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Vengeance of Vampirella - 1994
Issue 1 (April 1994)
Red Foil Cover - Quesada / Palmiotti
$2.95
Signed (Buzz) Red Foil Cover - Quesada / Palmiotti (2,000 copies) $?
Signed (Buzz, Palmiotti, Quesada) Red Foil Cover - Joe Quesada / Jimmy Palmiotti (500 copies) $?
Aquamarine Foil Cover - Joe Quesada / Jimmy Palmiotti $2.95
Gold Foil Cover - Joe Quesada / Jimmy Palmiotti (500 copies) $2.95
Signed (Palmiotti, Quesada) Gold Foil Cover - Joe Quesada / Jimmy
Palmiotti (500 copies) $?
Royal Blue Foil Cover - Joe Quesada / Jimmy Palmiotti (100 copies)
$24.95
Artist - Buzz / Writer - Tom Sniegoski
Bloodshed: Part One
Vampirella is on the prowl, killing the various monsters that inhabit the night one by one. The Unseelie Congress are not to happy so they hire a specialist assassin - Hemorrhage. Passing the Congress' test of his abilities to manipulate
blood, he proceeds to take on Vampirella.
Concerned about her growing savagery, Vampirella is about to leave Adam and Pendragon to seek out answers about her origins when Hemorrhage attacks ...
This is definitely not a comic for younger viewers as the violence levels are a bit higher than your average X-Men comic! We meet Hemorrhage, who is presented as a completely ruthless and cold hearted sociopath. Humans being killed is
one thing, but the pace is set when Hemorrhage kills a dog (cruelty to animals is always a risky venture in a comic book).
Nevertheless, a new story and a new direction ... albeit heading in the vague general direction of Vampirella's true origins.
This edition certainly sold well, so much so that in June 1994 Harris produced a second printing, and very cleverly the second print run had a different coloured cover - the Aquamarine cover.
TRIVIA: The Royal Blue Foil edition is the first Royal Blue Foil comic made. If you look at the inside of the Royal Blue edition it is dated June 1994 and is stated as being a second printing. This is because it was supposed to be
a Gold Foil edition and the printers ran out of gold so they did a hundred with Blue Foil. Mike Grace of Vampirella Revealed queried this with Bon Alimagno of Harris who replied ...
"Now that I think about it, I do recall Yoshi Aino telling me the very first
Blue Edition was one done by accident, and that it was part of a second
printing. Something about extras were printed and they didn't have a gold
foil at the printing press for it so they used blue foil on a hundred of
them. I remember Yoshi telling me he was surprised at the interest in it
since it was unintentionally printed. I believe these were the only blue
foils unintentionally created.
Bon
--
Bon Alimagno
Editorial Director" |
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Issue 2 (May 1994)
Regular Cover - Buzz $2.95
Signed Regular Cover - Buzz $?
Signed (Buzz) Gold Seal Cover - Buzz $?
Artists - Buzz, Joe Weems / Writer - Tom Sniegoski
Bloodshed: Part Two
Vampirella fights Hemorrhage's blood construct and manages to destroy his control on it and faces Hemorrhage direct.
Elsewhere, we are introduced to the Danse Macabre, one of those secret "agencies" that seem to proliferate just out of public knowledge. Hemorrhage was a potential agent of the Danse who escaped, so the Danse sends an operative (Whirling
Dervish)
to recover him.
Vampirella and Adam van Helsing barely defeat Hemorrhage as Dervish arrives on the scene. Dervish takes the body of Hemorrhage and shoots Vampirella and Adam.
A quick paced edition and another introduction to new characters, the Danse Macabre - though yet another secret agency seems a bit of a cliché. A nice cliff hanger ending shows promise for the series, and you just know that we haven't seen
the last of Hemorrhage and the Danse Macabre.
I have included the gold seal cover as an alternative cover, though I have no idea what the seal refers to. The seal states "Seal of Authenticity - Comic Book Extravaganza", and the comic is signed by Buzz - it did not come with a
COA. I bought these two "gold seal" issues (Vengeance #2 and #3) from Germany, which confounds and confuses even more ...
I assume it was a Convention Special. If you can supply me with any other info I would be most grateful. |
Issue 3 (June 1994)
Regular Cover - Walter McDaniel $2.95
Signed (Caesar) Gold Seal Cover - Walter McDaniel $?
Artists -Caesar Antomattei, Joe Weems / Writer -
Tom Sniegoski
Bloodshed: Part Three
The Unseelie Congress are having a field day with Vampirella out the way. What they don't know is that when Dervish shot her and Adam he used tranquilliser darts.
As the sun sets a now refreshed Vampirella dons a leather jacket and fingerless leather gloves and sets out to track down the Unseelie members.
In a frenzy of unbridled savagery Vampirella destroys the Congress members one by one.
Vampirella's costume has had a variety of subtle and not-so-subtle changes over the years. The "leather jacket and gloves" are the stamp of savagery in the Vengeance series.
Another "gold seal" issue here - signed by Caesar.
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Issue 4 (July 1994)
Regular Cover - Buzz $2.95
Artists -Steve Crespo, Jason Minor, Joe Weems /
Writer - Tom Sniegoski
Wake the Undead
Vampirella and Adam van Helsing take out another Chaos' cult as three "recruits" to the Danse Macabre escape the research facility they are held in. The Danse fail to recover them so in the middle of the night they drop in to recruit
Vampirella.
Meanwhile, Pendragon is visiting an old friend as it seems that his conjuring skills are evolving into real magic.
This is more of a Danse issue than a Vampirella one, but it still has sufficient mayhem and action to keep the fans happy.
It's issue four and the plot is still under development, with a few more hints and suggestions of what is yet to come.
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Issue 5 (August 1994)
Regular Cover - John K. Snyder III $2.95
Artists - Kirk Van Wormer, Art Nichols / Writer
- Tom Sniegoski
Danse with the Undead
Vampirella agrees to help the Danse Macabre recover the escaped recruits, as the recruits are teenagers who are part vampire.
In the ensuing battle Mazarin - a Vampire High Lord - is set free and he retreats with his "children" in tow.
The Danse is exposed as being not exactly on the side of the angels, and Vampirella isn't sure if she has sided with the right group (if there is such a thing!).
Another new character, Mazarin and his three children.
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Issue 6 (September 1994)
Regular Cover - Adam Hughes $2.95
Signed "Sticker" Cover - Adam Hughes (3,000 copies) $?
Artist - Hearn Cho, Art Nichols / Writer - Tom Sniegoski
Up Close and Personal
While Vampirella practices in the Danse Macabre's facility, nd old friend comes to visit Adam van Helsing. A wild and angry Chelsea is repulsed by Adam and Pendragon, who follow her to the school she (and Vampirella - as Ella Normandy in
Morning in America)
once attended.
Vampirella joins the fray and she and Chelsea fight to the death.
It's nice when a loose end from the past is tidied up. I always wondered what happened to Chelsea.
The "Sticker" issue was issued as a promotional item for a blood drive, and the centrefold was signed by Cathy Christian as "Vampi".
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Issue 7 (October 1994)
Regular Cover - Adam Hughes $2.95
Artists - John Stinsman, Bobby Rae / Writer - Tom
Sniegoski
Evil from the Head of a Pin
Returning from Chelsea's funeral, Vampirella finds the house full of strangers who turn out to be Gregori - fallen angels. They are being hunted by Seraphim, who at that moment are attacking Walker (Cain of the Old Testament
story of Cain and Able, cursed to walk the Earth forever) who guards a demonic weapon.
Walker repulses them and denies them access to the Hell Worm. Vampirella and the Gregori are talking when the Seraphim attack ...
This issue takes a very Biblical / Old Testament turn. Involving Vampirella with Christian mythology doesn't seem to make much sense at the moment, but it will ...
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Issue 8 (November 1994)
Regular Cover - Buzz $2.95
Artists -Kevin Sharpe, Kez / Writer - Tom Sniegoski
Though the Brightest Fell
Vampirella manages to stall the Seraphim, and she and the Gregori make good their escape, teleporting to the desert to meet Walker. The Seraphim aren't far behind and battle resumes, with casualties on both sides. In the end the Seraphim and Gregori
destroy them selves leaving Vampirella, Pendragon and Walker the sole survivors.
Walker takes the Hellworm and leaves, promising Vampirella that she will learn about her origins soon enough.
Elsewhere, Adam van Helsing and a crack team have taken on a nest of werewolves and fare badly. Adam is the only survivor and is bitten in the process.
There is a very strong hint as to Vampirella's origins in this issue - the Seraphim know all about her and her mother. Pendragon's magic powers are growing and saves the day. Adam is brought down a peg by a new breed of werewolf.
This issue originally came poly-bagged with a Topps Preview card (P2). Obviously most copies had the bag opened to read the comic, and the Topps Trading Card added to the
card collection (or lost). You can still get copies which are still in the original bag, though they are getting more and more rare.
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Issue 9 (December 1994)
Regular Cover - Buzz $2.95
Artists - Buzz, Kevin Sharpe, Rod Ramos / Writer
- Tom Sniegoski
To be more than Human!
Smarting from his defeat at the hands of the werewolves, Adam van Helsing tracks down a source of the deadly drug Hyde-25 which gives him superhuman abilities. The new Adam, renamed Bad Jack, crosses paths with Jackass.
Jackass is the descendent of
the man who created Hyde-25 a century beforehand is dedicated to eradicating all traces of the drug (and any other drugs he comes across).
Not realising that Adam has changed, Vampirella joins in the battle between Bad Jack and Jackass.
Another pivotal point in Vampirella's history as Adam van Helsing becomes the more powerful and meaner Bad Jack. You get the feeling that all these loose threads are going to come together into one big climax sometime soon.
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NEXT PAGE
19951996
THE MYSTERY WALK SUPPLEMENT
VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA : BLOODSHED
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