In a nutshell, this is an exciting, new 3-issue series by Mark Millar and Per Berg that brings an international horror to the Vatican. Given the heavy use of Christian iconography in vampire lore, this seems like a pretty good match.
What begins as a brutal rampage that takes out the United States within hours soon leads to the beginnings of the fall of the Holy See, with a young pilot, Guido Cavelti, looking to join the Swiss Guard being caught amid the chaos. Guido finds himself the leader of a band of survivors holed up within the city, protected only by sanctified ground and holy relics. While the slaughter seems rampant, it becomes apparent that the vampires are highly organized and have motives that stretch back thousands of years: a dark secret buried under the Holy See itself.
Mark Millar’s script does away with the exposition in an economical way that wastes no time getting to the main drive of the story, trusting the visuals to help the reader fill in the blanks. This is an action story through and through, and Millar lets his characters do the “telling” which allows the story to cover a lot of ground and yet feel organic. While the plot or style doesn’t come across as the most original, there’s still some fun to be had here in a 30 Days of Night meets Fright Night kinda way.
Per Berg serves triple duty as artist, colorist, and letterer here. Berg’s pages have a rough-hewn sensibility about them that gives the artwork a sense of urgency and constant motion. The violence is splashed onto the page and characters are often only recognizable because of their attire. It feels chaotic, as it should, and it feels right. That being said, I did love his aerial view splash of Vatican City. That loose watercolory vibe really works for me. Berg’s generally desaturated palette is effective here, especially when contrasted with the copious slashes of red whenever violence abounds.
Overall, this was a fun romp and I’m hooked. Points for being semi-topical, given the current news coverage of the Vatican and the opaque intrigue surrounding the election of a new Pope.
Creative Team: Mark Millar (writer), Per Berg (artist, colorist, letterer)
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
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