The Art of Vampirella: The Warren Years

The Art of Vampirella

by David Roach, José Villarrubia, Frank Frazetta (Illustrations)

In 1969 an iconic image of a mysterious female and the backdrop of an alien moon popped up on America's newsstands and forever became the fantasy of millions of young adult males! Dynamite Entertainment is celebrating these classic images of the original Vampirella series by presenting fans with The Art of Vampirella: The Warren Covers, which features every image to grace the cover of the Vampirella magazine from issue #1 through #112 and the 1972 Annual. Showcased in their purest form, every image presented in this volume will be without logos and cover type. This is the first time anywhere that fans can see how the original works of art looked before any design elements were placed over them. Featuring the art of Frank Frazetta, Sanjulian, Enrich, and Ken Kelly, along with photo covers of the beautiful Barbara Leigh in the alluring guise of Vampirella, this is sure to be one of the hottest collectibles in Vampirella history!

Genres: Comics, Art

200 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2014

About the author

David Roach is an extremely prolific inker for Doctor Who Magazine comic strips. He continued to be arguably DWM's "house inker" into 2011, having been active with DWM since his first story, 2002's Oblivion. Though prolific with DWM, he hasn't worked on any other DWU publication, save for the story Sunscreen in Panini's 2007 Storybook.

He has never pencilled any story for Doctor Who, though he has a fairly extensive list of pencil jobs outside the DWU. Within the pages of DWM, he has perhaps partnered with penciller Mike Collins most often, but has also significantly paired with DWM's other long-term penciller, Martin Geraghty.

Reviews

[Vikas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume covers all the Vampirella covers till the Warren bankruptcy in 1983, so it covers volumes from 1 and 112 plus 1 vol. of Pantha. Every volume is covered with the magazine cover a little description and then the full page of the original art without the letters or other distractions. In all this was another wonderful book full of wonderful art from great artists. and the descriptions and many covers didn't even feature Vampirella but as it was mentioned many times the cover's first task is to attract people to the book and most of the covers did that. So now the only thing left is to read all the Vampirella comics I got, I did read some but still many are left. So with that aim let's carry on and Keep on Reading.

I have always loved comics, and I can and I have. I love comics to bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more. You should also read what you love, and I hope you will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I just want to Keep on Reading.

[Devero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corredato da un buon articolo introduttivo (anzi due) questo bel volume cartonato presenta tutte le copertine della serie antologica che ha nel titolo la vampira più sensuale di sempre. Parliamo della serie originale della Warren, caratterizzata per non avere sempre storie di Vampirella all'interno, e anche per non avere sempre la bella vampira in copertina.
Ad ogni copertina originale è dedicata una doppia tavola, nel senso che per ogni copertina l'autore ci presenta un articoletto che ne spiega la genesi e una riproduzione della copertina con tanto di grafica del titolo, ma sull'altra pagina presenta il dipinto originale. Perché nella quasi totalità delle copertine, non si tratta di disegni colorati, ma di illustrazioni e dipinti.
Enrich, che fu il principale copertinista della testata, la fa da padrone, qualche volta con il suo buon amico Pepe Gonzalez che di solito illustrava la strip di Vampirella. La cover del volume è un dipinto di Enrich su disegno di Gonzalez, ad esempio.
Le modelle che hanno dato volto (e chissà, magari anche corpo alla pipistrella) sono state Carol De Haro e Margit Kocsis, anche se per il film mai prodotto fu scelta Barbara Leight come interprete.
Tra i tanti autori che si sono alternati a Enrich nelle copertine il mio preferito è Sanjulian, con uno stile variabile che a volte richiama Enrich e altre ricorda Klimt per l'uso che fa dei colori e delle tinte oro in particolare.
Tra gli altri, Paul Gulacy eseguì una copertina, come Esteban Maroto e Steve Harris.
Frazetta ha dipinto 3 o 4 copertine, una sola con Vampirella, e non è certo il suo lavoro migliore, ma quanta sensualità e forza e senso del rischio in quella copertina. Il teschio bianco sotto lo stivale a tacco alto di Vampirella ammiccante è certamente inquietante.
Molte mostrano la donzella in pericolo, o in situazioni di terrore, inquietudine, o semplicemente gotiche. Altre rimandano a temi romantici-rosa, ma c'è sempre la ricerca dell'effetto erotico e inquietante.

Una delle scoperte che ho fatto nelle storie delle copertine è che negli ultimi numeri la rivista ha pubblicato le prime puntate di Torpedo 1936, disegnate da Alex Toth, e anche la prima disegnata da Jordi Bernet.

Nel complesso piacevole e istruttivo, oltre che stuzzicante.

[Lee Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up with Vampirella, that is, the REAL Vampirella by Archie Goodwin, Jose Gonzalez, Jim Warren, Sanjulian, and Enrich. To go back and see all the old covers, and read the interesting background behind them, is a wonderful gift after all these years. A lot of the enjoyment is no doubt nostalgia, but younger fans should still find the book interesting. The art is sexy and superb, and David Roach provides an in-depth description of the Warren years that is almost as interesting as the art. I had always wondered if there was a model or models for the Warren Vampirella, given how consistently she was drawn by the major artists of the day, and it turns out there were two. Alas, that was so long ago that there are few images of the real women available, but you can definitely see the resemblance in the few that exist. Roach also paints a sometimes sad picture of the business at the time; how little people got paid, how much art has disappeared, the untimely death of the lead model, etc. Kudos to Dynamite for publishing this book and preserving this wonderful period in the history of comics.

[Bart Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't claim to have ever been a fan of Vampirella. However,I have read quite a bit of Warren Publishing's other titles: Creepy and Eerie. This collection of original paintings that fill a single page, while the opposite page shows the cover as it appeared with story titles and masthead. These chosen covers are a representation of Vampirella's 112 issue run, providing the reader with a nice history of the comic as well as plenty of insight to the artists who drew for Warren. I found it interesting, that the fortunes of Warren Publishing can be traced to who painted these covers and how often certain artists (or even their works) appeared during the run of Vampi.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampirella probably is the sexiest vampire ever. Look at that daring dress. Inside this book you'll find all the major covers of the classic era, a wide mixture of sword and sorcery and horror. The covers are enough to set your imagination on fire so the stories were never disappointing. A true icon of horror comics. Everybody would like to have an interview with that vampire I guess. Highly recommended!

[Anthony Faber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a compendium of Vampirella covers. Not much editorial content.