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Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3 – "The Vampirella That I LOVED To Write Was Back"

Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3, out now from Dynamite.

So, Vampirella is back from the dead . . . resurrected by a powerful spell, wielded by Pendragon from the legendary Lazarus Book. Unbeknownst to our heroes, it was Mistress Nyx, the daughter of Chaos, who was responsible for getting that powerful book into Pendragon's hands so that Vampirella—Nyx's greatest adversary—could be returned to life to provide the mistress with a little excitement in a life that had grown quite dull.

PAGES 1-3

Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3

I'd been looking forward to writing this section since I thought of it while plotting out the early issues. The return of Hemorrhage. When I first created this villain for the original Vengeance of Vampirella series I was immediately excited. There was something about this guy . . . something really scary, but at the same time cool (not that homicidal telekinetics should ever be thought of as cool!). I just liked him . . . writing him. It was great to be writing him again.

I wanted to open the issue with as dramatic a re-introduction to the character as possible. Writing the captions through his twisted perspective really helped me get back into the character. I wanted him to come across as incredibly dangerous and really scary. I think I pulled it off pretty well, but Michael and Omi—as usual—made me look even better.

PAGES 4-8Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3

When we last saw Vampirella, she was still recovering from her resurrection—all blood-thirsty and savage—desperate to remain alive so that she could remember who she was. Of course, trying to stay alive might result in her killing one of her closest friends—Pendragon.

In these pages, I wanted to help fill in some of the missing gaps in Vampirella's memories, as well as fill the readers in on what happened with Pendragon in regard to his merging with Passion. Michael and Omi helped me out with that on the fantastic double page spread (Pages 6 & 7).

Page 8, it all is sinking in. Vampirella knows now that she's been dead. Wanted this scene to be powerful . . . to make the reader think, maybe it would be better not to remember.

PAGES 9-10

I wanted to convey Nyx's excitement over the fact that she believes Vampirella is back. Her conversation with Desmond—who is making nasty looking martinis—was a riot to write. I wanted to convey how tickled she is with the possibility, and how Desmond would like to dismiss the whole thing.

Nyx decides that she needs to know for sure, summoning "the Sisters" to help her verify this. Interesting point, did you notice that some of the Sisters appear to be male? That's just the outside shell . . . inside they're all Sister! The Sisters—not sure if they were ever named then—originally appeared in Vengeance of Vampirella #25, right before Vampirella: Death & Destruction.

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Vampirella knows the lay of the land now, and Pendragon wants to give her a moment to collect herself before they start to plan their war against Nyx. They end up at one of the last functioning Danse Macabre safe houses. At least, it used to be functioning.

I wanted to emphasize the horror of the world here again. The Danse staff occupying the safe house have been infected by something really horrible, their dead bodies now filled and animated with thousands of writhing worm-like creatures.

I really enjoyed the exchange between Pendragon, and Vampirella.

Pendragon-"Do you have this?"

Vampirella-"Yes, I have this."

With this exchange, the Vampirella that I LOVED to write was back.

And of course the horror of the situation just continues to grow, when the worm-animated corpses begin to vomit up their writhing contents, and the worms begin to form something even more terrible. Michael and Omi added a little extra grossness to these pages . . . they rock!

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We see what the Sisters are all about, positioned all across the city, unleashing their packages of insects into the air so that Nyx may observe and search for evidence of Vampirella through the bugs' eyes. Nice page.

PAGES 15-16

Vampirella verses the worm thing. I wanted to show that maybe Vampirella is a bit rusty in the combat department, and Pendragon hints that this might be so. What I wanted to do here is to re-establish the special relationship/report that Vampirella and Pendragon used to have . . . that familiar back and forth that shows that these two have been through much together. I like how these pages turned out.

And of course, looking through the eyes of the insect swarms, Nyx has discovered beyond any doubt that Vampirella is alive.

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Nyx is ecstatic about her find.

Realizing that their combat may have attracted unwanted attention, Pendragon/Passion decide that they need to get Vampirella away from that location as quickly as possible. They still need to plan how they're going to use her return to the world's advantage.

Pendragon allows the Passion side of his form to take control, swallowing up Vampirella as it (she?) transforms into a large, silver bird to transport them away from the corrupted Danse safe house.

Wanted to give a sense of desperation to Pendragon/Passion here. This is likely their last chance to keep humanity from going extinct and they don't want anything to screw it up that early.

PAGES 19-22

Another fun Hemorrhage scene. We're really getting the sense in this series that everybody was SERIOUSLY missing Vampirella. HA!

I love how Michael depicted the blood constructs of Vampirella dancing around a brooding Hemorrhage. Really nicely done, and of course Omi's colors are great.

Nyx shows up and we get the impression that the two's relationship hit the skids quite some time ago. Hemorrhage was once smitten by the Mistress of Chaos, but now . . . Hemorrhage wants nothing to do with her because she's the one that stole away his one true love—Vampirella.

But then Nyx shows him something that changes everything. Vampirella is back, and all is right in Hemorrhage's twisted world again.

That final splash of Nyx and Hemorrhage staring into the blood crystal ball, at the image of a resurrected Vampirella—KILLER! Michael and Omi are the kings!

Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3 – "The Vampirella That I LOVED To Write Was Back"Thomas E. Sneigoski's Writer's Commentary on Vengeance Of Vampirella #3 – "The Vampirella That I LOVED To Write Was Back"


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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