The Story So Far
Vanya is a Time Guard, an elite warrior in training who must spend a year living in the prehistoric past, honing her fighting and survival skills. While Vanya is in the past, humanity is attacked by the alien race called the Torridians. Serah, a soldier and Vanya’s romantic partner, is sent back in time to retrieve Vanya. Vanya, Serah, and another Time Guard name Reed, team up and make way to an armory to retrieve weapons while under the threat of dinosaurs, barbarians from the Bone Tribe, and the Torridians themselves.
Issue 03 Plot
After weathering a stormy night, Vanya, Serah, and Reed continue to follow the tracks of another group of warriors who are making their way to a hidden armory. During their trek the trio encounter a giant turtle whose shell was part of the ground, small carnivorous dinosaurs, and a rampaging T-Rex. Elsewhere the Bone Tribe engages in an orgy/ritual, but Niya, a Time Guard herself, is called away from the festivities in order to deal with a flock of Phorusrhacids – giant carnivorous birds – that are attacking the tribe.
Commentary
Three issues and nine pages into Vanya and the comic receives its first George R. R. Martin treatment as Reed is devoured by a T-rex. Just as suddenly as Samuel L. Jackson is delivering a rallying speech in one moment and whisked away the next by a shark in Deep Blue Sea, so is Reed as in one panel he quips that “It’s nice to know that not everything is trying to eat us” immediately followed by the T-Rex chomping down on him. The sudden, abrupt end to Reed is both gruesome, yet darkly comedic, a throwback to the prior issue with a similar gag when one moment it is clear and the next it is raining on the characters. It should be noted that the T-rex’s head is covered in arrows, establishing him as the same one that appeared in issue two, interrupting an amorous moment between Vanya and Serah. No doubt this Tyrannosaur will show up again in a future issue and perhaps get its comeuppance.
Introduced in issue one, Reed seemed like a character that would have longevity. His time was short in the comic, but his presence did accomplish a handful of story-critical tasks. Plot-wise, he is the character that gets Vanya and Serah on course to find the armory by picking up the trail of another band of warriors. For the erotic-element, Reed acted as a male character for readers to project themselves onto. Tonally, up to this point in Vanya all the encounters the characters have had ended in fights they easily overcame, or fleeing to get the advantage later. Vanya’s narration tells the readers the prehistoric world she is in is hostile, but the adventure so far has been easy-peasy. Reed’s death dispels that notion and puts back in the forefront that the world they are in is deadly and needs to be taken seriously.
A character who is not being taken seriously but should be is Niya, the champion of the Bone Tribe. Briefly introduced in issue two, Niya is revealed to be a Time Guard herself and the most capable warrior of the tribe. However, she is not respected by the tribe’s leader, the Bone King, who forces her to leave her place of honor in the orgy/ritual to deal with the marauding Phorusrhacids by herself. Returning back to take her place in the ritual, the Bone King proclaims, “Well done, Niya.” but is chastised the next morning by being told she “should have done better” regarding a scavenging trip. Niya is akin to a worker bee who is really good at her job, but management keeps her demoted because she is just “too good.” The Bone King’s unappreciation of Niya will surely come back to bite him (pun intended if his fate is at the maw of a dinosaur).
The intrigue is still building in Vanya issue three, but if there is a critique to be had it is that the plot is moving a little on the slow side. It feels like the characters should have accomplished a bit more in the adventure at this point. The cliffhanger in the final three panels promises some characters (Established ones? New ones) will cross paths, so that holds promise that something major is about to go down.
Narrative content aside, Vanya’s offerings extend past its pages into the realm of covers and ephemera. There are a plethora of alternate covers, both nude and non-nude, for Vanya #03. One of the best covers for the issue is the Bruno Sousa / Tommy Shelton variant that depicts Vanya bathing at the base of a waterfall. The cover is a call back to a page from Vanya #01 where Vanya narrates her ritual of washing in a specific waterfall for its disinfectant properties. While the other covers are action packed, this cover goes the serene, tranquil route.
Folks who contributed to the Vanya #3 Kickstarter campaign were rewarded with a trove of additional loot.
Firstly, for swag with function, there is a coaster, (that is a bit bigger than a large pog), a small sticker of the cover issue three cover done by Renato Camilo / Sanju Nivangune, and a square magnet of the Renato Camilo / Bryan Magnate cover for issue one.
It is a pity that the sticker for the Camilo/Nivangune is so tiny because their cover is easily the second-best cover for the issue (just barely being beaten out by the Sousa/Shelton cover). The colors are fantastic.
Next there is a lovely art print (artist unknown) depicting Vanya against a dark jungle – the same piece used on the coaster, though not nude.
And finally, there is a set of four trading cards done by Captain Shima depicting the heroines from four of Bad Bug’s flagship titles: (clockwise from the top left) June (HyperGeist), Vanya, Nell (Death Nell), and Maggie (Dead End Moon). Bad Bug is getting into the habit of creating interesting trading cards among all their titles, (for example, some are in Tarot style), so these are always fun to receive. All in all, a mighty haul from the rifts of time.
For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:
- Bad Bug Media Vanya 03 Product Page
- Vanya 03 Kickstarter Page
- Alyza Dunn (Writer)
- Zoran Jovicic (Artist)
- Mike Tener (Creator / Producer / EIC Bad Bug)
- Captain Shima (Trading Card Artist)
- Renato Camilo (Cover Artist)
- Sanju Nivangune (Cover Artist)
- Bryan Magnaye (Cover Artist)
Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug: