American Vampire #16 – Advance Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Pat Brosseau (letters), Joe Hughes (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: When we last saw our Vassals of the Morning Star (masquerading as American Marines), they ran into some Imperial Japanese soldiers on a Pacific island infested with some funky vampires.  Will this be a case of “any port in a storm,” or will our heroes be sorry they ran into the Japanese?

Sustained Excellence: Anyone who has followed reviews of American Vampire knows that the stunning thing is how consistently awesome AV has been.  I’ve been keeping a database with notes on every comic book I’ve read for the last 2 years (when I began writing online reviews).  It has ~1300 entries and a couple of things jump out from that list.  I use a 10-point scale rather than the letter grade we use here, since it allows me to sort titles, calculate averages and really compare titles.  The lowest score I ever gave to an issue of American Vampire was an 8.0 for issue #1.  That would work out to roughly a “B” here at WCBR.  Issue #12 was an 8.1.  And that’s the lowest score the series has ever gotten from me.  Other than that, it is a steady string of 8.8-9.2.  In fact, AV has the highest average score of any comic series over the last year or so.  The other contenders are Scalped and The Walking Dead, but to paraphrase Larry Holmes, “they can’t carry AV’s jock.”  And, that’s not to be dismissive of those outstanding titles, but I’ve never read a series that kept hitting home runs like AV without ever striking out.  Surely at some point, AV will release an issue were I have to say, “It was okay, but it was in the middle of a story arc, so I expect it to get better next issue…”   But, it hasn’t happened yet.

So, trust me. I read a lot of comics and think about them pretty critically, and American Vampire is the best monthly series right now.  Most “good” series have an average score of 8.0 and blip up to 9.0 once or twice per year.  AV is hitting those heights with every issue.

Advance Review: Well, after that lead in, it is probably no surprise to tell you that AV #16 is really incredible.  When we last left our protagonists in American Vampire #15, the Vassals of the Morning Star were being pursued by these really nasty looking, feral vampires.  Just when things looked grim, they ran into a bunch of Japanese soldiers and we were left with a bunch of cliffhangers:  Would the humans band together?  What is the deal with these feral vampires that the Vassals have never seen before?  Will Henry be tempted to become a vampire by drinking the vial of blood that Pearl gave him?  Will Pearl come to their rescue?  And when will Skinner Sweet make his play?  This being an advance review, I don’t want to spoil anything, but this issue will give you answers to 80% of those questions.

And what makes this issue so tight is that the answers we get are quite complete.  The creators really know how to pay off a mystery.  For example, there’s no vague, lame-ass explanations of what these feral vampires are.  Boom! They hit you in the face with the vampires’ reality and move right on to the next story element.  Even though this issue is a “middle issue,” Snyder and company keep the pacing brisk enough that it never feels like we’re just killing time until the big finale.  Heck, I’m not even sure I want a finale because I’m enjoying the ride so much.

I’ve also gushed ad nauseum about Rafael Albuquerque’s art in the past, but he really does it again in this issue.  If you’ve seen his original art, you know that AV could easily be a black-and-white comic.  But, what’s ironic is that his excellent linework helps Dave McCaig’s colors shine.  Because Albuquerque is handing in really professional and complete pages that are just oozing with depth and vitality, McCaig doesn’t have to screw around putting highlights on the Marine’s helmets and noses. He can just devote his efforts to using color to establish mood and increase depth.  This is a wonderful comic from an art standpoint.

Negatives? There really aren’t any.  I really don’t believe in “the perfect comic” because we might see one next month that is even better, so I do try to put my finger on the “most significant flaw” in any comic just for the sake of being a “critic.”  All I could come up with in this issue is that there is one transition between scenes where they could have added another panel to tighten some storytelling.  But compared to complaints like, “boring story,” “artwork lacking depth” and “terrible coloring…” That is a pretty minor objection.  🙂

Conclusion: Another outstanding issue of American Vampire.  The creators are really starting to establish their own grading system because I’m really not comparing them to other comics anymore…..just to the excellence of last issue of AV.  Buy it, read it…

Grade: A

-Dean Stell

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