Vampblade 4

"Get my suck on? Fuck, I'm a crackhead now. A slave to the vamp! A tweeker... fiending for crystal vamp!"

- Katie Carva

"Vampblade" is the untitled fourth issue issue of the first Vampblade ongoing comic book series published by Action Lab Comics under their Danger Zone imprint. The story was written by Jason Martin with artwork and inks by Winston Young and Marco Maccagni. It was colored by Jason Martin and lettered by Adam Wollet. The story was edited by Kevin Freeman. This issue shipped with a May, 2016 cover date and carries a cover price of $3.99 per copy (US).

Synopsis
Katie Carva has brought the man she liberated from a space vampire parasite the previous evening at the Tempius Bar back to her house. He awakens in the morning feeling severely disoriented. She tries to keep him calm and asks him how much he remembers from the previous night. The man appears to have no knowledge of being possessed by a Glarkian.

Katie returns to the Detroit Medical Center, determined to extinguish the hive nest that she found in the basement of the building. She puts in a call to Detroit Police Department detective Toombs and tells him to meet her at the hospital.

Toombs arrives, and Katie tells the full truth about what she is, and what she can do. Toombs does not appear to be completely unfamiliar with her predicament, and confesses to having experienced a similar set of circumstances some twenty years ago.

Katie transforms into Vampblade and kicks the proverbial hornet's nest, awakening all of the Glarkian entities in the room. She fully dives into her new persona and hacks and slashes her way through Glarkian space vampires with extreme glee and relish.

As Vampblade finishes up the last of the monsters, Detective Toombs plants a Semtex bomb on beam. He makes sure that Katie gets out, then sets off the bomb. She is outside, naked and in her human form again when the bomb explodes. She believes Toombs to have been killed in the explosion. She then learns that he had already made arrangements to clear her name of any involvement in the hospital incident as well as the debacle at Comic Planet.

A few days later, Katie Carva learns that her former boss from the comic book store, George Michael, left ownership of the property to her in the event of his death. She moves into one of the back office rooms and hires Henry Buscema and a man named Jeremiah to work for her. After closing time however, Katie is ready to go into battle once again, reflecting to herself, "These things have been here since at least the late 90s. So there are probably more. Lots more. I hope so! Cuz like it or not... this is me now! Comic shop manager by day... Glarkian space vampire from Dimension Zar slayer night! I am Vampblade! Lets get to vamp blading!"

Featured characters

 * Vampblade, Katie Carva

Supporting characters

 * Toombs
 * Unnamed Glarkian survivor

Antagonists

 * Glarkians

Minor characters

 * Henry Buscema
 * Jeremiah

Organizations

 * Detroit Police Department

Races

 * Humans
 * Altered humans
 * Glarkians

Locations

 * Michigan
 * Detroit
 * Comic Planet
 * Detroit Medical Center
 * Grosse Pointe

Items

 * Chains
 * Katana
 * Pistol
 * Semtex
 * Vampblade comics
 * Vampblades

Vehicles

 * Automobiles

Miscellaneous

 * Clothing manipulation
 * Detective
 * Dismemberment
 * Exploding buildings
 * Hospital
 * Transformation

Notes & Trivia

 * Vampblade was created by Jason Martin and Dan Mendoza. She first appeared in a cameo panel in her civilian identity in Zombie Tramp, Volume 3 #8 in February, 2015. She made her first full appearance in Vampblade attire in a cliffhanger panel at the end of Zombie Tramp, Volume 3 #9 in March, 2015.


 * This series is rated M for Mature. Stories contain adult content including strong language, nudity, sexual situations, and scenes of graphic violence.


 * Warning: This book contains one bad-ass blade wielding comic geek vs. swarms of terrifyingly grotesque heat-seeking monsters! Stay alert!


 * This issue shipped to retailers on May 4th, 2016.


 * This issue shipped with multiple variant covers. The standard Winston Young cover also shipped with a risqu variant limited to 2,000 copies, which features Katie Carva's bare breasts. The standard cover was also released as an action figure variant that was limited to 1,500 copies. The risqu version of the action figure variant was limited to 2,000 copies. A clean "Booty" variant was produced and illustrated by Dennis Budd, and limited to 1,500 copies. A risqu "Cheesecake" variant, again featuring Katie's bare breasts was illustrated by Andrew Mangum and limited to 2,000 copies.


 * Marco Maccagni was the artist and inker on the epilogue portion of this issue only.


 * The events of this issue take place on the morning following Vampblade #3.


 * This is the second appearance of Detective Toombs. He appeared last in Vampblade #3. He is identified by name for the first time in this issue.


 * This is the first appearance of Jeremiah, who is one of Katie Carva's employees at Comic Planet in the epilogue to this issue.


 * The Detroit PD detective makes reference to the "mobsters from the shop". He is referring to the gangsters who raided Comic Planet and killed its owner in Vampblade #1.


 * Katie Carva speaks about going "Leonidas" on the Glarkians. This is a reference to Leonidas of Sparta, who was the main protagonist of the 300 graphic novel by Frank Miller as well as the 2006 film adaptation. Katie also paraphrases lines of dialogue from the film.


 * When fighting the Glarkians in the basement of the Detroit Medical Center, Katie shouts "They shall not pass!" This is a rewording of a famous line of dialogue spoken by the wizard Gandalf in the book and film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, which is part of the greater Lord of the Rings series by English author J.R.R. Tolkien.


 * In this issue, Katie Carva learns that she has inherited ownership of Comic Planet from the late George Michael.


 * One of Katie's employees, Jeremiah, is dressed up as Deadpool while working in the comic book store.


 * Toombs makes reference to having encountered the Glarkians in the past. This relates to events that will be chronicled in Vampblade '98 #1.