A Short History of Vampirella
When you think of iconic vampire characters there are many that spring to mind - Dracula, Angel and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Edward Cullen from Twilight, Bill Compton from True Blood. But there is one fictional character that should spring to mind in all of her horror hostess glory, and I am talking about Vampirella.
Not to be confused with Vampira and her mistress of evil counterpart Elvira, who depict horror stories on black and white television shows, Vampirella is actually the vampire queen of the comic book world, taking on a similar role in the comic of the same name. It was also black and white horror and the take of a hostess character, but eventually Vampirella turned into a horror-drama leading character, rather than just a sexy hostess, quite like her real life counterparts.
First appearing in 1969 in Warren Publishing, having been created by Forrest J Ackerman, Trina Robbins, Frank Frazetta, and Tom Sutton. Her comics would feature stories of other characters with horror, but she would also star in her own comic as well which was the books headliner. Eventually Warren Publishing when bankrupt and Vampira's stories were picked up by Harris Publications, who continued the stories and even included trade paperback books called Vampirella: Transcending Time and Space, Vampirella and the Blood Red Queen of Hearts, and Vampirella of Drakulon.
Vampirella was originally presented as a member of a vampiric race from the planet Drakulon, who lived on blood that flowed in the rivers, but the two suns orbiting the planet caused droughts across the planet, slowly killing the inhabitants. One day a spaceship from Earth crashes on the planet and she discovers that the pilots have blood in their veins, deciding to pilot the spaceship back to Earth, however she becomes known as a "good" vampire, rather than a chaotic one like Dracula. This story was revived during the change of hands in ownership to make Drakulon a place in Hell and Vampirella being brought to Earth by Lilith instead. This was then revised for modern times, making Vampirella wake up in the modern world having learned that she absorbed all the memories and experiences of hundreds of past Vampirella's from parallel universe.
Vampirella is often depicted in a sexy, cleavage and midriff heavy red sling-bikini with a white collar and black knee-high boots, common amongst science fiction girls at the time. She has long dark hair and a numerous amount of superhuman abilities including being able to turn into a bat, be immortal and have a mesmeric stare. She isn't weakened by daylight, garlic, crosses, and holy water and doesn't attack humans to drink their blood, unlike her vampiric counterparts. She has been cited as the 35th position in the Comic Buyer's Guide's 100 Sexiest Women in Comics, and it's not hard to see why.
