“We’re All In Pain” — Discussing ‘Vampirella/Dracula: Rage’ With Writer Christopher Priest

In the upcoming series Vampirella/Dracula: Rage, writer Christopher Priest pulls off an epic role reversal. This time, Vampirella goes on a rampage after thinking her baby has been killed, leaving Dracula to try to stop her from crossing the line. In a Comicon.com exclusive, Priest discusses the characters’ role reversal and why publishing in today’s politically charged environment is so dangerous.

Tom Smithyman: So this is a Vampirella as we’ve never seen her before, right?

Christopher Priest: Well (laughs) that’s the hype, anyway. Let’s see if I can deliver!

Smithyman: She’s unhinged, filled with grief and bent on revenge. Did you have any concerns about essentially turning her into the villain in their series?

Priest: None whatsoever. These nut jobs murdered her baby. Full stop. Screw ‘em.

Smithyman: The tables have turned for Dracula as well, since he is the one hunting Vampirella. Was that role reversal natural given the change in Vampi?

Priest: I think the great challenge has been to find a new way with Dracula. Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan literally defined the character for comics and, it seems, ever since, we’ve seen different shades of that character.

With Vampirella/Dracula: Unholy, my goal was to build a new if not better Dracula for Dynamite. I’d love to see the character find new life and a new shot at his own series.

I share in the reverence for Wolfman/Colan Drac and all the other classic Draculas out there, but film and streaming and other avenues have provided tantalizing glimpses of a myriad of shades yet to be explored.

As for Drac’s role reversal here in Rage, hopefully fans will discover a reasonably fresh take on the character, one loaded with trap doors and hidden agendas. I mean, the guy is Dracula, after all.

Smithyman: Vampirella is now a mom…

Priest: Uh, actually, no. Vampirella gave birth. There’s a difference.

Smithyman: OK, got it. But she’s certainly not up for mother of the year given that she’s misplaced her kid, what kind of mom is she?

Priest: A deeply lost bereaved one. She didn’t misplace him, her son was taken from her by nutty cultists. And she’s going to kill every damn last one of them.

Smithyman: You’ve really changed up the narrative structure for the series as well. You’re going to spend some of the issues exploring the lives of Vampirella’s victims. Why take that angle in a Vampi series?

Priest: With all possible respect to much better writers than me, I have never really enjoyed being inside the head of the lead character. Sometimes taking that narrative position is kind of unavoidable, as it is with Superman: Lost. I mean, the guy’s lost.

But I hate knowing what Batman is thinking. I am much better entertained when I, the end user, get to connect the dots – when the writer makes her case within a narrative framework that leads me to no other conclusion than whatever definition of Batman they intend to illustrate.

We’ve been gleefully building our own Vampiverse for several years now. It has a contemporary and, at times, comical tone – stories about a young woman trying to make it on her own in the big city. But there’s so much left to explore. And some of the best ways to explore them is to abandon her to conjecture and allow circumstances to tell us who she is and why she’s doing the things she is doing.

I don’t feel this is much of a mystery: she’s got a gripe against some people who have committed a heinous wrong, even if it was, to their mind, for a right reason. This is, at the end of the day, the clash of silliness that threatens us all today: people, lost in tribal conflict, resorting to violence to resolve conflicts.

Smithyman: I understand that over the course of the series, you’re going to make some allusions to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. What is that adding to the story, and are you at all concerned about alienating some readers with politics?

Priest: Always. Publishing is a terrifying venture now because all it takes is one person to misunderstand or misrepresent the question you just asked, and I’m out of work. So now I’m just this guy wearing a dynamite vest trying not to blow myself up.

We already did our “attack on the capitol” story in Vampirella: Interstellar, where the people of Drakulon rose up against Vampirella’s mom Lilith, and dragged her out of the Vampiri capitol by her hair. Rage isn’t about that, isn’t about politics.

It’s about suffering and dysfunctional means to alleviate it. As a registered independent, I have no partisan political statement to make; I think all flavors of politics have gone too far. But Rage isn’t a woke meme or attack on any ideology. It’s about a woman in pain. We’re all in pain, Tom.

Smithyman: You’ve had the opportunity to write a lot about these characters. What keeps you coming back to Vampi?

Priest: Dynamite Entertainment’s willingness to allow me to explore new areas and themes. Vampi has been published for 54 years now, and we’ve barely scratched the surface. There is SO much there there.

I do, however, keep offering my head on the chopping block. Publishers thrive on the “new” – new creative team, new directions, etc. I’m grateful to be permitted longevity within this tense publishing environment. I and my creative partners try to dial it up and reinvent ourselves as we go.

Smithyman: So let’s assume that everything works out, and Vampirella is able to rescue her child. What’s the ideal Mother’s Day gift for the Daughter of Drakulon?

Priest: Unfortunately, there is no child to rescue. I am, perhaps, in the minority opinion of fans who feel the domestication of our heroes, while interesting in the short term, doesn’t always best serve the mythology in the long term. I mean, the minute Major Nelson married Jeannie the show lost its audience. Luckily, within Dynamite’s multiverse there exists possibilities for exploring that idea of Vampirella as a single mom, and maybe someday we’ll see that, but it’s not this story.

In this story, Vampirella was robbed of that, robbed of something she never realized she wanted until it became a real possibility. I can imagine, however, that motherhood would intimidate her a bit, given the wildly off-model and more than occasionally cruel example set by her own mother. I imagine Vampi would be terrified of becoming that to her own child.

Smithyman: Thought-provoking stuff. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the series!