Dead Ahead Is Vampirella Vs. Reanimator

Two icons of horror comics come together in a big bang when Dynamite Entertainment unleashes Vampirella Vs. Reanimator #1 (OCT181045) from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Blacky Shepherd. Read the interview to see what both creators have in store for the sick scientist and the sassy sampler of sanguine refreshment.

Vampirella Vs. Reanimator #1 (OCT181045) is in comic shops December 12.

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Dynamite Entertainment: What led you to consider combining these two characters?

Blacky Shepherd: I just thought it was a great fit. I was attending a horror convention and talking with people and the idea just popped into my head. Within an hour or so I had a rough idea of the story. At first I thought they were such a natural fit that Dynamite must have already crossed the two characters over.

Cullen Bunn: The idea for throwing these two characters together was all Blacky. He called me up and asked if I'd have any interest in writing a story where these two faced off. Like him, I thought it must have already been done. It's such an obvious crossover! But, since it hadn't, we worked up a pitch and sent it in!

Dynamite Entertainment: What about the meeting of them interests or excites you?

Blacky Shepherd:  Vampirella is basically a god with superhuman abilities and Herbert West is just a man with a re-agent serum, but his intellect and drive puts him in a class that can stand toe-to-toe with this warrior of Drakulon. I love the idea of Herbert West as a kind of ringleader of ghouls and monsters that Vampirella has to fight her way through.

Cullen Bunn: Here's something I think about a lot when it comes to these two characters. When I was a kid reading Vampirella magazines at the drug store — and later when I rented Reanimator on VHS for the first time — I felt like I was doing something I shouldn't be. There's something...subversive about both characters, and I want to play that up. I want to lean into that feeling with this book.

Dynamite Entertainment: Vampires are obviously new territory for the Reanimator. How does he react to finding out they're real?

Blacky Shepherd: I assume he would see them clinically, dispassionately. He would assess them, learn about what their weaknesses and strengths are, and then learn how to exploit or destroy them. I don't think Herbert West has a lot of fear left in him so it's really more about how he can understand and control Vampires.

Cullen Bunn:  West might see vampires as further proof that death can be conquered. Obviously, he needs to study them more! Dissection might be in order!

Dynamite Entertainment: While being undead is not a new phenomenon for Vampirella, we'd imagine undead-through-science is, right? Is that something that surprises her, or has she seen it all at this point, more or less?

Blacky Shepherd: My thinking is that Vampire/la has seen it all, and is a little past being surprised... that is until she meets Herbert West. Whereas I think Vampirella has encountered scientific means to re-animate the dead before she has probably never met anyone as single-minded in their pursuit of reanimation as Herbert West. Plus, Herbert's zombies seem to be a little more aggressive than your average revenant.

Cullen Bunn: It's all about drive and intent. The strength of West's conviction is really what's startling. And that conviction is going to drive West into the waiting arms of a very powerful ally. At the same time, Vampirella may be turning to an ally of her own... one that I think readers will find startling.