The Story So Far

Vanya and Serah are two Time Guards trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, and the Torridians, a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity. While on a mission to retrieve a supply cache, the duo, along with a soldier named Guy, are captured by Niya, another Time Guard and a member of the Bone Tribe. They are made to partake in a ritual to summon a Torridian Dragon. Elsewhere the Torridians begin their bombardment of human outposts in the jungle primeval. 

Standard cover of Vanya #6 by Sean Joyce. Image from Bad Bug website.

Issue 06 Plot

Having escaped both the Bone Tribe and the family of saber-tooth tigers, Vanya, Serah, and Guy find themselves in an uneasy truce with Niya. Serah begins to have visions of the Torridian Dragon calling out to her. Serah, Guy, and Niya share a brain-connection due to the implanted chips in their temples (Vanya was not outfitted with one during their encounter with the Bone Tribe). The group decide to split up: Guy and Niya to hide the Torridian Dragon eggs they absconded with while Serah and Vanya follow a river to Outpost Nine that is purported to be heavily fortified. 

Niya and Vanya.

Meanwhile Geneal Tora of the Torridians decide to free the captive humans, which include Captain Jax and Lucas, who are made to leave Base T and cross a field. However, their freedom is a ruse for all the humans are dispatched by a pack of raptors outfitted with saw blade arms, spiked grappling hooks, flamethrowers, and razor-sharp spider-esque legs. 

The ill-fated soldiers are not the only ones to encounter cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs as Vanya and Serah are attacked by a Plesiosaur that has a blaster mounted on its tail. While Vanya and Serah are dealing with their unexpected encounter, Niya and Guy cross paths with a new faction making their presence known.

Commentary

Two words: Robo Dinosaurs. Briefly introduced in issue five (when the Bone King throws a robotic raptor head at Vanya’s feet, and the final panel showing General Tora looking at a cybernetic T-Rex), issue six of Vanya is all about capitalizing on the robotic dinosaurs and how they truly ruthless they are. Reed’s death in issue three when he was chomped in half by a T-rex has nothing on a raptor with buzzsaw arms decapitating human soldiers. The scene the modified raptors appear in is an homage to/recreation of the raptor/tall grass scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park(1997). It is as if Vanya asked the question “how can we top that scene from the second Jurassic Park movie?” and they went all in for it. 

Robo Raptors in the tall grass in Vanya #6.The Lost World: Jurassic Park tall grass/raptor scene.

The robot-dinosaur extravaganza continues when Vanya and Serah encounter a Plesiosaur while they are fishing. Vanya charges at the dinosaur, slicing its gun-tail off, before being dragged underwater due to her embedding her knife in its hide. Vanya does not do the killing blow on the Plesiosaur as a non-robotic Spinosaurus shows up and chomps its head off, showing a trail of blood but also mechanical components. It is an interesting scene in that a natural dinosaur is able to dispatch the cybernetically enhanced dinosaur, and rather easily at that. One of the core themes of Vanya has been the traditional fight of man vs. nature (and now trickling in some man vs. machine), but here is a sequence of nature vs. machine. Giving a long enough time, nature will always win.

The mysterious Astral Guard mark their formal appearance on the final page, possibility catching Guy and Niya in the act of hiding the Torridian Dragon eggs. Emerging from a purple portal, a squadron of armored soldiers pour through, wielding rifles, demanding Niya and Guy’s surrender. It is just bluster? The Astral Guard are supposed to be the best of the best, it is what the Time Guards eventually ascend to after completing their training in the prehistoric past. They are the ones, per the opening crawl back in issue one, who are supposed to lead and safeguard humanity. However, the Torridians dominating the war front against the humans, sending them in a retreat to the past, and Elah’s ineffectual response to the alien threat in issue five convey that the Astral Guard may not be as powerful as they project themselves to be. There’s plenty of Robo Dinosaurs waiting for them to prove their mettle against. 

The Astral Guard are not the only ones with a public image crisis to overcome, but General Tora herself is already showing cracks in how she operates. Extremely cruel (as demonstrated by freeing the humans into the raptor field), Tora is also coming across as arrogant but also prideful as she is dismissive of keeping her emperor abreast of her invasion. She’s akin to Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars and her attitude will probably lead to her to underestimate Vanya and the other humans (when they finally cross paths). 

Covers and Swag Impressions

From the Kickstarter campaign page for Vanya #06, which concluded August 2023, there looks to be a total of nine different covers for the issue, which each cover being available in non-nude and nude versions, with each of those breaking down in normal, holofoil, and metal editions, for a grand total of fifty-four different covers. 

Personal copy of Vanya #6 with nude cover by Alex Monik.

The best cover of the issue six bunch goes to Alex Monik. This is a fantastic cover that depicts and incredible Vanya and an equally incredible jungle scene. The tree branches that Vanya walks across are covered in grass and flowers, with vines hanging underneath. It is this great detail that really sells the fantastique nature of the jungle adventure genre. Vanya proper still looks attractive, but she is covered in tiny scars and smudges of dirt. This iteration of Vanya moves away from the cheesecake approach (but still retains aspects of it) and goes into a more realistic interpretation of a warrior woman who has had to survive in the primeval for months. Her giant, blooded stone-tipped spear brings forth the spear and fang genre trappings. Overall, this cover has a store to tell in one image, and it does it well.

Recognition needs to go to Sean Joyce, the artist behind the standard cover of Vanya #06 (see top of article). Joyce is an old guard artist whose done artwork for classic genre icons such as Conan the Barbarian. Joyce’s cover, with its mutated, painted style, recalls the old days of TTRPG cover art, the poster art for One Million Years B.C. (1966), and even a little of the trading cards/comic series of Dinosaurs Attack!. Joyce is a master of classic fantasy art and their cover art for this issue of Vanya demonstrates this.

Four Robosaur trading cards by Vascio Giaochini and a Tarot Card by Gus Mauk.

As far as swag, issue six of Vanya has a set of four Robosaur trading cards and a new Tarot card. The Robosaur art is done by Vasco Gioachini and each card dhows a different dinosaur outfitted with robotic attachments. These dinos would make great enemies in a Turok game. The Tarot card is for Major Arcana Temperance card and is illustrated by Gus Mauk. The card depicts Vanya playing with a dagger atop a dino skull. Theme and action-wise, the art on the Vanya Temperance card is not in the same realm as a traditional Temperance card (a woman pouring liquid from one container into another), so its derived meaning is going to be open to some interesting interpretations. 

Conclusion

With issue six, Vanya looks to finally have placed all its playing pieces on the game board: Vanya and company, the Torridians, the Astral Guard, and of course, the Robo Dinosaurs. The comic also seems to have found a better balance of sex scenes, action sequences, and exposition panels. The comic needs to be able to juggle these three pillars, especially as it is trying to tell the story of time travelling jungle women fighting aliens and robot dinosaurs. It is high concept, and perhaps a little over the top, but Vanya has found its footing to sell its setup. Come for the premise, but stay for the actual intrigue as Vanya navigates both intergalactic and temporal adversaries, which just so happens to include kick ass raptors with buzzsaw arms. 

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Bad Bug Media Vanya 06 Product PageVanya 06 Kickstarter PageZoran Jovicic (Artist)Mike Tener (Writer / EIC Bad Bug)Sean Joyce (Cover Artist)Alex Monik (Cover Artist)Gus Mauk (Tarot Card Artist)Bryan Magnaye (Colorist)Vasco Gioachini (Trading Card Artist)

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Death Nell Issue 01 ReviewVanya Issue 01 ReviewVanya Issue 02 ReviewVanya Issue 03 ReviewVanya Issue 04 ReviewVanya Issue 05 Review