Vampirella: Feary Tales

Vampirella Feary Tales #1-5

by Nancy Collins, Gail Simone, Denis St. John

Nancy A. Collins (Swamp Thing, Sunglasses After Dark) has called upon some of today's finest creative talents - including Gail Simone, Steve Niles, Joe R. Lansdale, Devin Grayson, Stephen R. Bissette, and many more - to celebrate Vampirella's 45th Anniversary by crafting an anthology of twisted tales, bizarre bedtime stories, and fearsome fables in the tradition of the original Warren magazines, each featuring everyone's favorite sexy, kick-ass vampire-turned-monster hunter. While exploring the Transylvanian castle she's recently inherited, Vampirella discovers a strange old book of "Feary Tales" that seems oddly familiar. Upon opening it, she is sucked inside its pages and lands in a weird alternate reality, where she is compelled by a disembodied voice calling itself 'The Storyteller' to live out each of the 'feary tales' if she ever hopes to return to reality.

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

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

For the Paranormal horror writer, see Nancy A. Collins .

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Waste of time. Silliest story yet for Vampirella, and there are some pretty bad ones out there. In this one, she is trapped in a book of fairy tales that she must escape from in order to survive. Each story is illustrated and written by a different team.

This is one character that needs a complete makeover (I was going to say "revamp"), but I'm not sure it would be worth the effort.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Vampirella Feary Tales' is helmed by Nancy A. Collins, but she pulls in all kinds of talent for the 45th Anniversary tribute. It's a fun story that has Vampi travelling through some twisted versions of fairy tales.

When Vampirella inherits a castle in Transylvania, she discovers a book of old tales called 'Feary Tales,' but before she can close the cover, she becomes part of the many stories in the book. There are twisted versions of many familiar stories like Snow White, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and others. The stories flip by fast, sometimes without a resolution. Vampirella seems to be chasing a mysterious blonde woman. Along the way, she battles with an obnoxious, pun-filled "Storyteller" who narrates the book.

There are a lot of contributors and a lot of ground gets covered, and I think the book suffers at time because of the breakneck speed of the plot. The punny "Storyteller" definitely brings the campiness to the story. While it's not my favorite Vampirella story ever, it's a much better twisted take on fairy tales than I've seen in other series. Along with the 5 issues of the series, this graphic novel includes the script for the first issue along with a gallery of covers and alternate covers.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Dynamite, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay but was a little silly. Vampirella finds herself stuck in many different fairy tales and has to find her way out. There's an omnipotent narrator she's talking to and before it's all done we see an introduction of a new/classic character, but overall it was a little too silly for me as this isn't what what I expect from Vampirella. It isn't horrible but meh.

[Shawna Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting concept and an introduction to the character but each story was woefully underdeveloped and it all just seemed random. Vampirella was over it from the word go and that made her semi-fourth wall breaking banter with the narrator far less edgy than it could have been.

This is an alien vampire from the planet Drakulon who is constantly semi-nude going through weird fairytales and as such you get exactly what you'd expect.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vampirella: Feary Tales is a collaboration between artists and writers to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the comic world’s sexiest vampire. Originally a five comic series, it features some big names including Steve Niles and John Shirley.

I felt like I was missing a few references as a newcomer to the Vampirella universe and legend. It didn’t detract from the story though. Having won a castle by defeating Lord Drago, King of the Nosferatu, Vampirella discovers a book titled Feary Tales and is instantly transported inside it. She’s forced to play a part and live out each tale to move on to the next. It’s a nice twist on traditional fairy tales, for example needing the blood of a prince rather than a kiss. Some of the classics we get to experience include spins on Cinderella, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears, and Hansel and Gretel.

The art throughout is really good, which is as you would expect with so many big name artists and writers. Some of the tales worked better than others, but for the most part were entertaining. As you can imagine, being in the world of twisted fairy tales gave the creators a lot of room to go wild. Personally I would have liked things a bit darker.

At the end of the graphic novel there is a transcript of Issue #1 and a really good cover gallery. The individual cover art for each issue is top class. If you’re a Vampirella fan check it out. If not, then this book probably isn’t the one that’s going to draw you in.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This compilation title is an ode to the classic Warren/EC horror titles, without the limitations on suggestive topics. Vampirella gets sucked into a book of fairy tales and makes her way through a wide variety of classic stories. Some are silly, some are stupid, and some work really well. The metastory, with Vampirella arguing with the book's narrator about the use of puns, is probably the best part, even if it does get a bit redundant. The stories make no bones about using Vampirella's clothing (or lack thereof) as an integral part of the stories (the Emperor's New Clothes story is one of the better segments), and the whole book firmly clings to the tongue-in-cheek punny humor of the best of the EC era. It also appears to introduce a character who might become significant to the overall story of Vampirella, interestingly, which makes it a worthwhile read for fans of the character.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Vampirella story, and it was alright. Aside from the obvious eye candy, Vampirella is actually interesting and a not funny. All though bit for everyone.


I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essentially "Fractured Fairytales" Vampirella style. There's less blood and mayhem than in most Vampirella stories but the campiness is higher than usual and is reminiscent of what one would expect from an Elvira book.

[Mackenzie Melo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ups and downs as Vampi goes in and out

A good anthology of stories clearly done as an homage to the Feary Tales of the Warren years (as attested by the end note of the book)

The good thing about this one is that they decided to bring back an old character from those early days and now, a few years later, she is getting her own series. No, I won't spoil it, but since this book is from 2015, you might already know of whom I'm talking about.

Anyhow, I like the idea of puns everywhere, similar to the original tales, but also that Vampi is, like us, aware of the narrator and her non-stop punning. 😀

The art is not consistent - mainly because each story uses a different inker - with some being better to my eyes than others, but the average for the whole series is pretty good.

I only hoped that they could have done at least one story in black and white, like the original ones...

Which leads me to mention that I liked the bonus material of the TPB digital edition that comes with some pages without the coloring. It is nice to see Vampi as she appeared to the world in 1969, in her glorious B&W pulchritudinous appearance!

[Fabio R. Crespi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There can't be a story without narration".

La nostra vampira cacciatrice di vampiri (personaggio interessante, del quale dovremo riparlare) si ritrova intrappolata in un libro di fiabe ed è costretta ad attraversarne tutte le storie per trovare la via d'uscita e tornare libera.

Interessante l'idea della narrazione che buca la quarta parete, dal punto di vista di Vampirella, e accompagna la nostra eroina lungo la strada da percorrere spargendo rare informazioni: praticamente la sua avventura si rivela una specie di "percorso a ostacoli" ed è arricchita da una ricerca personale che troverà soluzione solo alla fine, con la liberazione da un blocco mentale.

Tra fiabe e racconti folkloristici, intermezzi psichedelici e tanto sangue, Vampirella, forte della propria determinazione e soprattutto della propria intelligenza (so che avete pensato ad altro), percorre i cinque albi per trovarsi viso a viso, sia con sè stessa che con l'antagonista.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, Vampirella.
Eu sei que o padrão da Vampirella é o gibi ruim, mas esse se puxou.
Basicamente, a Vamp fica presa num livro de contos de fadas mágico e precisa protagonizar várias histórias até chegar no final e encontrar quem está pro trás disso.
Eu não gosto de histórias que tentam adaptar um conto de fadas em poucas páginas, porque falta e espaço e , invariavelmente, vira uma porcaria.
Aqui não é diferente, nessa versão da Cinderella, Vamp vira morego joga uma bota na cabeça do príncipe que entende como um sinal e resolve casar com quem calcar a bota.
Ridículo.
Mais ridículo que isso só perguntar porque se calça a bota e se bota a calça.
Menos a Vampirella que não usa calça.
E ao final, quem está por trás de tudo?
Quem?
A irmã gêma malvada loira da nossa heroína, Draculina.
Porque tudo na vida é um trocadilho.
Ridículo.
Admito que tô curioso em descobrir qual história dá sequência a essa porcaria, só pra descobrir o que eles fizeram com a Draculina.
Isso é o pior.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A horror anthology in honor of Vampirella's 45th anniversary. It's an ode to all the old Warren comics. Vampirella gets sucked into a book of fairy tales and has to get through all of them to escape. She plagued by a narrator who makes awful puns along the way. It was actually quite fun. Lots of risque double entendres and violent takes on classic fairy tales.

[Raymond Rivers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not great!

Waste of my time. It makes me lose interest in this book. It doesn't entertain me at all. Bad story.

[Robert Hultman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool artwork, especially in issue two, but story is pretty lame and incredibly skippy.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

First appearing in September 1969 in Warren Publishing’s Vampirella magazine, the “good” vampire from the planet Drakulon hosted “Feary Tales”, a collection of horror stories that made up the bulk of each issue. The hostess job gradually gave way to a full-time Vampirella storyline that has, over the past half-century, gone through dozens of writers, illustrators, and plots. But it’s back to the beginning we go with this volume, which collects the recent five-issue Dynamite tribute series.

Each issue begins with an introduction from an unknown and snarky narrator called “The Storyteller”, who recaps the plot thus far, and then thrusts our heroine into the midst of two reworked fairy tales. Along with trying to survive the stories so she can return to her reality, Vampirella struggles to figure out who the Storyteller is and why the book of “Feary Tales” sounds so familiar to her. Throughout it all is the ongoing mystery of the whereabouts and identity of a “yellow-haired gal” who, Vampirella learns, looks just like her, save for the hair color. All is revealed in the final issue, and our trip down Memory Lane is complete.

As with any compilation, the stories, each written and illustrated by different writers and authors, vary in quality and interest. To their credit, continuity never suffers, either in the storyline or the artwork. Among the horror — read bloody — versions of well-known fairy tales that Vampi finds herself in the midst of are Bluebeard, Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Goldilocks and the Three Bears (recast as Vampirella and the Three Bears, helpful auto mechanics who turn out to be deadly were-bears), and Red Riding Hood. Snow-White Revamped, a tale told in verse, is one of the weaker entries, being weighed down by too many forced rhymes. Fortunately, its companion for that issue is the excellent Thirsty, Thirsty Town by Gail Simone, a frightening sequel of sorts to The Little Mermaid. Nancy A. Collins’ Sleeping Beauty perfectly wraps up the volume with reveals that jog both Vampirella’s memory and that of her long-time fans.

One of the highlights of the book is the bonus material, including the script for Blue Beard, a fascinating look at how a comic is written, and how the writer guides the illustrator so they can create a coherent vision. There is also a bundle of alternate cover art, and several full-page black and white illustrations, the latter usually outstanding drawings.

Verdict: 3 of 5 Hearts. Reworked Fairy Tales with a Double-Dose of Blood.

Vampirella: Feary Tales is a solid tribute to an enduring comic character. If you’re a fan, it makes for an entertaining walk through Vampi’s early days; if you’re a novice, it’s a decent place to satisfy your curiosity. Either way, the book is made for Halloween comic reading!

** Please note that due to the subject matter — i.e., the blood-splattered pages — and Vampirella’s legendary sexy look, the book is rated Teen +. **

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I would like to thank Dynamite Entertainment and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this title. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feary Fun with the Vamp

I liked this because I get a kick out of Vampirella and I'm comfortable with modern ironic treatments of her character. The blurbs all refer to this collection of the five comic series as "in the tradition of the original Warren magazines". I don't think that's at all true. That doesn't change my enjoyment of the collection; it just leads me to warn purists that this didn't strike me as granddad Warren's Vampirella.

The old, original stories were earnest hero adventures more along the lines of Burrough's Mars books and the like, and were so pulpy that by the time you were done you could make a set of your fingerprints from the ink on your hands. The stories in this collection are hip, ironic, self-aware and loaded with puns, winks, meta-fictional asides and inside jokes. And I think that's just fine.

A while back Gail Simone, who has a story here, did the same sort of thing with Red Sonja - a bunch of loosely linked but basically stand-alone stories by a bunch of different authors celebrating some aspect of what they like most about Vampirella. So, some of these tales tend more toward action and violence, some are more talky, some are twisty, some are funny. All of the Vampirellas feel authentic, but you get slightly different looks and a slightly different feel in each tale, which keeps the reading experience fresh and keeps the energy level high.

As you might expect, some of the stories work better than others, and i imagine each reader would rank them differently. But, there were no solid losers and every tale, even the weakest, had some element of interest. That seems to me to be the best you can hope for in an anthology collection.

So, a few chuckles, a few good stories, an engaging arc to hold it all together, and plenty of modern Vampirella in good form. That works for me.

Please note that I received a free advance expires-and-goes-away-in-51-days Adobe ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

[Paul Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there was a graphic novel you shouldn’t take too seriously, this is the one.
I’ve heard of this character, and might have glanced at a previous edition, but other than her glam looks and tiny costume I knew nothing about her. In this book she inherits a castle after killing a family member/bad guy. While checking out her new digs she finds a strange book called Feary Tales, which she promptly and literally falls into. Like Gumby, she becomes a part of the feary stories and must make her way through to the end to escape.
If you love puns, you must go out and get this immediately; even if you don’t, this is still chuckle- and groan-worthy enough to be fun. The running gag is that she can hear the narrator, who makes her quickly sick of the puns; in one story the guide takes it to another level by rhyming, which really ticks her off. At one point the narrator cooes, “Welcome back, gentle bleeders.” A lot of the humor is only chuckle-worthy, nothing huge, but there’s enough of it to make me enjoy it, kinda like an Airplane/Naked Gun movie.
The stories include Cinderella, featuring a Prince Charming with a gogo boot fetish, Snow White—snow way to treat your mother!—and Goldilocks and the werebears. There’s a Western with a mermaid, where she’s severely overdressed. . . Vampirella, not the mermaid. In Big Red Riding Hood, Grandma’s House is a strip club.
Despite being a full fledged vampire with witchy powers, half the time she uses her wiles, a different kind of magic. She’s full of snark, which takes the edge off her harsh demeanor. The descriptions of her are in a similar vein: voluptuous vampire vigilante, pulchritudinous protagonist, buxom beauty from beyond with vivaciously voluptuous assets (Remember, alliteration makes everything better). Considering how she’s dressed and the situations she gets into, you’d expect at least a kiss if not full-on sex, but I guess it’s not that kind of story. She’s definitely just drawn that way. . .

[Robert Bussie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this story is a waste of a good opportunity. Vampirella is sucked into a book called Feary Tales (Fairy Tales). She needs to make her way to the end of the book going through various fairy tales. Along the way there is a narrator who cracks cheesy puns. And who is this mysterious blond lady that looks like Vampirella? And what will she find at the end of the book? My summary of the story is better than the actual stories and that is the problem.

First, the good part. The narrator is funny and reminds me of DC comics reprint called "Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour." Those stories have three witch sisters cracking puns also.

The negative parts are the rest of the book. To be fair one story by Gail Simone about the Little Mermaid set in the old west is an interesting take on the story. Other than that the stories have no plot or direction.

The stories are way to short. Vampirella goes into a feary tale and cringes as the narrator tales a few puns and then the fairy tale characters show up with something happening with almost no explanation and then it is over. Think my explanation is too vague? That is how all these stories are. The stories have no substance.

It would have better if the plot let the Vampirella's interaction with characters develop through each story gaining clues about this mysterious blond woman who looks like her. Or just go all out silly and over the top with puns, jokes, and adult humor.

The art work is good, but nothing special. But with such short and terrible story telling the artist has little to work with.

[Killian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who doesn't love these old style pump-fest comics?



The basic premise is that Vampirella is pulled into a story book and she has to survive all the stories within before she can get out.



But of course, it's just a blood, sex and craziness fest.



And it's sooooo cheesy.



But it's also extremely aware of it, as most pulp comics are.



So it basically boils down to this: Pick this up if you love these classic, pulp style comics. If not, this is not something for you.

Copy courtesy of Diamond Book Distributors, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Digital copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Graphic novels are not my usual thing as I have trouble finding anything decent but I quite enjoyed this.

The artwork is excellent, both during the story and the covers including the alternative covers incuded in this compilation. The tales themselves are a little simplistic and some of the puns are terrible but the author is self aware of this and mocks it themselves. The only real criticisms I have are that a couple of the tales start with Vampirella already knowing that she's hunting for someone for example without any indication to the reader of how she knows this. My biggest criticism though is that, given the nature of the story and the main character, I was expecting far more in the way of gore and detailed fight scenes both of which seemed very lacking to me.

My search for a graphic series that grabs me continues...

2.5/5

[Reggie_Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll start by saying that I read this because Gail Simone wrote one of the stories. I love her. This is why I even gave this book my time. Surprisingly (or i guess unsurprisingly, since Gail was involved) the book wasn't as sexualized as I thought it would be. Yeah, she was half naked the entire time, but she kicked ass and she wasn't in truly vulnerable situations. Her body proportions, while a little off, weren't super dramatic. The story was dark and entertaining as frak. The ending had a weird twist that I personally found stupid, but I know nothing to her canon, so it may be better to other people. Overall, I liked it.

[Katy Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In general, I'm not a big comic fan. I decided to give it a try because I recognized the main character from my dad's old comic book collection. They graphics were nice but the stories just didn't do it for me. It was just too cheesy and one too many puns for me.

Due to this not being something I would normally read, I don't want to discourage people from reading it as it could be enjoyed by lovers of Vampirella and spoofs in general.

[melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bloody fun "feary" tale mash-up with Vampirella. Absolutely adored the retro alternate covers for the individual issues, and the issue 6 cover by Jay Anacleto & Ivan Nunes is AMAZING!!

The stories were fun although a few fell flat for me. The transition stories and puns really got on my nerves (as they did Vampirella).

Definitely a recommended read, but not necessarily a keeper or re-read.

*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reworking of classic fairy tales with Vampirella as the main character

This comic collection has Vampirella entering a book of feary tales (sic) and participating in well-known fairy stories from Bluebeard and Cinderella to Snow White, Goldilocks and Sleeping Beauty amongst others.

Written with many humorous puns and asides, it is well-illustrated by a collection of artists. Quite good but both the artwork and writing are a bit too busy for my liking

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest I only made it through the first 24 pages before I stopped. I could not stand the idea of reading any further. The storyline was incredibly cheesy. I did not enjoy any part of what I read. I'm assuming the entire series of these comics is the same as this and I won't be wasting my time attempting to read more of it. 1 star.

[Nẹdu · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I was interested in this because of Gail Simone. This book follows Vampirella who after having defeating Lord Drago, King of the Nosferatu finds a book "Feary Tales" and she is pulled into it. She has to live through the tales in the book to find her way back home. These tales are a twist to the traditional fairy tales, some of which include Snow White, Cinderella, little red riding hood, and Hansel and Gretel.

I received a copy from NetGalley.

[Abhinav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting take on spoofing old fairy tales. With many new characters and sometimes many unfinished plot-lines, this is actually a very good standalone collection of tales. Providing a new direction in the existing fantasy mythology, this makes for a good read.

I thank NetGalley for an advanced reviewers' e-copy of this book.

[Annice22 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review.

This featured stories that were a retelling of fairy tales unfortunately the stories were rather hit or miss with only few being really good. Vampirella after being sucked into a book found herself going from one fairy tale to another as she tried to find her way out of the book.

[brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


This was too campy and cheesy for me... and I typically like campy. None of the stories felt fully fleshed out, and the overarching story was even worse. I'm not a fan.

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

Riddled with awful narration, this collection of clumsy rewrites of fairy tales – many with the weakest ending, many with no point whatsoever – merely has the virtue of being short and harmless. It's almost painful in how badly it drags in so much cheesiness, however.