Dynamite Entertainment announced a perfect holiday gift for fans of one of its most iconic characters. The new paperback edition of Vampirella Archives Volume 5 will arrive in stores this December. It continues the series of affordable reprints of the Daughter of Drakulon’s original adventures and other anthology stories.
This fifth volume collects issues #29–35 of the Vampirella magazine originally published by Warren Publishing between 1973 and 1974.
With four volumes already released, readers can explore their favorite eras individually or collect the entire series. The anthology format allows them to enjoy the books in any order. A new volume is scheduled every two months. The fourth volume featured a key origin retelling from the 1972 annual and included work by Bronze Age legends like Steve Englehart, Doug Moench, Steve Skeates, and artists Jose Gonzalez, Esteban Maroto, and others.
This new edition offers several highlights. Each included issue features a Vampirella story, making up about a fifth of the total page count. Writer Flaxman Loew begins a significant run on the character here, spanning issues #28–36, 38–42, and 51. Artist Jose Gonzalez, one of the definitive Vampirella artists of the era, illustrates all of these stories except the final one, drawn by Jose Ortiz.
Vampirella #30 is a standout issue, featuring the first appearance of Pantha. This feline frenemy, created by Steve Skeates and Rafael Auraleon, appears in four stories in this volume. She later stars in solo stories in issues #42, 44, 90, 93–99, 101–104, 106, and 108, and crosses over with Vampirella and other series features. Another character, Fleur by Ramon Torrents, also debuts here. Fleur appears in two stories, returns in issue #68, and takes part in the major crossover in issue #50 alongside Pantha and Vampirella.
This volume also features the highest concentration of work by Jeffrey Catherine Jones in the series. Issues #32–34 all include her contributions. In one of these, she collaborates with Bernie Wrightson, a fellow member of The Studiocollective with Barry Windsor-Smith and Michael Wm. Kaluta. Jones’s other contributions appear in issues #4, 5, 9, 12, and 50.
Additional writing and artwork come from talents such as Doug Moench, Richard Corben, Steve Skeates, Esteban Maroto, and Fernando Fernandez.
As a preview of what’s next, the following volume will feature three Vampirella stories drawn by Leopold Sanchez, Esteban Maroto’s take on Dracula, and an unexpected return from writer Archie Goodwin.
