The Cast: Vampirella, Painkiller Jane

The Catalyst: Vampires are on the hunt for some fresh blood.

The Convergence: Vampirella has sworn to kill all vampires, Painkiller Jane shows up after noticing a little action going on.

The Critique: Despite there not being much to it overall, this crossover between Vampirella and Painkiller Jane was a good bit of fun, like a B movie on a Saturday afternoon that does not require the viewer to go too deep into its makeup, to simply enjoy it for what it is. Brian Augustyn and Mark Waid craft the perfect piece of popcorn, one that just gets to the meat of things without any backstory aside from the very bare minimum which might comprise a sentence here and there. The story for everything that it is, finds a group of vampires looking to celebrate their annual feast with some beautiful young women as the main course. Vampirella is going to stop them of course, or at least she means to try and along for the ride is Painkiller Jane who is also looking to handle things her way, though a team-up may just work better for the both of them. There is a lot of light humour throughout, nothing that will make readers laugh as such but maybe smile a bit and there is a fair amount of skin which one might have expected, though nothing that would rate this book as anything near explicit. Everything is brought to four-colour life by Rick Leonardi and the book looks great, Jimmy Palmiotti and Andy Troy lending a hand to make it pop. All in all, this was nothing exceptional but it was enjoyable and all of it in a very uncomplicated way which is how more crossovers should be. One should not have to slog through a whole lot of story just to see two characters they never thought they would see come together – come together. This book does everything right, though it could have been a little bit longer and perhaps been just a tad more serious. As it was though, it was a good read and that is what is most important when dropping one’s hard-earned dollars on a comic book.

The Credits: Brian Augustyn and Mark Waid – Writers, Rick Leonardi – Artist, Jimmy Palmiotti – Inker, Andy Troy – Colours

Companies Involved: Harris Comics, Event Comics

Chronology: May 1998