Vampirella
Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine "Vampirella" #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of "Creepy" and "Eerie". Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostesses, in which capacity she remained through issue #8 (Nov. 1970), to a horror-drama leading character. The magazine was published continuously until 1983, when Warren Publishing ceased operations and its assets were bought by Harris Publications. "Vampirella" comics, both new and reprints, have continued through various publishers into the  21st century. Publication history. Warren Publishing. Vampirella initially appeared in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazine "Vampirella" #1 (Sept. 1969), running to issue #112 (March 1983), plus a 1972 annual reprinting stories from the series, and a 1977 special with color reprints of José González stories. The title was a sister magazine of Warren's horror anthologies "Creepy" and "Eerie". Like those magazines' respective mascots, Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie, Vampirella hosted horror stories, though unlike them, she would also star in her own story, which would headline each issue. "Vampirella" was initially edited by Bill Parente . It would later be edited by Archie Goodwin (issues #7–12, 34–35), Billy Graham (#13–16), Bill DuBay (#21–50, 87–95, 101–102) and Louise Jones (#51–86). According to comics historian Richard J. Arndt, "Forrest Ackerman created, or at least had a strong hand in creating, Vampirella and he clearly had a major influence in shaping the lighthearted bad-girl story style of this issue as well." Her costume and hair style were designed by comics artist Trina Robbins. The character's first story artist was Tom Sutton. Artist Frank Frazetta's first-issue cover was a substitute for the original cover by European  artist Aslan. José González became the character's primary artist starting with issue #12. Other artists who would draw Vampirella during her magazine's original run included Gonzalo Mayo, Leopold Sanchez, Esteban Maroto, José Ortiz, Escolano, Rudy Nebres, Ramon Torrents, Pablo Marcos, Jim Janes, John Lakey, Val Lakey, and Louis Small Jr. Backup features appearing in "Vampirella" included "Tomb of the Gods", "Pantha" and "Fleur". Vampirella herself also appeared in a story with fellow Warren characters Pantha and the Rook in "Eerie" #94–95, and with most of the Warren characters in a company crossover special in "Eerie" #130. Harris Publications . Upon Warren's bankruptcy shortly afterward, Harris Publications acquired the company assets at auction in August 1983, although legal murkiness and a 1999 lawsuit by Warren publisher James Warren resulted in his reacquisition of the rights to sister publications "Creepy" and "Eerie". Harris Comics published Vampirella stories in various series and miniseries from 1991 to 2007, beginning with "Vampirella" #113 (1988), a one-issue continuation of the original series, containing Vampirella reprints and one unrelated new story. Harris subsequently published the all-reprint one-shot "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos", and the four-issue miniseries "Vampirella: Morning in America  (Sept. 1991 - April 1992) by writer Kurt Busiek and penciler Louis La Chance. Three ongoing series followed: The three-issue miniseries Vampirella Lives" (Dec. 1996 - Feb. 1997) featured writer Warren Ellis and penciler Conner. Additionally, Harris published several one-shots: "Vampirella Summer Nights" (title per its trademarked cover logo) / "Vampirella's Summer Nights" (as in the indicia's copyright information) (1992), by writer Steve Englehart and penciler Joe Brozowski (under the pseudonym J. J. Birch), "Vampirella/Shadowhawk: Creatures of the Night" (Feb. 1995), "Vampirella Pin-Up Special" (Oct. 1995), and "Vengeance of Vampirella: The Mystery Walk" (Nov. 1995). Harris also  reprinted much material. The 1993 trade-paperback collection "Vampirella: The Dracula War" reprinted a serialized story from Harris' "Vampirella" #1-4. The 1994 "Cain / Vampirella Flip Book" reprinted a 1993 Vampirella story by writer Busiek and artist Arthur Adams from Harris' "Creepy 1993 Fearbook". The five-issue "Vampirella Classic" (Feb.-Nov. 1995) reprinted Warren stories. "Vengeance of Vampirella: Bloodshed" (March 1995) reprinted a serialized story from the "Vengeance of Vampirella" series. The publisher additionally reprinted Warren stories in the trade-paperback "Vampirella: Transcending Time & Space", (1992) "Vampirella: A Scarlet Thirst" (1993), and "Vampirella & The Blood Red Queen of Hearts" (Sept. 1996 ); and the series "Vampirella of Drakulon" #1-5, followed by #0 (Jan.-Nov. 1996). At the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention in January 2007, Scott Licina, editor-in-chief of Fangoria Comics, announced his company had acquired the character from Harris. However, on April 30, 2007, Harris editor Bon Alimagno denied there had been such an arrangement in place and that Fangoria's claim was "not factual". Harris subsequently launched the title "Vampirella Quarterly". Dynamite Entertainment. On March 17, 2010, Dynamite Entertainment acquired the rights to Vampirella from Harris Comics. The publisher started a new ongoing series with "Vampirella" #1, in  November 2010. A new monthly series, "Vampirella and the Scarlet Legion", was released in May 2011 following the main title. The series lasted 38 issues before concluding in January 2014. The title was rebooted in June 2014 with "Vampirella" vol. 2, #1 by author Nancy Collins. The 2014 series would continue with Volume 3 in March 2016, which was noted for giving Vampirella a new costume. A second reboot and fourth relaunch overall, "Vampirella" vol. 4, began in 2017. The series was first written by Paul Cornell, and later by Jeremy Whitley. A fifth relaunch, written by Christopher Priest and  Ergun Gündüz, began publication in July 2019 and commemorated the character's 50th anniversary. The run lasted 25 issues long and ended with Vampirella's marriage to Dracula, spinning off into a new series in 2021 titled "Vampirella/Dracula: Unholy!" Priest has announced a 2022 "Vampirella:Year One" series following Vampirella's first year on Earth. In 2019, Dynamite also revived the series "Vengeance of Vampirella", which had been the name of a Harris-era comic, and hired the original writer of that series, Thomas Sniegoski, to write a continuation of the original series. A sequel called "Vampirella Strikes" has  been announced for May 2022. Vampirella appears in the 2020 crossover series "Die!namite", which depicts her as an ambassador attempting to reach the new Drakulon colony. She has appeared in the sequels of Die!namite called Die!namite Lives and Die!namite Lived, Now It Never Dies!. She fought Purgatori in "Vampirella vs Purgatori" (2020)"," leading into Purgatori's own comic series in 2021. Sniegoski, alongside Jeannine S. Acheson, launched a 2021 Vampirella multiverse comic called "Vampiverse," in which Vampirella must figure out what's killing all the other Vampirellas.A oneshot spinoff has been announced following one of the Vampirellas called "The  Vamp". Mike The Pike Productions. On March 2, 2021, Mike The Pike Productions, Inc.'s subsidiary Arowana Media Holdings, Inc. acquired the worldwide film, television and streaming rights to Dynamite Entertainment's Vampirella. Including stories, characters, and derivative works of the Vampirella universe. Fictional character biography. Vampirella originally hailed from the planet Drakulon, a world where blood flowed like water and where the natives, called the Vampiri, shared traditionally vampiric characteristics. Drakulon orbited a binary star which caused continuous droughts throughout the year. Unfortunately for the Vampiri, these droughts have gradually dried up their blood supply; threatening them with extinction . Vampirella's journey begins when an American space shuttle crashes on Drakulon. Hoping to save her people, she travels to Earth where she begins hunting dark remnants of her own race. Earth's vampires originate from Dracula, a forgotten member of the Vampiri race who left his homeworld centuries ago only to be corrupted by the demonic entity known as Chaos. Harris continuity. After relaunching Vampirella with the miniseries "Morning In America", written by Kurt Busiek, Harris Comics published the story "Mystery Walk", which revised Vampirella's origin. She learned she was, in fact, the daughter of Lilith, whom popular  medieval Jewish lore depicts as the first wife of Adam. Lilith would not submit to Adam and, cast out of Eden by God, spawned demons. She later repented and went to Eden to bear children to fight the evil she had created. Her first attempt was Madek and Magdalene, who turned to evil; Vampirella was her second. Madek and Magdalene brainwashed her into believing she was from Drakulon. Further retcons were presented in "Vampirella Lives" and in "Blood Lust". Drakulon was real, but was a place in Hell. Vampirella was brought to Eden, not born there. It was Lilith, not  Madek and Magdalene, who made believe Drakulon was another planet. Vampirella restores the rivers of blood to Drakulon, which weakens Lilith, who is killed by the hand of God. A further revision in the "World's End" storyline revealed Lilith did not really repent and raised Vampirella to be good because she wanted to release the Heart of Darkness (heart of the fallen angel Malkuth) from Metatron's lance, which could only be done by a good person. Another retcon, in "Vampirella: Revelations", reveals the reason Lilith raised Vampirella to be good was that the existence of vampires made Lilith  weaker and she wanted someone to kill them. Lilith used a magic mirror to make Vampirella believe whatever variation on her origin was necessary at the time. Dynamite continuities. In the initial Dynamite-published series, Vampirella worked reluctantly with Dracula against a rebellious cult of his former followers. Acquiring Sofia Murray as her sidekick, Vampirella became involved in a plot by the Vatican that ultimately resurrected Von Kreist and led to Sofia's death. Vampirella severed her ties with the Vatican and found herself working for the forces of Order again. Reuniting with a resurrected Van Helsing, Pendragon, and other  characters from the Warren Magazine run, Vampirella visits the future and discovers the world destroyed by the supernatural. Trying to form a supernatural kingdom to contradict this, Vampirella falls prey to a conspiracy by Dracula and a group of vampire knights that result in reality becoming unraveled. Lilith banishes Vampirella from her universe in order to save her. Vampirella was relaunched with "Our Lady Of Shadows" as an agent of the Vatican before being relaunched again with a new costume in "Hollywood Horror" under author Kate Leth. In this universe, Vampirella has recently come to Earth and become a Hollywood  scream queen. She lives with her live-in boyfriend Tristan and butler Coleridge. After falling into a thousand-year sleep, Vampirella awakes in a bizarre, dystopian future, where she meets her new sidekick and girlfriend, Vicki, and a black cat she names Grit. After going on a journey through her own mind, Vampirella learns she has absorbed all the memories and experiences of a hundred Vampirellas from parallel universes. According to the "Hack/Slash" series, Vampirella is currently working as a radio talk show host and has several times teamed up with Cassie and her partner Vlad to stop demons  and vampires instead of the standard slashers the series is known for. She and Vlad have an intense physical attraction and relationship, but broke up because his nomadic lifestyle did not mesh with hers. In the 2019 version by Christopher Priest, the writer incorporated all the previous versions of the character's history to make a comprehensive revision of Vampirella's back story. Vampirella has been on Earth for 50 years, and Draklon is an alternate version of Earth's moon. The alternate version of Earth is called Arcadia. We learn that Drakulon and Arcadia were at war which caused  Aracadia to die out and Draklon became an archaic society. Powers and abilities. Vampirella possesses many of the typical powers of mythological vampires. She exerts super-strength when facing her opponents and can move so fast that she appears as a blur of motion. Her senses are far beyond those of humans, allowing her to tell one's emotional state through their scent, hear things imperceptible to humans, and see clearly in total darkness. She is very athletic, possessing great stamina, reflexes, and agility beyond that of humans. Her healing factor grants her great resilience and allows her to heal  rapidly from her wounds and makes her immune to Earthly illness and toxins. Whether she is able to turn other people into vampires is inconsistent. It was a plot point in the Warren era that she could not because she was a being from another planet and not a supernatural creature, but that origin was since revised and she could do it in the Shadowhawk crossover. However, that crossover is out of continuity for Shadowhawk and may be out of continuity for Vampirella. She had the power to grow a giant pair of chiropteran wings to allow self-propelled flight . Her stare and even voice are hypnotic and seductive to humans, particularly males (she has been seen as having the ability to induce sexual arousal in men simply by being in their presence). She is shown to have the power of telepathy as she was able to hear the voices of demons inside Jackie Estacado's mind. She is immortal. In addition to her supernatural abilities, Vampirella is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant and is shown to be skilled with modern-day firearms. Spinoffs. Christopher Priest's world of Vampirella has been expanded in spinoffs. The first is "Sacred  Six" (2020), which follows Lilith, Vampirella's mother, protecting a vampire city with a team consisting of Nyx, Chasity, Pantha, Victory (who takes on the name Draculina), and Katie (the real Draculina). Solo series for Nyx (2021), Pantha (2022), and Draculina (2022) were launched by Dynamite soon after. Reception. Vampirella was ranked 35th in "Comics Buyer's Guide's" "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Circulation figures. From annual required Statement of Circulation. "Copies printed" refers to total print run. "Total paid circulation" refers to number of copies actually sold, which is the above number minus returns, lost/damaged copies , and free/promotional copies. Other versions. Section::::"Vampi". In 2000 a comic book series entitled "Vampi" began circulation through Anarchy Studio. The series followed Vampi, an alternate futuristic version of Vampirella that seeks to find a cure for her vampirism. The main series ran for 25 issues. Several miniseries followed under the titles "Vampi Vicious", "Vampi Vicious Circle", "Vampi Vicious Rampage", and "Vampi vs. Xin". An omnibus edition collecting the first eighteen issues of the initial run was released in 2012 through Dynamite Entertainment. Section::::"Li'l Vampi". In January 2014 Dynamite Entertainment released "Li'l Vampi", a one-shot comic book by writer  Eric Trautmann and artist Agnes Garbowska. The comic followed a child version of Vampirella as she tries to uncover why monsters are destroying the town of Stoker, Maine. Media adaptations. In 1996, a "Vampirella" film adaptation was produced by Concorde Pictures, starring Talisa Soto in the title role. In 2021, Dynamite Entertainment announced a new feature film was in development, in addition to plans for television adaptations based on the Vampirella Universe.