Creation of the costume

The original Warren costume

The early Harris costume

Battle armor

This really is Vampirella revealed. Her costume has become even less (if that were possible) than before.

This period (which to an extent has continued to the present day) has created some of the strongest criticism against Vampirella because of the amount of herself she has revealed.

Critics abound, writing indignant letters to comic journals (and on the web) about the need for more control and less female flesh. Strangely few complain about the virtually equivalent exposure of human skin in such comic stalwarts as Conan the Barbarian or even Tarzan.

What they fail to appreciate is that comic characters are just that - comic characters. They are anatomically impossible, they prance around in skin tight costumes that reveal rather than conceal, they behave in ridiculously stupid ways and are all obviously 'head cases'.

Despite all that, we fans just lap it up in exactly the same way that people who watch 'soaps' on the TV or read 'romance' novels allow themselves to accept impossibly stupid characters and plots.

We need to keep a sense of proportion about all this. Vampirella is, without doubt, luscious to look at. It seems women enjoy her lack of costume as much as men, and many women dress up in 'Vampi-like' clothes and parade at conventions or send their photos to the comic so everyone can see them.

In these two pictures we can see just how little is left to the imagination - but then in Vampi's case nothing ever really was. Perhaps the greatest change in the way her costume has shrunk is in the rear views where literally nothing covers her at all.

As attitudes change we may find that the comics need to cover her up more in the future (fashions tend to swing from one extreme to the other) so it seems wise to enjoy her while we can and let the future take care of itself.

  All images on this site are copyright © 1999, Harris Publications, Inc.  VAMPIRELLA ® and other characters are trademarks of Harris Publications, Inc. Text and concepts ©1999 Mike Grace. All rights reserved.