American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #2 – Review

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

The Story: Cash and Felicia enter Nazi-occupied Europe in a search for a secret that can help them in their battle against the vampires.

What’s Good: As a reviewer, you run out of superlatives for series as good as American Vampire and this offshoot/sister-series, Survival of the Fittest.  Last month’s #1 issue is my personal clubhouse leader for the mythical “issue of the year.”  Not to back off that statement or diminish that issue at all, but it’s really hard to say how that issue is any better than this issue.  It really could be a case where we’ll get to the end of the year and the “Top 20 single issues” are dominated by issues of American Vampire.

So, what makes this issue so hot?  Let’s start with Sean Murphy’s art .  His style is really hard to nail down without a professional artist’s vocabulary, but I’ll try.  While his style is rooted in basic realism, he leaves his linework just rough enough that his characters ripple with energy.  There is never any doubt about what his characters are doing or which way they are moving.  But his work also has a slightly cartoony edge to it that allows him to capture slightly overdone expressions like eyes bugging out or an overdone shrug.  What is cool about this hybrid style is that it seems to allow Murphy to have the best of both worlds: the cartooning that allows him to better sell the action and the realism that allows his characters to look at home in the settings he draws. And, everything is so detailed.  As I type this, I’m looking at one particular panel showing the inside of an airplane where Murphy has drawn in the buttons on the upholstery, the patterns on the rugs, the curtains, the air vents, the reading lights, the luggage in the overhead bin, the clock on the wall and even a view up into the cockpit showing the gauges, dials, levels, coiled radio cord….  Wow!  And, that’s ONE panel.  When the settings are this detailed, I don’t think you could easily place super cartoony characters (think Humberto Ramos) into the scene without them looking weird.  It would look like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but Murphy’s hybrid style allows his characters to look great in these hyperrealistic settings.