The Devil in the Vatican

Le Scorpion #4

by Stephen Desberg, Enrico Marini

The Scorpion, whose mother Cardinal Trebaldi burnt at the stake for loving a man of the cloth, discovers that his father murdered Pope himself. When Trebaldi addresses a huge crowd at the end of the mourning period, the Scorpion is there to tell the truth about how the people's beloved Pope died. Trebaldi claims that the sacred cross of St. Peter miraculously appeared in his castle. The Scorpion must find the real cross if he is to prove Trebaldi's treachery.

This volume contains chapters 4 and 5 from the original series.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Comics, Graphic Novels, Historical, Historical Fiction, Sequential Art, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Stephen Desberg is a Belgian writer of comics. In 2010, he was the 10th bestselling author of comics in France, with 412,000 copies of all his comics together sold that year.

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art and the adventure in this series is still strong in this second volume. The story involves quite a lot of secrets about the Vatican, so it would be fun for those who like conspiracy theories. I gave this fewer stars than the first volume, though. It leans too heavily into ethnic stereotypes in the section of the story that takes place in Istanbul, which made the story less enjoyable than the first volume for me.

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume of writer Stephen Desberg and artist Enrico Marini's The Scorpion collects the third and fourth albums in the original French publishing: The Stone Cross and The Devil in the Vatican (which lends its name to the Cinebook collection).

The Scorpion deals with the secrets he learned in the previous volume and the death of the Pope at the hands of agents of Cardinal Trebaldi, whose plotting towards the ultimate power of the Catholic Church is moving forward.

All in all, it delivers more of what the first volume offered (and promised), and I am still interested in seeing where the plot takes these characters.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's up with the translation? Story is ok but nothing special, Marini's art is great of course, but speech bubbles seemed way off.

[João Teixeira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este é talvez o volume de que menos gostei desta série até agora. Os desenhos de Marini continuam a ser bastante bons, mas o argumento, ainda que se mantenha com bom ritmo, é um pouco mais previsível...

[Coralie Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trébaldi est devenu pape grâce à la croix de saint Pierre. Scorpion est chargé de trouver la vraie croix et s'embarque pour Istambul flanqué du hussard, de Méjaï et de Anséa Lattal qui se fait passer pour une ennemie de Trébaldi...

[Ramon · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 entrega de la serie Escorpión.
Nuestro protagonista se lanza en la búsqueda de un objeto que puede cambiar el mundo tal y como se esta desarrollando.

Aventuras sin parar, traiciones, amor.
Todo lo que llega a pasar en tan pocas páginas es más que notable.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is getting better. Now I can’t wait to read the next one!

[Davidjareno · Rating 4 out of 5]

M

[Catalina Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

😁

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

(x)(x) Cinebook edition is gratuitously censored (x)(x)
->"not to upset our more sensitive readers, certain illustrations have been modified"

This was the most painted-over breasts that I've ever seen! I figure that they wouldn't even have chosen to publish the series if there was more nudity- that this may be their "most voluptuous" title.

But forget that. My rating is a pure medium. I'm just tired of the predictably repetitious story and Marini's art, despite it's aesthetic qualities, is a bit "pointy" to my eyes. Accordingly, despite having the next two tomes in actual-sized French, with full flesh privilege, I'm selling them unread.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je to tak trošku schématické dobrodružství, ale pořád je to zábava. Záporáci z Vatikánu jsou krásně zlí, zatímco hlavní hrdina je správný rebel a proutník, ale zároveň je chytrý a vzdělaný. A samozřejmě, krásné ženské jsou nebezpečné a zrádné. Indiana Jones osmnáctého století. Stačí to, ale víc než zábavu od toho nečekejte. První knihu jsem si pro zopakování chtěl jenom prolistovat, ale nakonec jsem ji kompletně přečetl a vůbec mě to opakované čtení nenudilo. Věřím, že to tak bude i před třetí knihou, kdy si pro zopakování znovu dám tuto druhou. Mariniho kresba je pořád skvělá, samozřejmě.

[Céline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mon enfance.

"Ce jour-là, le soleil se coucha et les ténèbres descendirent. La fumée blanche monte dans le ciel, et la volonté de Trebaldi s'abattit sur la Ville éternelle."

"Chaque jour qui passe... on choisit un peu moins ce qu'on veut faire... on perd un peu plus de liberté..."

"Adieu, scorpion, j'aurais dû te préciser : je prends toujours beaucoup plus que je ne donne."

[Elusive.Mystery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fourth installment of a nicely done graphic novel about a 17th century Italian adventurer and the secrets surrounding his mysterious origins. In French.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the Scorpion continues to unfold as he tries to stop the election of a new Pope. It's a great blending of the swashbuckling genre with political intrigue.

[Jelena · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Charles-Antoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vite la suite!!!

[Yves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce tome prend un virage intéressant lorsque l'histoire se déplace vers Istanbul. L'histoire est toujours aussi accrocheuse qu'au début.

[hailie mackenzie]

it was so good