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Vampirella Reading Order

Created by writer Forrest J Ackerman and artist Trina Robbins, Vampirella is a vampire who made her first appearance in the black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969) from Warren Publishing.

The Vampirella magazine was a horror anthology like Creepy and Eerie, and Vampirella was the hostess. But unlike the others like her, she also starred in her own stories (with a lot of art by Jose Gonzalez). Once Warren Publishing filed for bankruptcy, Harris Publications started to publish Vampirella stories. From 1991 to 2007, Harris launched multiple series and miniseries but also reprinted old materials.

In 2010, Dynamite Entertainment acquired the rights to Vampirella from Harris Comics and started a new ongoing series. Through the years, the vampire got multiple spin-offs, her series was rebooted more than once, and she took part in crossovers.

With a publishing history like that, it’s not surprising that her (back)story changed through the years. At first, Vampirella was from the planet Drakulon where the Vampiri live and blood is their water. With droughts menacing their future, the Vampiri needed a new blood supply. After an American space shuttle crashed on Drakulon, Vampirella traveled to Earth.

Later, Harris Comics tasked writer Kurt Busiek to write a new origin story. Vampirella became the daughter of Lilith. Other retcons followed later, changing Drakulon into a place in Hell, and the relationship between Lilith, Vampirella, and God. The variations were multiple for sure. The writers working for Dynamite incorporated a lot of elements from the past and developed a more solid continuity.

Vampirella Reading Order

Vampirella Reading Order: The Warren Years (1969-1983)

Jose Gonzalez, Archie Goodwin, Doug Moench, Bernie Wrightson, Barry Windsor Smith, Esteban Maroto, Frank Brunner, Mike Ploog, Rudy Nebres, Richard Corben, Pablo Marcos, Wally Wood, and many more contributed to the original Vampirella run at Warren Publishing. 

Those classic tales have been collected in multiple formats, but (since 2010) Dynamite did a good job with its Vampirella Archives collection.

Other collected editions of Vampirella’s Warren Years are also available, like this omnibus:

Vampirella Reading Order: The Harris Years (1991-2010)

When Harris Comics took over, the first Vampirella book published was a collection of old classic Warren issues, but original stories came quickly. Those were recollected by Dynamite in the Vampirella Masters Series.

Within this collection, the issues/miniseries were not collected in chronological order, but by writers. Grant Morrison was the biggest name in the industry at that time, so he was on the first cover, but it was Kurt Busiek who relaunched Vampirella for Harris.

Also, it’s not a full collection of the Harris Comics era. For a more detailed exploration of that time, I recommend you to go visit Vampilore.co.uk.

Also, during that time, Vampirella got a Manga makeover with the “Vampi” series:

Vampirella Reading Order: The Dynamite Years (2010-)

The book titles in *bold* are the in-continuity stories.

Vampirella: The Dynamite Years Omnibus Collection

Before taking a look at the TPB collection, here is the Omnibus collection

Vampirella: The Dynamite Years TPB Collection

 

Vampirella is now at Dynamite and an ongoing series is launched, written by Eric Trautmann. Once it was concluded, multiple standalone miniseries offered new Vampi stories.

Prophecy is a Dynamite mega-crossover. It starts with Red Sonja (see reading order) as she follows sorcerer Kulan Gath through time from the barbaric Hyborian Age. She then unleashes a chain of events that will put her side-by-side with an unprecedented gathering of characters: Vampirella of course, but also Dracula, Pantha, Athena, Eva, Herbert West Re-Animator, Ash Williams, Even Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Alan Quatermain.

Bill Willingham (Fables) created a self-contained Steampunk universe that offered to reimagine the most iconic characters in the Dynamite stable, including Vampirella, Red Sonja, Green Hornet, Kato, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Silver Star, Captain Victory, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Zorro…

Another ongoing Vampirella, this time it’s Nancy A. Collins who is writing the title before a series of crossover put Vampi next to other iconic horror heroes.

Vampirella teamed up with Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, Jungle Girl, Kato, Lady Zorro, Jennifer Blood, Miss Fury, and more in Swords and Sorrow, a crossover by Gail Simone that was dedicated to the female heroes of the company. Vampi and Jennifer Blood got a spin-off after the event.

Hollywood Horror is also known as the short Volume 3 of Vampirella. Written by Kate Leth with art by Eman Casallos, the series takes Vampi to Hollywood with the ambition to make her the new Scream Queen.

Television writer Paul Cornell (This Damned Band, Doctor Who) and artist Jimmy Broxton launched a new Vampirella ongoing series that was presented as an entry point for new readers intrigued by the world of Vampirella.

Vampirella teamed up with Red Sonja and then they joined forces with Betty and Veronica for some weird adventures in Riverdale.

Vampirella by Christopher Priest

It’s Vampirella’s 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Dynamite launched a new ongoing series written by Christopher Priest (Black Panther, Deathstroke) with art by Ergun Gunduz.

During that period of time, Christopher Priest also wrote Vampirella in the Sacred Six series, drawn by Gabriel Ibarra. In this spin-off, the all-new Draculina, Pantha, Nyx, and Chastity have been brought together in Ashthorne in an effort to avert an all-out war against nearby Sacred, Georgia.  But Ashthorne has a deadly secret, Sacred has a deadly purpose, and lurking in the shadows is Lilith, the immortal sorceress, and mother to Vampirella.

To avoid spoilers, read Sacred Six #1-10 between Vampirella #14 & 16, then the last two issues of Sacred Six after reading Vampirella #16-21.

Then, we go back to the regular series.

  • Vampirella Vol. 4: Red Mass
    Collects Vampirella (2019) #7-8, 15, 22-25.
  • Vampirella/Dracula: Unholy
    Collects Vampirella Dracula Unholy #1-6.

    • The Draculina miniseries spinning off Sacred Six (see below) takes place during the Unholy. It contains some spoilers about Unholy, but also some almost necessary information. It’s better to read it after though.
    • There’s also a Victory Spin-off by David Walker now.

Vampirella: Year One is, as the title suggests, a flashback story. However, the narrative mechanism used to tell the story is a consequence of the events depicted in Vampirella/Dracula: Unholy.

  • Vampirella: Year One
    Collects Vampirella: Year One #1-6.

    • Draculina – Blood Simple is another miniseries dealing with Vampirella’s family. It contains references to the backstory told in Year One.
  • Vampirella/Dracula: Rage
    Collects Vampirella/Dracula: Rage #1-6.

Vampirella by Tom Sniegoski

Also launched to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vampirella, Vengeance of Vampirella is a follow-up to the 1994 series of the same name. Tom Sniegoski is back for the new series and he is joined by artist Michael Sta. Maria.

In Vengeance of Vampirella, humanity holds on, but barely. Mistress Nyx continues to rule the planet, her Chaos Lords reigning over the various regions of the world, but she is getting bored – There’s no one to challenge her! That is, until a small, but determined rebellion finds what could be their savior or seal their doom!

In 2022, Tom Sniegoski continued the story within a new series, Vampirella Strikes:

In the Vampiverse

With Vampirella Mindwrap, Jeff Parker delivers a mad chase across time and space itself, as seen through the prism of Vampirella’s wild history and dark origins!

With Vampirella: Dead Flowers, Sara Frazetta explores her grandfather’s legacy:

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

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