Vampirella
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This article is about Vampirella. For Vampi, see Vampi.
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Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J. Ackerman for Warren Publishing's namesake black-and-white horror-comics magazine, and developed by Archie Goodwin with artists Frank Frazetta and Tom Sutton.
After appearing in Warren magazines from 1969-1983, Vampirella was sold to Harris Comics, which has been publishing her in various series and miniseries since 1991.
Vampirella was originally presented as an inhabitant of the planet Drakulon, a world where people lived on blood and where blood flowed in rivers. Drakulon orbited twin suns, Satyr and Circe, with the former erupting at irregular intervals to destroy all life on the planet. As the effects of the explosion wane, a new civilisation begins. The race of which Vampirella was born, the Vampiri, were able to transform themselves into bats at will, sprout wings when required, and drink blood.
The story begins with the inhabitants of Drakulon being destroyed slowly by Satyr's latest eruption. The last few lie dying when a spaceship from Earth crashes on the planet. Vampirella, sent to investigate, is attacked; retaliating, she discovers that the astronauts have blood in their veins. In order for her race to survive, she manages to pilot the ship back to Earth where her adventures begin. Vampirella becomes a "good" vampire, and devotes her energy to ridding our world of the homegrown "evil" kind.
Harris Comics revived Vampirella in the miniseries Morning In America, written by Kurt Busiek. Soon thereafter, Vampirella was established as being brainwashed by her sister and brother (in the story "Mystery Walk") and led to believe she was from the planet Drakulon. She learned that she was, in fact, the daughter of Lilith, the first wife of Adam from the Book of Genesis. Lilith would not submit before Adam and was cast out of Eden. She mated with demons in hell, giving birth to vampires who would kill the offspring of Adam and Eve on Earth. Later, she sought redemption from God and gave birth to Vampirella, whom she sent to Earth to kill all evil vampires. According to this account, Drakulon was a part of Hell where Lilith lived and ruled.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Vampirella
The heroine is considered a vampire, since she needs blood to survive and has many of the typical vampiric powers, including increased strength and reflexes, shapeshifting into a bat, and a mesmeric stare. She is not prone to the group's traditional weaknesses, such as daylight, holy water, garlic, or crosses. She cannot, most importantly, transform others into vampires. She does not attack people to drink their blood, except occasionally when she herself is attacked. She is almost always scantily clad. The name is said to be inspired by the comic strip and movie character Barbarella.[citation needed]
[edit] Conrad van Helsing
A blind psychic and vampire hunter, he makes the substitute blood serum that keeps Vampirella's thirst under control. He was pursuing Dracula and initially tried to destroy Vampirella, believing her to be akin to that vampire lord.
[edit] Adam van Helsing
Conrad's son, and the last of a long line of vampire hunters, he followed his father's steps and became a paranormal researcher. He is portrayed as more open-minded than his father. He believed Vampirella was not evil, and eventually he and she fell in love. Vampirella has often helped Adam in his research. Adam was killed in Vengence of Vampirella #25
[edit] Pendragon/Mordecai (The Great)
A former sorcerer, now a sideshow magician. Vampirella often traveled with him in the Warren stories.
[edit] Madek and Magdalene
Evil brother and sister of Vampirella, who planted false memories of the planet Drakulon in Vampirella's mind. Vampirella also has a blonde twin sister named Draculina. However, she had appeared only once, in Vampirella #2.
[edit] Nuberus
The demon who tempted Vampirella with her true origin in order to gain access to Earth.
[edit] Pantha
An alien shapeshifter, from Vampirella's native planet, who can morph into a black panther. She is generally portrayed as more violent and feral than Vampirella.
In more recent years Pantha's history has been altered; no longer is she an alien shapeshifter, but is instead an ancient Egyptian cursed by the gods because of a murderous spree she went on in ancient times. She is cursed to live forever, with periods where she does not know who she is or what she is.
[edit] Lilith
Vampirella's mother. Once the wife of Adam, she sent her daughter to Earth to fix her mistakes. Recently Vampirella's mother has revealed a much darker more sinister side to her self. These events were revealed in Vampirella Revelations 0-3
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Warren Publishing
[edit] Comics magazines
- Vampirella #1-112 (1969 to 1983)
-Vampirella #113(Published by Harris in 1988 in very low numbers, Considered very rare, Published older Warren Stories)
[edit] Novels
- Bloodstalk
- On Alien Wings
- Deadwalk
- Blood Wedding
- Deathgame
- Snakegod
[edit] Harris Comics
[edit] Main
- Vampirella: Morning in America
- Vampirella's Summer Nights
- Creepy 1993 Fearbook (includes Vampirella story "Bugs" by Kurt Busiek and Arthur Adams)
- Vampirella #1-5
- Vampirella Strikes #1-7
- Vampirella: Chains of Chaos #1-3
- Vengeance of Vampirella #1-25
- Vampirella Zero
- Vampirella: Death and Destruction #1-3
- Vampirella: Sad Wings of Destiny
- Vampirella Bloodlust #1-2
- Vampirella Lives #1-3
- Vampirella vs. Pantha
- Vampirella vs. Hemmorage #1-3
- Vampirella Monthly #1-26, Special Issue #0
- Vampirella #1-22
- Vampirella Revelations (book 1) #0-3
- Vampirella Comics Magazine #1-10
- Vampirella Comics Magazine Special
[edit] Manga
- Vampirella Manga 2999
- Vampirella Manga 3000
[edit] Manga of new character, Vampi
- Vampi #1-25
- Vampi Digital
- Vampi Switchblade Kiss/Dark Angel
- Vampi Vicious #1-3
- Vampi Vicious Circle #1-3
- Vampi vs. Xin #1-2
[edit] Reprints of Warren Publications' Vampirella
- Vampirella Classic #1-5
- Vampirella of Drakulon #1-5, Special Issue 0
- Vampirella Retro #1-3
- Vampirella: Silver Anniversary Collection #1-4
- Vampirella: Legendary Tales #1-2
- Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles #1-4 (Ongoing series of trade paperbacks chronologically reprinting all Warren Vampirella stories.)
[edit] Team-ups
- Vampirella/Shadowhawk: Creatures of the Night #1-2
- Catwoman/Vampirella
- Vampirella/Wetworks
- Wetworks/Vampirella
- Vampirella/Shi
- Shi/Vampirella
- Vampirella vs. Painkiller Jane
- Vampirella/Lady Death
- Lady Death vs. Vampirella
- Lady Death vs. Vampirella II
- Purgatori vs. Vampirella
- Vampirella/Witchblade
- Vampirella/Witchblade II: Union of the Damned
- Vampirella/Witchblade III: The Feast
- The Magdalena and Vampirella
- The Magdalena and Vampirella II
- Witchblade/The Magdalena/Vampirella
- Frankenstein Mobster and Vampirella (featered as a web-comic)
- The Darkness/Vampirella
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Vampirella Flip Book
- Vampirella Pin-up Special
- Vampirella: 25th Anniversary Special
- Vampirella/Dracula: The Centennial
- Vampirella: Julie Strain Special
- Vampirella Model Search Special
- Vampirella Crossover Gallery
[edit] Games
- Vampirella: Hell on Earth Battlebook
[edit] Film
- Vampirella (1996) starring Talisa Soto and Roger Daltrey, directed by Jim Wynorski.
[edit] Live Models
Almost since the inception of the character, fans and artists alike have evinced a fascination with envisioning what Vampirella would look like in her costume "in real life." To this end, a variety of models have donned various versions of the trademark scanty outfit for magazine covers, posters, trading cards, and even live appearances. The first model to wear the costume was Barbara Leigh on the cover of the original Warren Vampirella magazine, #67, coverdated March, 1978. A list of other models to wear the costume include:
- Brinke Stevens
- Julie Strain
- Cathy Christian
- Sascha Knopf
- Maria DiAngelis
- Kitana Baker
