Night Club has been an immensely engaging and entertaining hybrid of a comic with it’s winning mix of joyous teen superheroics that faithfully recaptures the amped up energy of comics like The New Teen Titans and The Young Avengers while also borrowing heavily from gothic horror. Oh, and the spectacular art by Juanan Ramírez really helps sell these aerobatic adventurers immensely. But, that all changes with this penultimate issue.
This new issue shifts the spotlight onto the would-be super heroes’ mentor and one-time cop, Detective Nick Laskaras, and an issue that leans more into its horror credentials than any previous issue, with darker hues to match, courtesy of colourist Fabiana Mascolo. It’s the secret origin of the vampire detective and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything in revealing the nomadic gang of vampires we have bumped into in previous issue have a large part to play in his turning. And in turning him we witness the cruel joy this macabre motorbike gang take in doing so. You can’t help but hope these vile vampires will be taken down hard and violently come the end of the series. And, if anyone can do that with with style and panache, it’s writer Mark Millar.
Once a cop, always a cop, and so we have the gaps of Laskaras’ backstory filled out, as well as more on the criminal cabal of vampires too, especially the enigmatic Bloody Mary, the mummy-like ancient vampire they’ve been carrying around with them when we first met them a few issues back.
By the end of this engrossing issue we are left in no doubt to this vampire gang’s savage nature and don’t-give-a-f**k attitude. And, after a shocking jump-cut of a scene you won’t see coming – and more – the scale of the dangers facing our young vampiric heroes are larger than they probably expected and certainly sets up one Hell of a finale to come.
And so that joyous energy I referred to at the start of this review is most definitely wiped out with only the horror of the situation remaining, like a bloody stain on a vampire’s mouth.
Night Club #5 is out Wednesday 24th may from Image Comics
Night Club has been an immensely engaging and entertaining hybrid of a comic with it’s winning mix of joyous teenCOMICONRead More