Amy To The Rescue: ‘Night Club 2’ #5 Review

You know the rules. In comics, no one stays dead forever. Especially not vampires. But it’s still thrilling to witness in Night Club 2 #5, wherein a blood-red rebirth reminded me just how important colours, by Fabiana Mascola, are to this comic’s tonal shifts and horror credentials. The red with its obvious denotations of danger, heat and horror, all supports artist Juanan Ramírez’s fluid, loose inks and accompanying grey washes to give a better sense of texture and depth of field. But it’s a bloodbath of reds that garishly illuminates the horror unfolding. 

With Danny and Sam recovering, much of the issue is devoted to Amy; our hero of the hour. Indeed, throughout the series, as Millar carves up scenes for each teen vamp, we get to know more about these guys and therefore more invested in their fate. The first series sets ’em up, this one goes deeper into exploring the stresses of having super powers and navigating the worlds as young adults wet behind the ears. Spider-Man sized relationship issues, with Blade-level dangers.

As well as his care in giving his main players their fair share of the action, Mark Millar delivers a script that – just like his cast – is energetic, fast-paced, and shockingly violent in all the right places. And at the heart of it is a message, lying deep below the gore, of the importance of friendship. Will it be enough to stop Risso and his vampire gangsters? Probably. But half the fun is in the journey and the joy Millar gets writing over-the-top comic scripts.

Night Club 2 #5 is out now from Dark Horse Comics