Did you hear the one about the vampire from another planet? Your Major Spoilers review of Red Sonja and Vampirella Meet Betty and Veronica #7 awaits!

RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #7

Writer: Amy Chu
Artist: Maria Laura Sanapo
Colorist: Mohan
Letterer: Taylor Esposito with Rieanna Bates
Editor: Matt Idelson
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 25, 2019

Previously in Red Sonja and Vampirella Meet Betty and Veronica: Get ready to boogie through time and space as Betty and Veronica find themselves on a trip to… Drakulon?!! Fresh off solving the murder spree in Riverdale, they take a ride with Vampirella and Red Sonja back to Vampi’s home planet. Twin suns! Rivers of blood! Wicked sunburns in the making! You’ve never seen a spring break like this before. But is it a one-way ticket for the fantastic foursome?

SHE’S AN ALIEN AGAIN

At the Riverdale Mall food court, Sonja, Betty, Vampirella and Veronica are swapping stories, while Sonja eats her weight in burgers and fries. After hearing the tail end of Sonja’s memories of Hyrkania, Vampirella tells the story of her how world of Drakulon, how it’s beautiful rivers of blood were ravaged by the excessive heat of its two suns while the leaders argued about what was the cause and how to stop it. When a spacecraft crashed, Vampirella stole it (after possibly drinking the blood of its human pilots) and returning to its point of origin: Earth! Her story is interrupted by a young man looking for Ms. Lodge and Ms. Cooper in their guise as reporters, but he is murdered by a clearly inhuman assailant, leading them to investigate his mysterious claims. When they discover (thanks to Dilton Doiley’s hi-tech skills) that a local pharmaceutical concern may have been built on the site of Vampirella’s crash all those years ago, they take a two-pronged approach. Betty and Veronica interview the CEO, thanks to Daddy Lodge’s connections, while Red Sonja and Vampirella break in. Both pairs are surprised at what they find…

IT’S A CLIMATE CHANGE METAPHOR?

I’m actually surprised that this book is still ongoing, as I though it was a six-issue limited series, but… I’m not angry about it. This issue flows naturally, and if you accept the premise that alien vampire and a ancient warrior have popped up outside the Chock’lit Shoppe, the balance of characters is remarkably perfect. Chu’s script makes the clear point that Drakulon’s crisis was a clear metaphor for our modern climate crises, and the last-page reveal of a portal home to the vampire planet may, for the first time, make Betty and Veronica the ones out of their element. It’s a strong cliffhanger, made stronger by the impressive art, as Sanapo manages to streamline bits of the Archie house style into a smooth, realistic drawing style that has echoes of Adam Hughes. Sonja and Vampi as action heroes (while clearly wearing Betty and Veronica’s clothes) is a welcome moment, especially when the She-Devil gets to loose her sword againswt a horde of robot attackers, and I the glimpses of Drakulon are just gorgeous.

BOTTOM LINE: REMARKABLY FUN

It’s the kind of premise that really shouldn’t work, but somehow these characters pull it off. The balance of rich girl with a heart of gold, girl next door, vamp (in all senses of the word) and rough-and-tumble tough girl is perfectly balanced, leaving Red Sonja and Vampirella Meets Betty and Veronica #7 with a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars overall. I’m hoping that this book IS an ongoing at this point, if only to annoy people who don’t want to see four female main characters adventuring together in an unorthodox story, but mostly because it’s a fun read.

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