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Erik Burnham's Writers Commentary on Vampirella/Dejah Thoris #3

Published Mon, 03 Dec 2018 09:30:14 -0600

Erik Burnham's Writers Commentary on Vampirella/Dejah Thoris #3, on sale from Dynamite.

Hey everybody! Erik Burnham here with a little commentary action for Vampirella/Dejah Thoris: A Vampire of Mars, chapter III.

(The Roman Numerals make it classy. Just you wait, Vs are coming next!)

In any case, I scripted this one up with art by Ediano Silva, colors by Dinei Ribeiro, and Troy Peteri on letters. Amy Jackson and Matt Idelson held down the editorial side of things!

Six covers for this issue — Jay Anacleto and Rain Berado on Cover A; Stephen Segovia and Marcio Freire on Cover B; Carlo Pagulayan and Wil Quintana on Cover C; Joe Jusko on Cover D; Vampirella and Dejah Thoris cosplay take covers E and F, respectively.

I think that covers the credits, on with the show! …Er, book.

PAGES 01-04

A little father and son exposition with Tardos Mors, the leader of Helium, and his son, Mors Kajak (the father of Dejah Thoris.) Don't ask how he lost the eye. No one wants to talk about it.

Instead they catch us up to speed on the Martian — er — Barsoomian plans to prepare for the coming vampire invasion. They discuss bringing in another nation — The Okar people — for help, though Mors Kajak would rather track down his daughter and see to her safety.

You might say worrying about one person when the whole world is in danger is shortsighted, but hey, he's only got one eye.

Hey-o…

PAGES 05-07

Dejah Thoris and Vampirella have been captured by Therns! And also she's totally disillusioned by what she found at the end of the River Iss. Instead of her goddess and a heavenly place, she found a bunch of pale, overdressed cannibals with a telekinetic amulet.

One might even say Chekov's telekinetic amulet, but that may be a spoiler.

The Therns collect those who survive the plant men as slaves, you see, and that's what they expect Vampirella and Dejah will be…

PAGES 08-09

But then, an ambush!

We're getting all the races of Martians into this book. These are the Black Martians, in case the charcoal-colored skin didn't give it away.

PAGE 10

The Black Martian is totally telling the Thern his momma was a gorilla.

PAGE 11

I like that Dejah Thoris can totally sneak in a James Bondian post-killed-the-bad-guy-quip. Yes, I wrote it, technically, but it was probably at least 20% divine providence.

PAGES 12-15

And now that amulet guy is dead, Dejah is able to free Vampirella, who… man, she's good at killing, isn't she? She finishes the Therns and gets the drop on the Black Martians, aka the Firstborn… who insist that the goddess Issus IS real. They then offer a guided tour to the goddess in exchange for Vampirella not killing them all, which, all in all, is a pretty square deal. I mean, they were going to go home anyway.

PAGES 16-19

Notice how lush and clean the temple and its grounds are. Ediano did a great job on the design and execution.

And now it's time to meet Issus!

Due to their religion, Martians have always gone to their deaths at the age of 1000 — and Issus, the source of that religion, is far older than that…

But she looks good for her age. She moisturizes.

That said, she'd love to be young again, and with telepathic powers that far outstrip anyone else on the planet, she peeks into Vampirella's mind and — heck, she sees almost everything that's in Vampirella's head, from Drakulon's fate to the abilities of the vampire population.

There's something in there that Issus sees as valuable, and she offers to help the people of Drakulon — for a price.

Will Vampirella agree to the terms of this deal that I have not totally spelled out for you because, whoah, spoilers?

PAGE 20

…Well, this splash page sure makes it seem that way…

That's it for chapter 3!

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