Dynamite To Publish Original ‘Vampirella’ Tales In Paperback

by Erik Amaya

The Daughter of Drakulon’s original adventures are making their way back to print.

Dynamite announced Thursday the imminent arrival of Vampirella Archives — a series of paperback collected editions reprinting Vampi’s earliest stories. It all begins with April’s Vampirella Archives Vol. 1, which will feature the tales first published in magazine format by Warren Publishing in 1969. In the beginning, she was something of a horror host, but soon began to take part in her own serials thanks to the likes of Jim Warren, Forrest J. Ackerman, Frank Frazetta, Trina Robbins, and Tom Sutton.

That initial Vampirella magazine carried on for 112 issues until 1983. Volume One, though, will feature the material from Vampirella #1-7, featuring contributions from Ackerman, Sutton, Neal Adams, Doug Moench, Reed Crandall, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Gardner Fox, Ernie Colon, Billy Graham, and more. The stories mixed horror, sci-fi, and fantasy and were all wrapped inside covers by Frazetta, Jones, Vaughn Bodé, Bill Hughes, and Ken Kelly. Issue #1 featured the first telling of Vampi’s origin, while issue #2 introduced her sister, Draculina, and their occasional relative, the witch Evily.

But Volume One is just the beginning of a 15-book project dedicated to bringing all of the original Warren Era tales into circulation once more. Volume Two, for example, sees Archie Goodwin taking over as editor and writing the character, in addition to the debuts of Conrad and Adam Van Helsing, Mordecai Pendragon, the Cult of Chaos, and Crimson Chronicles. Artist Jose Gonzalez also enters the picture. All-in-all, it is an ambitious project fans of the character will want to keep an eye out for.