American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Sean Murphy (art), Dave Stewart (colors), Pat Brosseau (letters), Joe Hughes (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: It’s 1941 and the Vassals of the Morning Star are on a mission to stamp out some vampires and head off on a secret mission to Nazi-controlled Europe.

High Expectations: American Vampire is one of the best current comic series.  Snyder and company haven’t had an issue that was even “pretty good”.  Every single issue has been somewhere in the “really good” to “outstanding” range and it is always among the best books of the week whenever it comes out.  So, when the news broke months ago that there would be a 5-issue AV miniseries set in the European Theater during World War II and that this miniseries would feature art by Sean Murphy, expectations were sky-high.  Remember…Sean Murphy is the guy who made Grant Morrison’s much-delayed story about diabetes and home-foreclosure must read stuff (or at least “must look at” stuff).  But, you know how it is with high expectations: you often end up at least somewhat disappointed.  So, I was actually nervous when I read this issue because I really didn’t want to be let down.

What’s Good: Let’s start with what a glorious comic this is visually.  I’m no serious art critic, but I’d say that Murphy’s general art style is “a more energetic Chris Bachalo”.  Bachalo is one of my all-time favorites, so I mean that as a supreme compliment.  Murphy’s characters are very interesting; he knows which parts of the character are important for imparting the sense of energy in a scene and he leaves those body parts more open and fluid whereas other (less important) body parts are cast in shadow or cut off in the panel.  Your eye always knows where to look in his panels.  And Murphy’s attention to detail is incredible.  In a particular scene where a vampire is tossing a desk across a room, not only are all the papers, lamps, etc. from the desk tossed into the air, but the mini-blinds on the wall behind the vampire are also tossed about too.  Combine this with the low angle that Murphy chooses for the panel and you’re left with a inescapable, “Holy crap!  That vampire is POWERFUL!” feeling.

Two other things that Murphy does really well that we’ll talk about briefly are (a) a really nicely choreographed fight where the panel-to-panel actions of the combatants actually make sense physically and (b) wonderful drawings of guns, lamps, chairs, cages, buildings. All hallmarks of a serious and professional artist.  This is big time art, folks!  You won’t see better art anywhere!

Another visually striking thing in this issue is how well Dave Stewart colors things.  Most of the issue is just standard Stewart excellence: warm colors that serve the story and are tasteful.  All of this serves Stewart well when he wants to bust out RED for a panel or two.  It’s amazing how Stewart’s colors become part of the story telling process.  It’s almost like Stewart’s colors have a sense of pacing all their own.