Review: The Gang Is Out For Nazi Blood In ‘The Vain’ #2

It’s 1942, and Felix Franklin finds himself on the front lines of the U.S. military during World War II. Meanwhile, The Vain are waging their own war after they make a deal with the FBI to form a spec ops team with one mission: annihilating their opponents. They’re out for blood. Nazi blood. 

At the end of chapter one, the gang presented a unique opportunity to the Feds, offering up their special abilities to the Allies to help turn the tides of war. In The Vain #2, Lost, Orphan, Marquis, and North will infiltrate a popular Nazi hangout in Casablanca, cozy up to some scumbags, extract sensitive information, and then do the thing they do best. No more bank heists for these cats. There’s plenty of fascist blood to go around.

Eliot Rahal kicks this thing around from Cuba, to Tripoli, Sicily, Normandy… If I had a complaint about the series thus far, it’d be the pacing. I could have spent a chapter or two back stateside before heading off to the war theater, and then could have spent a little more time in each of the settings in this installment.

Emily Pearson, Fred C. Stresing, and Macy Kahn get to flex a different set of artistic muscles in this issue. Same era, completely different digs. The nightclub act carries over some of the period sexiness from the first chapter, but the rest of this chapter has a kind of Band of Brothers vibe, with vampires.

At the end of The Vain #2, there’s still a lot of directions the story could go. Seems like Felix and The Vain are still on a collision course, but their paths are running sort of parallel for the time being. I’m interested in seeing where we’re headed, but I’d really rather see that conflict sooner than later.

The Vain #2, Oni Press, 11 November 2020. Written by Eliot Rahal, illustrated by Emily Pearson, color by Fred C. Stresing with assistance from Macy Kahn, letters by CRANK!