The Darkness/ Vampirella
Issue #1 (July 2005)
Regular cover A- Eric Basaldua, Steve Firchow $2.99
Regular cover B - Terry Moore, Brian Buccellato $2.99
Exclusive cover - artist (2,000 copies) $9.99
The Darkness / Vampirella [Art, Eric Basaldua, Jay Leisten; Story, Terry Moore]
Vampirella is tracking down a symbiotic vampire - a vampiric spirit inside a host body. She knows that he will want a powerful body that can protect the host inside, and is hunting gangster Jackie Estracado to provide that body. Estracado is a cold ruthless gang leader who has a secret - he is in possession of The Darkness, a portal to Hell, it's minions and it's powers.
After an initial confrontation where Vampirella tries to warn him about his vampire stalker, Vampirella deflects an ambush and gives Estracado the moment he needs to summon the darkness, which destroys the vampire utterly.
This was a collaboration between Harris Publications and Top Cow Publications. The focus of the story is primarily The Darkness. Vampirella seems to be there to provide some (very nice) eye-candy and to give a running commentary so the new reader can understand what's happening.
It was an O.K. comic book, and the story was O.K. too, but not really very high on my "must read again" list. I have to say, though, the artwork of Eric Basaldua (better known as Ebas) is absolutely top rate. If nothing else it is worth getting a copy of this comic for the artwork alone!
As an aside, the Darkness/Vampirella has an extra alternative cover not listed here as it is a German version (at the moment I am focusing on English language comics only - I may add the various International versions at a later date, but don't hold your breath waiting!). However, the cover is quite stunning so I have placed an example of it on the right.
The German version was part of rather clever marketing device which combined the covers of three comics into one "tryptych" picture.
