Chastity - Lust for Life (Chaos Comics, 1999)
More than 20 years after being 'made', Chastity finally gets a starring role, and she even finds time for a little romance. However, her carefree masquerade may soon come to an end. Yet another war among the undead has exploded into deadly violence, and vampires and werewolves seem to be everywhere. Chastity keeps saying that she doesn't want to fight, butt she's under intense pressure, and her actions speak louder than her words. Hemlock, aka the nomad, has the solution to her moral dilemma. Chastity has to find him, but, just like Chastity, he cannot be detected by other vampires. In the end, it's he who finds her.
Ed Benes does the illustrations in this series, which I think is an improvement over Justiniano's work. Female characters in fighting roles are very tricky. Because of her athletic nature, Chastity has to be well muscled. Because of her feminine nature, on the other hand, Chastity has to be smooth and slender. There should be a clear difference between the genders, especially when Chastity is compared to brawny men, such as the werewolves.
Benes gave Chastity a subtle amount of muscle definition, without making her too ripped and bulky. In order to give her feminine proportions, Benes broadened Chastity's back, shoulders, and hips, while narrowing her waist. The resulting hourglass shape is very different than the V taper that is more characteristic of men. Moreover, in terms of overall muscle distribution, Benes placed more emphasis on the lower half of the body. He added contours to Chastity's hips and thighs, while keeping her arms relatively slender. Of course, in order to make Chastity look more feminine, Benes exaggerated the size of her breasts. So, at times, it looks as if Chastity has silicone implants, especially when she is wearing an open-cup top, but at least Benes did not inflate them as much as Justiniano did. And, a natural look is not entirely a question of size. Since real breasts hang to some extent, teardrop shaped breasts appear more realistic than spherical ones. Finally, dressing Chastity in in skimpy attire (hotpants, miniskirts, lingerie, g-strings, etc) lends her a lot of sex appeal.
As for the story line, I like this relatively simple plot better than the confusing one used in Rocked (both stories by Phil Nutman), but Theatre of Pain (Brian Pulido) is still my favorite series, because Pulido's story seems more like something that could happen in real life. I've already mentioned that in Lust for Life Chastity encountered vampires and werewolves just about everywhere she went. Well, why didn't someone notice them? If bunch of wild animals started a brawl in a local night club, you would think that it would make the 6 pm news, but Fern Fierstein never mentions the event. Moreover, Chastity may have superhuman abilities, butt when she's up against other freaks of nature, the only advantage she has is her superior martial arts skills. Do you think Bruce Lee would win if he had to fight a whole football team all by himself?
So, if you fancy a modern, independent woman, who kicks butt in bar room brawls, all without mussing up her fashion model hairdo (let alone break a fingernail or even get so much as a drop of blood on her fancy dress), Lust for Life may be worth a look.
mediafire.com/folder/b7v62kaqw35sh