American Vampire Vol. 1 [Hardcover]

 

 

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Reason for Reading: Vampires? Stephen King? The Old West? The 1920s? Everything I love in one book. I was so there!

If you are ready for the return of "real" vampires then get ready because they have returned in American Vampire. In fact, we've got a new breed of American-made vampire that doesn't have all the same restrictions as the old European breed, one that not anyone knows the complete differences in power or weaknesses, yet.

What an absolutely fantastic volume of story, background, character and gruesome horror! Coupled with probably the best artwork I have ever seen in a graphic novel, the paintings are gorgeous and terrifying at the same time. The story is actually two separate storylines running side by side. First the present time 1925 Hollywood where the Hollywood moguls are bloodthirsty vampires feeding off wannabe actresses. The lovely, hard-working, country values yet flapper-ly independent Pearl is one of those poor souls taken advantage of but she survives, well dies, then survives with the unwanted help of Skinner Sweet to seek revenge on those who did this to her.

Skinner Sweet, himself, is the other story, written by King. Set in the late 1800s during the last days of the Wild West it tells the story of how a no good outlaw accidentally became a vampire and discovered, that as the first all-American, he was different from the rest. He could walk in the day for a start and this really irked the old Euro-vampires. One, that he had even been created, as they had agreed to only feed on the riff raff of this continent, and that he appeared to be more powerful than them. His story takes on the classic western tale of outlaw versus lawman but that tale becomes rather twisted when the outlaw is a vampire.

I read this volume quite slowly as I just didn't want the story to end and I wanted to linger on the pages. I love Pearl. She's a wonderful character, someone with high standards who is really p*ssed that this has been done to her. Even her boyfriend, who doesn't believe her at first, stays with her after he knows the truth. She is also drawn very pretty in a subtle way and I was looking forward to her going all vamp, thinking she'd be a fun vampire. You know the way Angel and Spike are still cute, even when they go all vamp? Well, uh-uh, not in this book. Going vamp is violent and ugly! Then the first time we see Skinner turn is breathtakingly hideous. There is a lot of violence and gore with these vampires and it got to the point where I sometimes dreaded turning the page. I love it! Skinner Sweet is one evil dude, but from what has been shown of him so far, I think he is going to prove to be an interesting character with more to him than we've seen so far. A gripping read and a perfect use of the graphic medium.

Pros: great stories, fantastic idea regarding vampire evolution, intriguing characters
Cons:
Art: rough strokes giving thick limbs and showing pencil lines, lots of motion, good shading and details

Too connected stories told by two writers, American Vampire is a great graphic novel.

Each comic (there are 4 in this collection) starts with a story by Scott Snyder involving aspiring actresses Pearl and Hattie. Things don't go as expected when Pearl's invited to a party hosted by the producer of the film she's an extra on.

The second story, by Stephen King, deals with the origin of the titular American vampire. A wild west bank robber is accidentally turned by a European bank owner during a bust gone bad. But where the European vampires have trouble in sunlight and can't cross water easily, their American counterparts have no such weaknesses.

The two stories work well together, slowly explaining the vampire situation in the new world and how they evolve as a species based on different blood.

The artwork is blocky and thick lined and while it's normally not to my taste, it suits the subject matter here surprisingly well.

Ultimately it's a great grapic novel.

Six words which will make you want to read this: "Original Stephen King comic. With VAMPIRES."

In actuality, this is a two-part comic -- one part is by King, while the other is by a guy I had never heard of named Scott Snyder. But both halves of "American Vampire Volume 1" are united by a common theme -- vintage Americana is mingled with some gruesome, bloodthirsty vampires, in the 1920s and the Wild West. And it is AWESOME.

Snyder follows a young starlet named Pearl, who is invited to a party thrown by a film producer. The next day, she is found covered in bites in the desert and dying of blood loss. But then she wakes up to find vampiric cowboy Skinner Sweet next to her, and he informs her that she's now a vampire.

But she's not the same kind of vampire as the ones who attacked her -- like him, she's a newly evolved "American vampire" with claws, monstrous teeth and immunity to the sun. Now Pearl is out for revenge against the "old-style" vampires who killed her -- and along with her new love interest Henry, she's got some bloody revenge, treachery and a brewing war to deal with.

King's story goes further back in time to the late 1800s, and shows us the original "American Vampire" -- the infamous Skinner Sweet, an outlaw who runs afoul of a vampire in the desert. When a flood washes out the town where he's buried, the newly undead Sweet returns to the world... and he's more dangerous than ever before.

"American Vampire" is a pretty unique kind of comic book -- two brilliant writers (one famous and one unknown) writing two intertwined story arcs about vampires from long ago. Even better, both King and Snyder manage to do something unique and special with the vampire mythos that doesn't involve pale, wangsty aristocrats.

And while the stories are closely connected, King and Snyder have very distinct styles. King's is faster, brasher and earthier, adding sudden splatters of horror to a seemingly simple Wild West story. Snyder's is a slower, more refined story that suddenly bursts into a bloody revenge tale. And there's a clever undercurrent to his story -- predatory Hollywood bloodsuckers as REAL bloodsuckers? Not bad.

Snyder also has a knack for creating likable characters -- Pearl is a thoroughly likable protagonist, a strong young lady who has to make the best of being transformed into a bloodsucker. King's characters are less endearing, but no less vibrant -- his depiction of Skinner is of a ruthless, grinning cowboy covered in dust and stubble ("I want candy!").

And Rafael Albuquerque is well suited to both stories -- he relies heavily on shadows, black profiles and dark figures, but also suffuses the daytime parts with strong desert light. He also does some brilliant things with color -- our first glimpse of the vampires takes place in a room filled with bloody background, and the train battles take place against a slow-burning sky that fades into the color of flames.

"American Vampire 1" is an excellent start to a promising new series -- and Snyder and King are quite a formidable storytelling team. Vibrant, creepy and wonderfully bloody.

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