Indie Comic – Nicholas Diak's Homepage

The Story So Far

Nell is a twenty-two-year-old student enrolled at Deus Mortem, a university for necromancy, who has been having a hard time staying awake in class. She has been overcome with sexual urges, which can barely be satiated by her own hand.

Cover shows Nell, wearing black and purple stripped stockings, and 2 giant sailor moon hair funs sitting on a purple bed or couch. It looks blood soaked. There are green flowing tentacles around her legs. She is wearing sneakers. Behind her is a window with the moon beaming through. On the couch/bed are thin vials of different colors. Nell is holding a vial and vapor is emitting from it. She is beckoning with her finger as if saying "Come closer". — Death Nell #3 Aleriia V Cover.

Nell learns that she is half succubus and that she needs to feed on sexual energy. With the assistance of her best friend April, they break into Ms. Flowers’ (the school’s nurse) office in the hopes of summing an imp that can be at Nell’s side to keep her focused. Instead, they summon a s’imp, a red, sexually charged imp named Hans that bonds immediately to Nell much to her chagrin.

Later during the night, a mysterious cloaked figure slips an envelope under April’s dorm door which contains a picture of Nell’s parents: a human father and a succubus mother.

Issue 03 Plot

After the next classroom session with Professor Reinhart, which was about the differences between krakens and leviathans, April gives to Nell the picture of her parents that was slipped under her door the night before. Hans the s’imp slaps the picture from Nell’s hands, claiming that it is a trap. And it is. When the picture hits the floor a horned purple wolf with a skeleton head manifests and begins chasing Nell, saying “om nom nom!” as it wants to eat her.

April uses her troll powers to stun the beast while Nell uses her succubus singing voice to charm it. Ms. Flowers arrives on scene and casts a spell that melts the wolf into a pile of pink cosmos.

Flowers agrees with the trio that someone is after Nell and that they need extra help. She sends Nell and company to the school’s crypt to begin learning from Frederick, the school’s necromancy instructor.

Nell is being fondeled by 4 skeletons and lots of ghosts who are wide-eyed and drooling. She has her eyes closed and is singing "oooooooooo". All the undead are enthralled with her. — Nell attempts to control the summoned skeletons and ghosts.

Arriving at the crypt, the three are surprised to find that it is a gym full of skeletons. April is immediately smitten with Frederick who is an extremely fit and swole Frankenstien-esque man. To get them started on learning the ways of necBROmancy, Frederick gives Nell, April, and Hans a protein shake that has been enhanced with necromancer ashes. Nell gives her succubus siren song another try and summons a mass of skeletons that begin to fondle her. She loses control of the skeletons, but April smacks her on her butt to snap her back into focus. The skeletons reform and combine into a giant skeleton golem, a skullem!

Commentary

Issue three of Death Nell has a lot going for it: deepening the mystery surrounding Nell, successfully introducing another new character (Frederick), maintaining 80s style sexploitation comedy and doing something “different” with the sex scenes in this issue when compared to issues one and two (throttling it back and placing it on April instead of Nell).

Frederick is laying on his back, performing lifts. He has one blue eye and one purple eye. He is saying "Grrr! The first step to being a good necromancer is to be a part of the swoley trinity. ou need to be swole of mind, body, and spirit. You got that?" — Frederick, the necBROmancer.

This issue introduces the new character of Frederick, a body builder character that, in a Monster High fashion, takes after Frankenstein. His first appearance make him look like a “gym bro”, but he turns out to be anything but. He has been the only adult character in the Deus Mortem University so far who has not either sexually advanced on the main characters, or been antagonistic toward them. Nurse Flowers has made advances to Nell, groundskeeper Edgar has audibly made comments toward Nell, Professor Reinhart has not done any advances toward Nell, but s’imp Hans proclaims something is off about him (this could be jealousy, though Hans has been correct about his other observations such as the cursed picture). Fredrick, instead, opens up to Nell, April, and Hans immediately, welcomes them to the gym, and gets right to work training them. No punishments or demands like from Reinhart, but right into being supportive. He is a good teacher and a positive character.

Nell is naked and eating a slice of pepperoni pizza. She says "nom nom". And she is eating the pizza, with her eyes closed, she has her left hand on Reinhard as he is performing Cunnilingus on Nell and also saying "nom nom". Hearts float around the duo. — Fantasy sequence from issue 1 – Nell eats Pizza.

A recreation of the scene in Lady and the Tramp - April on the left and Frederick on the right. The are eating opposite ends of the same spaghetti noodle. A place of spaghetti sits between the two. Both are naked and staring into each others eyes. — Fantasy sequence from issue 3 – April eats spaghetti.

The appearance of Frederick takes the spotlight away from Nell’s sexual appetite and places it on April. There is only one sex scene (fantasy or otherwise) in Death Nell #3, and it does not involve Nell, but April. In fact, one of the series’ best jokes is in this issue. It is a meta joke from Nell directed to April when April begins to fantasize about Reinhard: “You better not be eating pizza in there, that’s my thing.” April has collage sexual fantasies just like her best friend Nell, but instead of pizza she goes the other Italian food route and eats spaghetti a’la Lady and the Tramp (1955). There are roughly three nested jokes in one sequence. It is great!

April slaps Nell's butt. She has furrowed eyes. — SLAP DEM CHEEKS!

The comedy in Death Nell #3 continues with its so-bad-they’re-great Monster High-esque puns: necBROmancer, Skullem, etc. Professor Reinhard saying “get kraken” while giving a lecture on leviathans and krakens is the greatest pun ever. Other great instances of comedy in the issue includes a panel of April slapping Nell on her butt to snap her out of a trance, and it turns the phrase “slap dem cheeks!” into an onomatopoeia.

Ms. Flowers is bent over, rummaging through a cabinet. She is wearing a red dress that is hiked up, showing there white panties that have hearts. She is wearing thigh high stockings that have flowers on them. There are books and potions above her and candles lit with purple flames nearby. She is saying "I'll send a bat with a message to expect the three of you. Also, he may come off as arrogant, but...." (she is talking about Frederick). — Panty and stockings (without garter belt) flashes from, Ms. Flowers.

While the sex is throttled back, there is still 80s style sexploitation gags in Death Nell #3. When Ms. Flowers bends over in her office, her knickers and stockings become “accidentally” exposed, something akin to Linda Blair in Zapped Again!(1990) or Linnea Quigley in Night of the Demons (1988). All in all, this has been the funniest issue of Death Nell so far.

Covers and Swag Impressions

The third issue of Death Nell was successfully Kickstarted back in October of 2023, with physical fulfillment in January 2024. Those that contributed to the campaign received some nifty art-centric swag and trading cards to go with their chosen cover(s).

Death Nell #3 came in nine different covers, with nude and non-nude options available. The standard cover was done by Aleriia V that goes for a sinister approach to an otherwise comedic series. The Aleriia V cover shows Nell sitting on a blood-soaked couch or bed, tentacles wrapping around her legs, holding potion vials and beckoning the viewer to come forth with her finger. It looks like a gothic crackhead crime scene. Not Alerria V’s best cover, especially considering they did the best cover of Vanya #7 (see here).

The sexiest cover of issue three goes to Xong Bros (who focus on Nell’s masturbatory dilemma) while the whimsy-est goes to Mike Debalfo and Tarella Pablo’s cover which captures a more innocent and unassuming side of Nell.

Nell is topless on a purple beach down that has a skull pattern. She is on a dark beach with sinister clouds in the distance. She is cleaning against a tiki statue. Behind her are tiki torches. At her hands is a hollowed pineapple with a cocktail in it, garnished with an umbrella. A green skeleton magic vapor comes from the cocktail. — Personal copy of Death Nell #3, nude version done by Marissa Pope and Hedwin Zaldivar.

The best cover, hands down, goes to Marissa Pope and Hedwin Zaldivar’s tiki cover. Death Nell has absolutely no exotica/tiki/mid-century elements present, but the artistic duo voodoo-tiki-ify Nell and it pull it off.* Co-artist Zaldivar also did the best cover for Vanya #9 (see here).

Two art prints, side by side. The left one shows Nell and June, but in swapped costumes. June, the purple haired sex bot from Hyperguest, is wearing all purple and her hand is reaching from Nell's breast. Nell is dressed in June's outfit, with is black latex with latex garters that connect to latex boots. The smaller art print shows a naked Nell, sitting on the floor, rubbing the top of her head as a dizzy swirl appears. There is a headless skeleton in a cape holding her. She is wearing purple and black stripped stockings that have holes torn in them. — Art print of Nell and June done by Bruno Sousa next to an art print of the Zheanhmeart cover.

For Kickstarter swag, the Death Nell #3 campaign came with two art prints. One is a 6 x 9 crossover piece that has Nell paired up with June, the protagonist from Bad Bug’s erotic cyberpunk series Hypergeist. Nell is wearing June’s attire and June wearing Nell’s. This piece is done by Bruno Sousa who also did the crossover print of Nell and Bobby Jo that was a part of the Death Nell #2 campaign.

The second art print is a smaller 5×7 glossy print of the Zheanhmeart cover for Death Nell #3.

four black and white trading cards showing skeletons engaging in different sexual positions, like reverse cowgirl, missionary, prone bone. The target card shows nell holding an urn of ashes on her head. Her eyes are glowing yellow. She is wearing a purple top that has poofy shoulders. — Necro Sutra trading cards and a Wheel of Fortune Tarot Card.

Finally, as with many Bad Bug campaigns, the Death Nell #3 Kickstarter had a handful of different trading/collectable cards.

First, there is a set of “Necro Sutra” trading cards done by Cari Salviejo (who has worked on other Bad Bug properties such as the aforementioned Hypergeist). These cards show skeletons engaging in a variety of sexual acts and are similar in theme to the sexy skeleton cards that were included with Death Nell #2.

Lastly there is the Tarot Card. Bad Bug has had a great run of making Rider–Waite Tarot Cards sporting their characters. This card is for the Wheel of Fortune and shows an extremely stylized Nell holding an urn of ashes on her head. She has possessed eyes and glowing arms in her palms, perhaps a nod to the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). The artist is not credited, but it looks akin to the work of Zach Raw.

All in all, a zesty round up of great swag that backers got with their comic.

Conclusion

Death Nell #3 is fantastic. Frederick is a great addition to the series and he treats the main trio respectfully (hoping that issue four or five does not pull a Scooby Doo and turns him into a bad guy). The comedy in this issue is top notch with many humorous panels and puns. Issue three continues to dive deeper into the mystery around Nell (who she is and why others want her dead), while also exploring other characters more closely (such as April’s desires).

*Note: I am 100% bias toward this cover as I am really into tiki culture.

For more information on Death Nell and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Death Nell Reviews

Vanya Reviews

The Story So Far

Vanya and Serah are two Time Guards trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, and the Torridians, a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity. While on a mission to retrieve a supply cache, the duo, along with a soldier named Guy, are captured by Niya, another Time Guard and a member of the Bone Tribe. They are made to partake in a ritual to summon a Torridian Dragon. Elsewhere the Torridians begin their bombardment of human outposts in the jungle primeval.

Vanya stands atop a cliff edge, holding a bow and arrow. Behind her two pterodactyls fly, with a cloudy sky lit but a setting sun. There is also a green dinosaur that kinda looks like a T-rex, but it has two bumps atop its head. — Standard cover of Vanya #6 by Sean Joyce. Image from Bad Bug website.

Issue 06 Plot

Having escaped both the Bone Tribe and the family of saber-tooth tigers, Vanya, Serah, and Guy find themselves in an uneasy truce with Niya. Serah begins to have visions of the Torridian Dragon calling out to her. Serah, Guy, and Niya share a brain-connection due to the implanted chips in their temples (Vanya was not outfitted with one during their encounter with the Bone Tribe). The group decide to split up: Guy and Niya to hide the Torridian Dragon eggs they absconded with while Serah and Vanya follow a river to Outpost Nine that is purported to be heavily fortified.

Panel showing Niya and Vanya confirming their uneasy truce. "We are on the same side" "For now." — Niya and Vanya.

Meanwhile Geneal Tora of the Torridians decide to free the captive humans, which include Captain Jax and Lucas, who are made to leave Base T and cross a field. However, their freedom is a ruse for all the humans are dispatched by a pack of raptors outfitted with saw blade arms, spiked grappling hooks, flamethrowers, and razor-sharp spider-esque legs.

The ill-fated soldiers are not the only ones to encounter cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs as Vanya and Serah are attacked by a Plesiosaur that has a blaster mounted on its tail. While Vanya and Serah are dealing with their unexpected encounter, Niya and Guy cross paths with a new faction making their presence known.

Commentary

Two words: Robo Dinosaurs. Briefly introduced in issue five (when the Bone King throws a robotic raptor head at Vanya’s feet, and the final panel showing General Tora looking at a cybernetic T-Rex), issue six of Vanya is all about capitalizing on the robotic dinosaurs and how they truly ruthless they are. Reed’s death in issue three when he was chomped in half by a T-rex has nothing on a raptor with buzzsaw arms decapitating human soldiers. The scene the modified raptors appear in is an homage to/recreation of the raptor/tall grass scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). It is as if Vanya asked the question “how can we top that scene from the second Jurassic Park movie?” and they went all in for it.

Panel from issue 6. It should a group of soldiers in the middle of tall grass, being circled around by robot raptors. — Robo Raptors in the tall grass in Vanya #6.

Frame from the Lost World Jurassic Park movie. It shows a party of folks, at night, walking through tall grass, while the outlines of Raptors converge on them. — The Lost World: Jurassic Park tall grass/raptor scene.

The robot-dinosaur extravaganza continues when Vanya and Serah encounter a Plesiosaur while they are fishing. Vanya charges at the dinosaur, slicing its gun-tail off, before being dragged underwater due to her embedding her knife in its hide. Vanya does not do the killing blow on the Plesiosaur as a non-robotic Spinosaurus shows up and chomps its head off, showing a trail of blood but also mechanical components. It is an interesting scene in that a natural dinosaur is able to dispatch the cybernetically enhanced dinosaur, and rather easily at that. One of the core themes of Vanya has been the traditional fight of man vs. nature (and now trickling in some man vs. machine), but here is a sequence of nature vs. machine. Giving a long enough time, nature will always win.

The mysterious Astral Guard mark their formal appearance on the final page, possibility catching Guy and Niya in the act of hiding the Torridian Dragon eggs. Emerging from a purple portal, a squadron of armored soldiers pour through, wielding rifles, demanding Niya and Guy’s surrender. It is just bluster? The Astral Guard are supposed to be the best of the best, it is what the Time Guards eventually ascend to after completing their training in the prehistoric past. They are the ones, per the opening crawl back in issue one, who are supposed to lead and safeguard humanity. However, the Torridians dominating the war front against the humans, sending them in a retreat to the past, and Elah’s ineffectual response to the alien threat in issue five convey that the Astral Guard may not be as powerful as they project themselves to be. There’s plenty of Robo Dinosaurs waiting for them to prove their mettle against.

The Astral Guard are not the only ones with a public image crisis to overcome, but General Tora herself is already showing cracks in how she operates. Extremely cruel (as demonstrated by freeing the humans into the raptor field), Tora is also coming across as arrogant but also prideful as she is dismissive of keeping her emperor abreast of her invasion. She’s akin to Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars and her attitude will probably lead to her to underestimate Vanya and the other humans (when they finally cross paths).

Covers and Swag Impressions

From the Kickstarter campaign page for Vanya #06, which concluded August 2023, there looks to be a total of nine different covers for the issue, which each cover being available in non-nude and nude versions, with each of those breaking down in normal, holofoil, and metal editions, for a grand total of fifty-four different covers.

Vanya, standing atop a tree branch that is covered in moss and flowers. She steadies herself by holding a vine. In her right hand is a spear with a stone head covered in blood. — Personal copy of Vanya #6 with nude cover by Alex Monik.

The best cover of the issue six bunch goes to Alex Monik. This is a fantastic cover that depicts and incredible Vanya and an equally incredible jungle scene. The tree branches that Vanya walks across are covered in grass and flowers, with vines hanging underneath. It is this great detail that really sells the fantastique nature of the jungle adventure genre. Vanya proper still looks attractive, but she is covered in tiny scars and smudges of dirt. This iteration of Vanya moves away from the cheesecake approach (but still retains aspects of it) and goes into a more realistic interpretation of a warrior woman who has had to survive in the primeval for months. Her giant, blooded stone-tipped spear brings forth the spear and fang genre trappings. Overall, this cover has a store to tell in one image, and it does it well.

Recognition needs to go to Sean Joyce, the artist behind the standard cover of Vanya #06 (see top of article). Joyce is an old guard artist whose done artwork for classic genre icons such as Conan the Barbarian. Joyce’s cover, with its mutated, painted style, recalls the old days of TTRPG cover art, the poster art for One Million Years B.C. (1966), and even a little of the trading cards/comic series of Dinosaurs Attack!. Joyce is a master of classic fantasy art and their cover art for this issue of Vanya demonstrates this.

The four trading cards have blue borders. They show a raptor, brontosaurus, stegosaur, and spineysaur outfitted in cybernetics. The tarot card, for Temperance, shows Vanya sitting atop a log, witting the top of a Dino skull with a knife. — Four Robosaur trading cards by Vascio Giaochini and a Tarot Card by Gus Mauk.

As far as swag, issue six of Vanya has a set of four Robosaur trading cards and a new Tarot card. The Robosaur art is done by Vasco Gioachini and each card dhows a different dinosaur outfitted with robotic attachments. These dinos would make great enemies in a Turok game. The Tarot card is for Major Arcana Temperance card and is illustrated by Gus Mauk. The card depicts Vanya playing with a dagger atop a dino skull. Theme and action-wise, the art on the Vanya Temperance card is not in the same realm as a traditional Temperance card (a woman pouring liquid from one container into another), so its derived meaning is going to be open to some interesting interpretations.

Conclusion

With issue six, Vanya looks to finally have placed all its playing pieces on the game board: Vanya and company, the Torridians, the Astral Guard, and of course, the Robo Dinosaurs. The comic also seems to have found a better balance of sex scenes, action sequences, and exposition panels. The comic needs to be able to juggle these three pillars, especially as it is trying to tell the story of time travelling jungle women fighting aliens and robot dinosaurs. It is high concept, and perhaps a little over the top, but Vanya has found its footing to sell its setup. Come for the premise, but stay for the actual intrigue as Vanya navigates both intergalactic and temporal adversaries, which just so happens to include kick ass raptors with buzzsaw arms.

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Death Nell Reviews

Vanya Reviews