Vampirella: Masters Series, Vol. 1: Grant Morrison & Mark Millar

Vampirella Masters Series #1

by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Amanda Conner (Artist)

Dynamite is pleased to present the collected work of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's incredible run on Vampirella. Over a decade ago two of the comic industry's most prolific writers of today, joined together to craft what some consider Vampirella's finest run in her long history. Joining these two legendary creators are today's other top talents such as Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Brian Haberlin, Michael Bair, Kevin Nowlan and more. This edition collects "Ascending Evil" from Vampirella Monthly #1-3, "Holy War" from Vampirella Monthly #4-6, "Blood Red Game" from the Vampirella 25th Anniversary Special and "Cold Day In Hell" from Vampirella Strikes #6. This edition also collects interviews with Morrison/Millar and Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. It all began right here for these creators and now it's collected for you in this beautiful trade paperback edition featuring a stunning cover by Jae Lee (Dark Tower).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Vampires, Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2010

About the author

Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.

In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ew. What?
Ok, I appreciate Vampi and her non-existent clothing for the campy supernatural fun that it is most of the time. But this was just over the top. It started out bad and then just got worse.
I felt very uncomfortable with her 16 year old sidekick being sexualized in a blatantly gross catsuit that zipped down way past her cleavage. Speaking of, why the hell is this kid her sidekick? She's just some traumatized teenager with zero skills. What about that statement makes you want to take her into the thick of a vampire nest after training her for what looked to be a grand total of a few days?
She got captured? You don't say!



And for some reason, our badass heroine manages to get herself tied up more than any character in comics...ever. I get it. Getting tied up is sexy. Woo-hoo.
Once might be ok. I mean, given what this comic is, I'll give you that. But every issue? How fucking incompetent is she?
So by the time we got around to Vampirella being 'tied to a chair and nibbled on in some very suspect areas of her body by a bunch of lesbian/bi vampire women' as some sort of (ugh) punishment, I was just kind of over it. Every scene was off the charts in some sort of ridiculously lewd way. <--which is saying a lot about a comic that makes it's $$ from a character who runs around in an outfit that would make a hooker blush.



Yeah, there was (probably) a story in there somewhere but I couldn't stop cringing long enough to find it. I do like Vampirella, but this version was awful.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a pandemic so I'm nearing the bottom of the barrel of comics. Decided to check out these old Vampirella comics by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar from when Harris Comics relaunched her in the late 90s. Well, this was kind of terrible. There's elements of a decent story here with the bad guys being a group of vampires who formed the anti-Vatican. But the story is hidden behind the number of women in lewd and hypersexualixed poses. All the women are either tied up or in subservient positions. It boggles my mind that Amanda Conner drew the first three issues. I know she's known for some cheesecake stuff but that pales in comparison to some of this. I guess this is proof that good creative teams don't always equal good comics.

[L. McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t quite expect to love this as much as I do. I mean, I expected it to be good, just not THIS good.

What’s it about?
Vampirella is a vampiric superhero that protects humanity from monsters. That’s a lot of what this is.

Why it gets 5 stars:
The story is pretty awesome. It mixes superhero action and supernatural horror in a way that works perfectly. Yeah, may not change your life but boy, it is lots of fun!
The art is fantastic! Most of it is done by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, they prove they make a great art team!

(Oh, Vampi, comics ARE books. I guess I’ll give you a pass since you’re in one though)
The characters are awesome. I’ve been reading more Vampirella comics throughout the past year or so (read my first one in January 2018) and she may be my favorite female superhero! She’s just so fucking bad-ass and a great example of a strong female character! Both strong and stunning!
There’s lots of great action throughout! If you like exciting superhero action with great art, more sexiness than usual and lots of blood than this is for you. If you don’t like that, you sound way too picky. Like, seriously, what do you like?
This comic is more suspenseful than a lot of superhero tales. I honestly expected this to be predictable but there are some unexpected twists.
This book is often funny. Maybe not quite a comedy but a quippy superhero comic sorta similar to Spider-Man. I like that.
This has some great horror. Lots of great monster fighting and gore throughout so fans of the horror genre will be pleased.
Vampirella is an amazing feminist character! So even though I’m a guy I support feminism (as in equality and female rights, not the sexist towards guys, triggered by everything kind) and this comic does a fantastic job! The main character is a bad-ass, strong female character that teams up with many other women that kick ass while wearing a costume that was originally designed to promote sex positivity. It also doesn’t beat the message to death. So damn cool!

Overall:
This book is one that I would want writers and even superhero comic publishers to read as an example of how to do a fantastic superhero comic! This book is a fun story with great art, amazing action, some humor, a touch of suspense and a great feminist hero.
Can’t recommend this enough!
I’ll leave you with a crossover idea that popped into my head.


(See? Similar costumes and everything. FX. Dynamite. Make it happen please!)

5/5

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This was an entertaining graphic novel involving the classic vampire hunter, Vamperilla. Lots of fan-service with skimpy outfits showing perky bits. I still enjoyed the kickbutt heroine. 

[Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampirella Masters series by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar is a terrific set of tales that for those of you who don't know who Vampirella is (and if you don't why are you even breathing my air?) can get introduced to this iconic character! Okay you can take a breath now. Seriously, I began my Vampirella reading back during the early Warren Publishing days when it was only black and white!

Short synopsis about the character; Vampirella is a vampire but not from Earth. She is from the planet Drakulon and is the daughter of Lilith, the first woman created by God and first wife of Adam. On Drakulon the rivers flow in blood, but a devastating drought has hit the planet and the vampires are dying. A spaceship from Earth crashes on Drakulon and Vampirella investigates. She realizes that the pilots of the craft have blood in their veins and knows that she must travel to the planet Earth to find more of this food source. But on Earth she finds that the Vampires on Earth are evil and corrupt and Vampirella becomes a hunter of Vampires! Lilith keeps Vampirella on Earth to atone for her sins.

Okay now you're caught up.

In the first tale of this Master series, the Vampires are taking over organized crime syndicates to strengthen themselves. One of the families they attack is the Fattoni's. The daughters of the mob boss become major players in this tale as the daughter Pixie is turned into a vampire and the other one, Dixie is trained by Vampirella to become a vampire hunter. In this tale they face off against the Black Pope and the Lich, Von Kreist. This is a great place to be introduced to Vampirella.

When you read Vampirella you must be prepared for violence, blood lust and nudity or near nudity. But also, you will read a hell of a good vampire story. A tale of good and evil and a lead female character who kills unholy ass.

A great and fun read!

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insane fact before I start: this book, starring a woman wearing what appears to be a necktie stretched over her entire body, passes the Bechdel test. Many times. The majority of the speaking characters in this book are relatively fleshed-out women, even though Vampirella is a character invented in the 60s as a way for teenage boys to legally buy porn. Which, y'know, fine, but this book made me want to update the Bechdel test to:

1. Two women with names
2. Talking to each other
3. About something besides a man
4. While like, not wearing bonkers clothes designed by 12-year-old boys

Anyway, this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My curiosity was peaked simply by the fact that this was co-written by Grant Morrison, one of my all-time favorite comics writers, and there are some pretty big, wild vampire-killing ideas in here, along with a few (mostly failed) attempts to make Vampirella less of a sex object and more of a badass superheroine. Unfortunately, they never fully move away from this. Even with Amanda Conner's toned-down artwork in the first story, it's still a little much.

As another limiting factor, this book was also co-written by Mark Millar, the king of provocation for provocation's sake, and a guy who goes back to the same shallow well of "shocking" ideas in every single thing he ever writes (incest, perverse religious imagery, etc.). I wonder what this series would've looked like if Morrison was writing it alone.

All that said, the over-the-top action and villains do feel genuinely fresh, kind of like if Blade was filtered through Pulp Fiction or something. It's heavy on back-and-forth dialogue and plays with time travel in a weird way, and I just kept thinking "I wish this wasn't so uncomfortable to read!" Oh well.

In any case, there is no reason to read old Vampirella (though I hear the reboot by Kate Leth is pretty good), even if you love the writers. It's just too exploitative to let its ideas shine through.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of story arcs and two short stories complete my first introduction to Vampi, She's scantly clothed and pissed off and on a mission to kill all vampires, ala the sexiest vampire hunter. Would try to finish all the volumes before October ended but it seems very unlikely as the month is about to finish in a few days. Ah well no matter what I shall keep on reading.

I finally decided to read a few books for Halloween month because I am in India, October is never the horror month for us but I could read a few scary or works set in the supernatural world and this book just falls especially in the zone.

I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to the bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[Eric Mesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review first published at: http://www.comicpow.com/2015/10/28/3600/ Go there to see images.
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By this time, long-time readers of Comic POW! will know that I have been exploring pulp comic storytelling via Dynamite’s offerings. As the main deal-makers with many of the rights holders of the old pulp characters, Dynamite is leading the way in neo-pulp in comics. So far I’ve really been enjoying Gail Simone’s run on Red Sonja. However, of course she’d be able to do justice to strong female characters with her pedigree on Women in Fridges (the website) and lauded runs on Birds of Prey and Secret Six (among other titles). What would happen with a campy vamp (in both senses of the word) written by one of my favorite writers (Grant Morrison) and a writer that just as often rubs me the wrong way as the right way (Mark Millar) in which they teamed up on the script?

They didn’t go in the same direction as Red Sonja in which she had a less ridiculous outfit within the comic, but that’s OK (while not the best possibility). What I didn’t like about the main story, and perhaps it’s an effect of the way the story was collected, is that it appeared quite disjointed. It went from Vampirella trying to save a mob boss from vampires to being accompanied by a wannabe vampire hunter. Additionally, if this girl can easily fight vampires after like a month of training – just how hard are these vampires to fight, anyway?

Overall, it appears they just wanted to create an action romp and there’s nothing wrong with that, but with these guys as the writers I was expecting something groundbreaking in the mythos – especially with how interested in these types of things Grant Morrison tends to be. Instead we got the same tired refrain – the head vampire is Judas Iscariot.

By contrast, the two short stories in the collection showed some inventiveness. The first one was a Tales from the Crypt Keeper-like story in which a woman finds a mysterious card on the train that causes her to murder some people to satisfy a god. The other one is built on a pretty novel premise (although not unheard of) that perhaps vampires might want to live in the arctic circle where they would have something like 6 months of darkness in which they could roam without worrying about the sun.

Agree? Disagree? Either way, come discuss it in the comments!

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morrison and Millar wrote one of the top runs of Swamp Thing, a terrific ode to stories and an intriguing redefinition of the character.

So what did they do with another horror character of note?

Pretty much, nothing of interest. The vast majority of this volume is exploitative and violent hum-drum that doesn't even rise to the Garth Ennis level of quality. Oh, there's some prurient enjoyment, but these gentlemen could have totally revitalized the character by deeply imagining her mythology, and instead we get vampire gangsters (with a tiny bit of mythology along the way).

After the six-issue main arc, we get two one-offs at the end, and they're much more intriguing. Pity Morrison and Millar didn't choose to do the same (or weren't allowed to) when the main title was under their control.

[JL Shioshita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not like vampires or vampire paraphernalia. Of all the ghouls in the world, they are, at least to me the least interesting. I like Grant Morrison though, and I like comicbooks, so I thought I'd give this classic character a try. I read the first three volumes of this "master series". They're basically superhero stories but with vampires. They're okay, but they definitely didn't change any of my opinions.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never really been tempted to read any Vampirella comics until I saw the digital version of this collection for 50% off with the names Grant Morrison and Amanda Conner emblazoned across it. I am a big Grant Morrison fan and I recently fell in love with Amanda Conner's artwork on her Power Girl run, so I decided to give it a shot.

The book is split into four parts, two 3-part story arcs by, which follow the same story, and two back-up stories. The first story arc, is a lot of fun. The story is nothing like Morrison's more cerebral or meta style stories, we have what is basically a straight-up action story with Vampirella taking on an international vampire organisation. Conner does pencils here and her artwork looks great.

The second storyline, which continues directly from the first, gets a little more bogged down in more complex plot-details and continuity. That being said there's still plenty of entertaining action. Pencil duties on this arc switch from Conner to Louis Small, Jr. I much prefer Conner's art but he is not a bad artist. my only complaint is the number of panty shots we get of a 16 year old character.

Vampirella is rooted in pulp and pin-up culture and is a very self-consciously sexy book -there are innumerable curvaceous scantily-clad women throughout- and that's fine for this sort of book (unlike, say, The X-Men where it's just distracting) but I don't think EVERY female character needs to be hyper-sexualised, especially when the character is a minor.

The two back up stories have nothing to do with the main story but are included as one was written by Morrison and the other by Millar. They're both solid and certainly don't feel like filler although the 'twist' in Morrison's story is entirely predictable.

In all I found this to be a pretty enjoyable read. It's sexy and has over-the-top action with a nice dose of horror. A lot of other books offer a similar mix (eg. Zenescope's execrable Grimm Fairy Tales) but Vampirella succeeds because of the quality of talent involved.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Know what you are getting into going in. If the cover puts you off, you might be better off skipping it. It's not a bad vampire story all things told. Grant Morrison and Mark Millar are two great comics writers, and they hold their own with Vampirella. There isn't a lot in the way of backstory, but the reader should be able to get enough to make it through the book.

These stories are campy. A short list of things included in this volume are:

vampires, gangsters, a mysterious undead creature, space nuns, and time travel.

This book should have been so much worse for the random elements just tossed in. Vampirella's main antagonists are a vampire clan and the aforementioned weird undead guy, whose name escapes me. He actually works great as a villain for her to fight.

The art seems to be the big sticking point for the book. Most of the complaints I've seen revolve around Vampirella's costume. Ignoring that, the art is actually pretty good. It can be gruesome and over the top. This plays right into the other elements of the book. Read it for a fun diversion involving vampires.

[Alex Sarll]

Some Grant Morrison work is more notable than other Grant Morrison work, and this makes his Zoids strips look like Invisibles. I've always been under the impression that there's not much to Vampirella beyond being a busty vampire in very few clothes who gets in fights. Turns out I was entirely correct. And because Millar's on board, we also get the tiresome, try-hard transgression. Who knew lesbian vampire incest could be so boring? The one thing I will say for this is that they anticipate the whole plot of 30 Days Of Night in an almost incidental plot detail, six years before that even less interesting vampire series was first perpetrated.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

[same as Vampirella: The Morrison/Millar collection]
This is what I expect a Vampirella movie by Robert Rodriguez would look like! Lots of over-the-top action, snappy one-liners, cool heroes and cooler villains. Small Jr's part not as strong as Conner's but still good. Never been too familiar with Vampi mythos but this is a pleasant suprise.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Sexy Fun Read!!!

What a super sexy, hot, and extremely entertaining reading experience. Comics books just don't come any hot and sexier than the amazing Vampirella 💋 series of books.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a must have about vampires..
Well driven scenario, great art.
Epic & intense!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

As campy and ridiculous as you would expect, but fun

[furious · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucks, and that is not a vampire pun. First Vampirella thing I've ever read, and almost certainly the last. As a Grant Morrison completist, I was obligated to read it, but it was not worth the time or effort.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vampirella returns to a world more influenced by Blade than her old stories. Worst thing I've read by either Morrison or Millar.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, First thing. Vampirella is ridiculous. The character, especially the costume, is so over the top it's a distillation of everything people hate about comics - hypersexualization of women, excessive violence, and borderline perverse (it says wonders that this book is rated T and can be considered for teens just because the coloring on the her assets is designed to look like clothing instead of skin - the sexuality is so pervasive it's absurd that this would be rated T just because 'technically' no actual nudity occurs, but the line of demarcation is millimeters away in numerous situations). That being said, if you can get past the character's ridiculousness in general, you'll actually find a decent story here. Grant Morrison and Mark Millar know how to write comics, and they take more than a few knowing potshots at the book's own target audience, while also telling a decent story. Vampirella and a daughter of a killed Mafioso are out to slaughter all Vampires, with some unique allies and enemies. The weaponry they dream up and the defenses they fight against are creative, and there are enough twists and turns that the story is actually interesting. The art is doing what it's supposed to, making everything sexual (not necessarily sexy), further emphasizing the ridiculousness, but in some ways revelling in the absurdity. Not for the easily offended, and not really memorable enough to read even if you aren't squeamish, but there is at least some level of redeeming value underneath all the skin.

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main arc feels a little like if Punisher put on a thong and fought vampires in very inventive ways. It then turns into a special mission force doing the same.
For '90s gangster-pire fun, it is a fine example. The back up stories overstayed their welcome and I honestly only skimmed the last one.
I would not recommend this to anyone unless you are going for Grant Morrison completism, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I might try the Warren Ellis one, but it will be awhile because the '90s really shows here, and it put me off of any marathoning ambitions.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume collects a selection of stories from the defunct Harris Publications' Vampirella series. As a result, it jumps around quite a bit, establishing seemingly-important allies and enemies who then disappear mysteriously from subsequent story arcs. This makes it tricky to form an impression of the Harris series as a whole, but the story arcs included here are lots of fun, with high quality artwork throughout.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only really read this because 1) it was Grant Morrison, and 2) I've never read any Vampirella before, always been put off by the silly costume.

And it was... okay. I suppose. One star for the sheer quantity of lesbian vampire shenanigans, and another star for one or two new ideas in the vampire genre. But yeah, won't be searching out any more.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first complete Vampirella TPB and it was good. There’s plenty of action and a decent-sized arc within. The villains are a little all over the place and the supporting cast of characters, namely Dixie, really don’t make a whole lot of sense here. I think the action/Vampirella alone make this one worth it.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad storytelling, but it's really hard to take Vampirella seriously in that outfit. I got this in a Dynamite Digital Humble Bundle and hadn't ever read any of her stories before. But I like Millar's and Morrison's work, and I'd say this was worth reading despite the titillation factor.

[Michael Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opens as a fun revisiting of pulp horror comics, but descends into sub-Preacher reinventions of Catholic orthodoxy. This is Morrison and Millar at their most puerile. Happily, they've both matured since then.

[Zachary King · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Morrison completists or those who want to see Amanda Conner going full cheesecake. Rated a little high because it does exactly what it says on the tin and accomplishes that quite well. Can’t say, though, that I’m motivated to pick up more Vampi stories that aren’t penned by Grant Morrison.

[Titas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot diggity daffodil !!!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was curious to see what Morrison and Millar could do with Vampirella. I generally like their work, and Morrison in particular can be quite something. But this wasn't really that great. It was good enough, I guess, but it felt a bit like they were just doing this for laughs. Admittedly, Vampirella isn't a character with a lot of depth, so it's not like Morrison could do with Vampirella what he did with Batman. But it would have been nice if this had taken more chances and really did something unique with the character.
The art on the first arc is by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. They're great here, and a good fit for the character. The other stories have pretty good art, but not as good as Conner and Palmiotti.

[Bogdan Balostin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not expecting to like this one so much. Aside from the obvious hyper-ultra-mega sexualization of the female form (she manages to get tied up in every story smh), the story is quite good with very vampiric sensual horror vibe stuff, which in my opinion is vampire done right. The vampire is a being whose lust taking to the extreme borderlines on some deeply disturbing horror. Also, the evil guys are pure evil.

Note: Not for the faint of heart. Gruesome violence and very messed-up stuff in here.