Dark Horse Comics reviews 4/9/25 – Vatican City 1

Vatican City 1 starts off another vampire-focused series from Mark Millar.

The Millar World universe already has a stellar vampire series with Night Club that explores three teens who become vampires and viral superheroes.

Vatican City 1 shows a much darker universe where vampires have been plotting their global takeover for a long time. When the onslaught begins, humanity is ill-prepared to face it. The massacre isn’t fully complete though as the vampires are keeping select humans alive to serve as slaves for a very specific purpose. Millar smartly doesn’t drag that reveal out for the entirety of this three-issue series. Instead, it’s revealed by the end of Vatican City 1.

There are other survivors as well. Those who just so happened to be in Vatican City when the attacks started. While these vampires aren’t goofy and actually have armor and sealed clothing allowing them to maneuver in daylight, they still can’t enter the Vatican.

Among those survivors is Guido Cavelti, who was scheduled to be interviewed for the Swiss Guard. Much like an early Resident Evil game, Guido is in the right place at the wrong time and now has to lead the survivor effort to stay alive.

The premise is intriguing. Vampires tearing through the world but there’s one spot on the planet they can’t

MORE:

• Marvel Legends Wolfsbane review (2024) BAF Zabu wave
• Andor TV Series Episode Guide and Recap
• Daredevil Born Again: Isle of Joy review S1 E8
• G20 review (2025) – Viola Davis is a blast as pistol packing president

Millar teams with artist/colorist/letterer Per Berg for Vatican City 1.

Berg has a very cool style that seems to have an anime/manga influence. It makes for a bit of a style clash with the more cartoonish art paired with this violent, gory and dark story. Some of the panels are a little harder to decipher everything going on.

While Berg’s style isn’t a perfect fit for Vatican City 1 the comic, it almost seems like it would make for an ideal fit for an animated series or movie with Millar’s media partner, Netflix.

The colors are fittingly muted, and Berg uses dynamic fonts to further tell the story in an exciting manner.

Gabriel and his fellow survivors can’t stay holed up in the city forever. They need to come up with a plan to stave off the vampires long-term or some sort of solution for survival. Millar is great with concocting these seemingly impossible odds against the heroes only to introduce a completely sensible and smart way to turn the tide. Vatican City isn’t a long title so maybe this means this won’t be a prolonged struggle.

Vatican City 1 offers a tantalizingly fun premise with some echoes of 30 Days of Night and Assault on Precinct 13. It’s going to be very interesting to see where Millar takes this series over the next couple of issues.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Dark Horse Comics

Enjoyed Vatican City 1 and want more vampire action from Mark Millar? Check out Night Club Vol. 1 now on Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.