"Once upon a time, there was a very special person. A child of darkness, but also a champion of light. Her name was Vampirella, and she had come to save us from the evil that sought to darken the world."
Jeaninne's grandmother telling her stories of the legendary Vampirella.
Vengeance of Vampirella (2019) is a comic series from Dynamite Comics starring horror comics icon Vampirella. The comic shares its name with the the original Vengeance of Vampirella series which ran from 1994 to 1996. Written by Thomas Sniegoski, the series is set in an Alternate Continuity of the events following Vampirella: Death & Destruction, the three-issue miniseries that concluded the original Vengeance of Vampirella and was also written by Thomas Sniegoski.
25 years ago, the hero Vampirella was killed in battle against the demigoddess Nyx. Since then, humanity has suffered under the brutal rule of Nyx, serving as the prey or playthings of demons and monsters. A rebellion against Nyx has been formed, but they have made no headway and their numbers dwindle.
Enter the wizard Mordecai Pendragon, one of Vampirella's oldest allies, who uses a spell in the possession of the fallen Danse Macabre organization to restore Vampirella to life so she may defeat Nyx and save humanity. Between Vampirella's struggles with her darker nature and the massive advantage Nyx wields, this may be easier said than done.
Vengeance of Vampirella (2019) provides examples of:
- After the End: The story focuses on the aftermath of Nyx's conquest of the planet after killing Vampirella.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Hemorrhage is depressed over Vampirella's death, spending his days using his powers to make simulacrum of her to keep him company. When he meets the resurrected Vampirella, he confesses that he was tempted to beg Nyx to kill him because he couldn't stand living in a world without her.
- Arc Villain: Nyx is the main antagonist from issues #1 through #19. After her death, Vampirella and Jeaninne leave the city and end up in a small town ruled by a dragon named Mandrasath. This arc lasts for issues #21 and #22. The final three issues have Sebastian as the main villain.
- Atrocious Arthropods: In issue #9, Vampirella and her friends are attacked by a swarm of insect demons. They kill most of them but one of the demons survives to inform Nyx of the battle.
- Back from the Dead: Vampirella is brought back to life by Pendragon and Passion courtesy of a spell hidden in an old Danse Macabre depository.
- Badass Longcoat: Vampirella acquires a black coat from a demon she kills.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Nyx is the main threat for the original arc, but Lord Mazarin also makes his own power plays.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: Vampirella has these when she attacks Pendragon/Passion in issue #3. They fade away once Vampirella's memories are restored and she goes back to her old self.
- Chainmail Bikini: In issue #4, Vampirella and Passion's simulacrum are attacked by rat monsters in a tunnel. When Vampirella sets off an explosion to fend off their foes, Passion has her simulacrum transform into skimpy, metallic armor to protect her. Despite the armor leaving her face, cleavage and stomach exposed, Vampirella has no visible mark on her at all.
- Chest Burster: Issue #6 shows a flashback to one of Vampirella's old cases where she was sent to defeat a plant monster. She discovered a Danse Macabre agent who had been captured. She frees him, only to have a spider creature burst out of its chest, forcing her to kill it. She then turns around to see its mother.
- Chrome Champion: Passion, the artificial metallic being introduced in the original Vengeance of Vampirella, has fused with Pendragon to preserve his life. Pendragon is killed when his magical energy is drained by the Danse Macabre and Passion bonds with Jeannine when the girl is fatally injured.
- Corrupted Contingency: It's revealed that the spell used to resurrect Vampirella was originally meant for Sebastian. Sebastian tries to salvage this by draining her energy to restore himself to life. This plan is foiled by Vampirella's allies and Sebastian's goal of ushering in a new age for the world under his command dies with him.
- Cosmic Plaything: Both the forces of Order and Chaos have tried to mold Vampirella into their champion. Vampirella finally confronts them both in issue #20 and tells them that she will be their pawn no longer.Vampirella: For as long as I've lived I've felt the pull of two opposing forces, the light tugging against the dark. It ends here — now!
- Crapsack World: The world of Vampirella has never been a particularly cheery one given all the horrific monsters that prey on humankind, but this story packs an extra punch by showing what happens when the one person who keeps those dark forces at bay is dead for 25 years.
- Creepy-Crawly Torture: Issue #9 has Nyx torturing a captured rebel leader using the brain burrowers which are small caterpillar-like creatures. After extracting information from the leader, the creatures are eaten by Nyx to absorb the information they have acquired. This allows Nyx to find a rebel base and send her minions to attack it.
- Cue the Sun: This trope is invoked by Vampirella, Pendragon and Passion. Nyx has a shroud around the planet that blocks out the sun. Vampirella kills the four necromages who maintain this shroud and seeing the sun again for the first time in 25 years makes humankind feel genuinely hopeful.
- Dragon Hoard: Aside from human women to bear his spawn, Mandrasath is also placated by "treasure" in the form of random items that no longer really have value in the world.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Chaos Lords are beings from another dimension depicted as twisted, weird-looking monsters.
- Emotion Eater: Passion has expanded her form to that of a large flying base by drawing from the rage and sorrow of the entire planet.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Jeaninne spends most of the story as an Action Survivor who gets by with her smarts and minimal fighting capabilities. During the final arc, she is shot during the climactic battle and becomes Passion's new human host so she can survive.
- Eye Scream: Jeaninne stabs Mandrasath in the eye when he reveals his desire for her to bear his children.
- Framing Device: While recovering from her battle with Hemorrhage in the previous issue, issue #6 shows a flashback to one of Vampirella's old cases with the Danse Macabre in which she had to kill a child whose reality warping powers threatened to consume the entire Eastern Seaboard. The issue cites this as the moment Vampirella began to lose her humanity.
- Fusion Dance: Passion and Pendragon have fused together. Passion fuses with Jeannine to preserve her life after Pendragon dies.
- Godzilla Threshold: Abaddon, the Angel of the Apocalypse, is a contingency created by the Lords of Order in the event the forces of Chaos ever won. If such a scenario where to come to pass, Abaddon would bring about the apocalypse and the world would begin anew.
- Kill It Through Its Stomach: Mandrasath swallows Vampirella, but she proves to be the toughest meal he's ever tried to digest. She hurts him from the inside, causing him so much pain that he ends up burning the citizens of Surette before dying himself.
- King Incognito: See Mugging the Monster below.
- Hellhound: Balthazar is a hellhound Sabastian bound to his will and tasked with guarding the Cualdron, the secret control center of the Danse Macabre.
- Hope Bringer: Vampirella is this, being viewed as a legendary hero in-universe.
- Hope Crusher: Nyx is actually happy that Vampirella has motivated the humans to fight as this means it will be even more satisfying when she breaks their spirits.
- I Have Your Wife: Nyx realizes that Vampirella loves humanity the most and decides to lure her out by having the Sirens abduct and control numerous humans to get her attention.
- I'm a Humanitarian: In issue #10, Vampirella, Pendragon and Passion track Dervish to a house in Gary, Indiana where he has been held prisoner by a family of demons who have been feasting on him. The only thing keeping him from dying was his healing factor.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: Hemorrhage considers his and Vampirella's fight in issue #5 to be "foreplay". Vampirella is not amused.
- La Résistance: There is a dwindling but determined human rebellion against Nyx.
- Matchstick Weapon: In issue #14, Nyx has a dream in which she fights her father Chaos, who shows disapproval of her relationship with Vampirella. During the fight, Nyx grabs a burning log from the fire place and strikes Chaos with it.
- Male Gaze: The art has some emphasis Vampirella and Nyx's bodies in their Stripperific outfits.
- Mugging the Monster:
- In issue #2, Nyx is shown wondering the streets with a hood obscuring her face. A gang of demons accost her, not knowing who she is. She makes short work of them.
- In issue #10, a family of demons try to eat Vampirella and Pendragon not knowing who they are. The kids try to escape, only for Vampirella to kill them and feed on their blood.
- Mythology Gag: In issue #3, Nyx says "Vampirella Lives", a reference to the three issue 1996 mini-series from the Harris timeline in which Vampirella was resurrected.
- Nanomachines: Danser special agents have nanites injected into their bloodstream so Sebastian can track them. They use this to track Dervish who is in Indiana.
- Neck Snap: This is how Vampirella kills Hemorrhage. Probably symbolic, as this was how Nyx killed Adam van Helsing in the original Vengeance of Vampirella.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Vampirella destroys the defenses to the Cauldron in order to enter it. Unfortunately, this allows the place to be detected by a swarm of insect demons.
- The Night That Never Ends: After taking over the world, Nyx employed four necromages to form a shroud of ash around the planet to block out the sun. Vampirella kills these mages in issue #4 to bring back the sun, marking the first real victory against Nyx.
- Orifice Invasion: In issue #10, Misty kills a demon by entering his orifices using his Super Smoke powers and exploding him from the inside.
- Our Sirens Are Different: The Sirens are depicted as green, fish-like creatures with hair that covers their eyes. They still maintain the ability to control people using their songs.
- Reality Warper: Patient 969 whose powers allowed him to bring fictional creatures from the books and comics he read to life. He is shown in a flashback where Vampirella has to kill him in order to stop his uncontrollable powers from destroying the world.
- Rise from Your Grave: Vampirella was buried in a grave filled with other dead monsters. She rises from it upon being resurrected.
- Second-Hand Storytelling: The first issue begins with Jeannine's grandmother telling her the story of Vampirella's heroic exploits and her death at Nyx's hands.
- Self-Made Orphan: Guring Hemorrhage's battle with Vampirella in issue #5, a Flash Back shows him killing his parents after "a harsh word and one slap too many".
- Shout-Out: The three trolls in issue #6 who argue how to eat Vampirella are a reference to the man-eating trolls from The Hobbit.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the original comic, Dervish was one of the first people to be killed by the villains. Here he managed to survive the fall of the Danse Macabre and Nyx's conquest of the planet. He lives all the way up to the finale.
- Time Skip: The final three issues are set fifteen years after Nyx's death at Vampirella's hands.
- Too Clever by Half: Sebastian abducted Abaddon and imprisoned him in the Cauldron, intending to use him as a weapon when the time was right. Supposedly, Sebastian never counted on what would happen if he was killed before he had an opportunity to activate Abaddon. The final arc reveals that Sebastian did have a contingency for this in the form of the spell that resurrected Vampirella, but it was supposed to be used on himself, not her.
- Took a Level in Badass: Passion's form has evolved into a large flying base. She can also create drone and copies of her self.
- Tough Spikes and Studs: The monster dogs guarding the facility Cobb infiltrates have spiked dog collars.
- Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Vampirella tears off the insect demon king's arm blade and uses it to cut off his other arm.
- Victory Is Boring: Both Nyx and Hemorrhage are ecstatic when Vampirella is brought back to life, having felt empty and directionless since her death.
- Virgin Sacrifice: The town of Surette is ruled by a dragon named Mandrasath who protects the town from monsters in exchange for treasure and virgins. However, Mandrasath doesn't eat virgins, but rather forces them to bear his children, with the implication that the mothers do not survive the process. Jeaninne was going to be subjected to this fate, but was able to escape with some help from Vampirella.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Danser Cobb is one of the last remaining agents of the Danse Macabre. His only appearance is in the first issue where he retrieves the spell needed to resurrect Vampirella and is then killed by Pendragon as the spell requires the blood of a hero to work.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Vampirella initially acts like this after being resurrected, being a feral, vicious beast who attacks on instinct. While Pendragon calms her down, this side of her is still present and comes to the surface a number of times such as when she realizes that the Adam Van Helsing that was brought back is actually a clone created by Nyx to dupe her.
- Zorro Mark: In issue #2, a resurrected Vampirella kills two demons and uses their blood to paint her emblem on a nearby wall. Pendragon and Passion aren't pleased about this as they were hoping to avoid drawing premature attention to Vampirella's return.
