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Vatican City 2 – Dark Horse Comics reviews 5/21/25

Jeffrey Lyles , , ,

Vatican City 2 continues the Millarworld’s latest vampire-themed title with the survivors turning the tables on the vampire invaders.

As Vatican City is a three-issue limited series, writer Mark Millar can speed up the pace and not get overly bogged down in character development. It also helps the series retain a sense of immediacy with every moment mattering.

The first issue saw the vampires return to the surface world with human emissaries operating on their behalf. With a world wholly unprepared for a global vampire invasion, the battle isn’t lengthy. As Vatican City 2 opens, only Russia and China are the global superpowers that have thus far not gone dark from the onslaught.

That’s largely because the vampires are working on their ultimate goal of resurrecting their queen, who happens to be in the one spot on the globe the vampires can’t enter — deep below the Vatican.

After the initial terror, a pitiful few survivors are holed up desperately trying to make sense of the chaos and how they can survive once the food supply runs out.  Swiss guardsman candidate Guido has some solid ideas on how to fend off the vampires using the scarce defense measures in place. While Guido concocts a defense plan, the survivors learn the truth about the 20,000-year-reign of Nosferatu, the queen Gel Gorge-Eh and why Vatican City is based in its location.

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Despite the limited time to delve into the backstory, Millar has set up an intriguing narrative. If the US invasion wasn’t so thorough, it certainly felt like some elements of the story detailed in Vatican City 2 could have been incorporated to Night Club. A Guido/Night Club team-up could have been a lot of fun.

vatican city 2 interior

Per Berg’s artwork looks like watching an animated film. There’s a looseness to Berg’s style that seems somewhat unfinished, but it does convey a stronger sense of movement. In a lot of ways, the art in Vatican City 2 seems like the storyboard for an exciting segment in a Netflix animated feature film.

Berg doesn’t utilize a traditional layout largely angling panels. This makes for a unique reading experience, but Berg positions everything so it’s easy for his lettering to flow seamlessly.

With the sides now firmly established and both taking significant steps to accomplish their end goal, Vatican City 2 felt far more engaging. If the vampires just kept massacring the survivors Vatican City wouldn’t make for a good read. Millar wisely balanced the scales out allowing the humans to get enough of a win this issue to raise some question as to who will come out ahead once this mini-series is over.

Vatican City 2 successfully raises the…stakes on this vampire thriller as the survivors fight back and actually place the vampires at a position where they no longer hold all the cards. It will be very interesting to see how Millar and Berg wrap this mini-series up although there certainly seems like there is a possibility for another volume upon the conclusion of this arc.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: Dark Horse Comics

Enjoyed Vatican City 2 and want more vampire action from Mark Millar? Check out Night Club Vol. 1 now on Amazon.

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