends a cool air of class around the edges of the action. She accentuates mood and tone with an atmospheric depth that draws the reader into the drama.
At first glance, it would seem like Abnett is trying to cram too much backstory into the politics of the story. It’s only the second issue, and there really is a HELL of a lot of posing and posturing and scheming and planning that doesn’t quite fit the comic book format, as it’s all delivered in dialogue. Abnett is careful to use all of that dialogue as background for the dramatic essence of everything going on with Vampirella in the central story. It almost fails to come together, but Abnett and company know what they’re doing. It’s actually remarkably good execution given what they’re going for.
