American Vampire: Second Cycle #4 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: The Gray Trader comes after Pearl.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This has been a very challenging review to write.  Anytime that happens it is a sure sign that the comic is one that I had high hopes for that has let me down in some way.

What’s weird about writing this type of review is that they easily veer heavily into what is wrong with this issue and the ways that it has disappointed me.  Then I proof-read the review and realize I have written 1000 words about the shortcomings of the issue, and then given it a “B” for a grade.  Which is weird…

So, just know that there is a longer analysis of the negatives of this issue as it relates to the prior run of American Vampire.  It was deleted, but this issue has slightly disappointed me for a couple of reasons.  One is that it really misses Henry.  Not only was the Henry/Pearl relationship fascinating, but Henry was interesting with everyone else too.  Great character.  He was also kinda the reader’s eyes into the world of vampires.  We could identify with him because he was a human and without him, there isn’t a similar anchor for our perspective.  And the Skinner/Pearl relationship isn’t anywhere near as interesting as Henry/Pearl.  In fact, Skinner just isn’t that interesting.  He’s just an anti-hero and while I think he was fine as a cool supporting character, he’s not quite strong enough to carry the series.

The other thing that hurt this story arc is that it felt less anchored to a point in American history.  It’s set in either the late 1950s or early 1960s, but there is no big theme to help me fix this story in time.  It sounds like that will change in the next story arc as our vampires get sucked into the space race.  THAT sounds very, very cool and not just because “Duh….vampires in effing SPACE!!!” but because the space race is an important part of American history.  I hope that we’ll also get some civil rights movement (possibly involving Cal) and some Vietnam War stuff in there too (again, Cal is a former soldier and could play a part).  But this story didn’t have that historical anchor and it suffered for that.

American Vampire: Second Cycle #3 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: More about the Gray Trade becomes clear and a familiar anti-hero returns.

Review (with SPOILERS): I really like the way the story is unfolding in the second cycle of American Vampire.  Here in only the third issue, we have The Gray Trader basically identified as “the devil”.  And he’s not some metaphysical construct either.  TGT is a corporeal being that lives in the bowels of the Earth and he takes the essence of your dead loved ones down there with him.  A single bite from TGT is enough to infect a being and turn them into his minion.  Then on the side of “good”, we have the American Vampires.  We’ve already seen them pitted against the old-fashioned “Carpathian” vampires in the first cycle of this story.  Now we’re learning that TGT basically created the Carpathians, and since the Carpathians created the AVs by mistake, the AVs are essentially TGT’s wayward grandchildren.

So, while the first cycle of this story was about the AV’s being an allegory for American history in the 20th century (new land, new vampires, growing into their place on the world stage).  The second cycle might be about something deeper with TGT being the inspiration for the Devil of various religions and the AVs being tasked with fighting The Devil.  There are still a lot of general ambiguities around the story.  For example, we don’t know if there is something special about the AVs – some American quality – that helps them resist the evil of TGT and want to fight him.  Why are the AVs basically the same people they were in life, whereas all of the other vampires descending from TGT have an essence of evil about them?  There is still a LOT for Scott Snyder to unpack in this story.

American Vampire: Second Cycle #2 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: The Grey Trader is revealed.

Review (with SPOILERS): Bravo for pacing and layered storytelling!  Excellent comics like American Vampire really make me appreciate what is lacking in other, less imaginative stories.

Of course, I’m talking about the fact that we didn’t have to wait until issue #5-6 to have The Grey Trader revealed to us.  I’m would have been very easy to have an entire first cycle about the lead-up to the revelation of what TGT even looks like, much less who/what he is.  You know….the end of each issue would end with this very creepy looking man standing there in the distance with his top hat and cane?  Each final page he would be a little closer to the viewers perspective, so it seemed like he was coming closer and closer?  Until they showed his face at the end of issue #5?  I’m sure that Snyder and Albuquerque could have even made that a pretty hot story, and to be honest, that is the pacing I was expecting.

Then… bam! We get to see the true face of TGT in the middle of this issue.  I love that.  It wasn’t expected and I’m reading the issue and thinking, “OMG! I think they’re going to show what this dude looks like on the next page!”  Don’t you love those sorts of page-turns in comics?  We don’t get enough of them, in my opinion.

But, just to show what a sophisticated story AV is, the mystery doesn’t end with this reveal.  It’s really just beginning.  We still don’t really know what TGT is up to, what motivates him, what manner of creature he is, etc.?  Why does he attack other vampires?  Does TGT view all vampires the same way that the Carpathian vampires view the American Vampires (i.e. as a threat to be attacked)?  How does TGT connect with Dracula and the Lord of Nightmares storyline?  They call him “the Devil” at the end of the issue, but is TGT really the metaphorical embodiment of human evil (in the Biblical sense) or is TGT meant to be a some sort of inspiration for the Biblical “devil”?  I love a comic that begs such questions, especially when you trust the storytellers as much as I trust Snyder and Albuquerque.  They’ve got answers for all this stuff.  I guarantee you that there isn’t a question in this paragraph that hasn’t already been addressed in a story outline.  Readers just need to strap in and enjoy the rest of the story in confidence.

American Vampire: Second Cycle #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Steve Wands (letters) 

The Story: After a hiatus, we get reacquainted with Pearl and Skinner.

Review: It’s lovely to have this comic back.  Even though creators Snyder and Albuquerque were always adamant that the hiatus was temporary, given Snyder’s new status of Master of the DC Universe and Albuquerque getting regular work on DC titles, there was always a fear that we might never see American Vampire again.  It’s such a relief to have it back because we don’t get comics as good as American Vampire that often.

This first issue back is part review of what came before and part set-up of what is to come.  The review is modest, but it’s just enough to give a new reader an introduction to who Pearl Jones and Skinner Sweet are.  It you want the whole story, you need to go read the back issues or collections, but if this is your first issue of AV, I’m sure you’ll be fine without the back material.  Scott Snyder is too inclusive of a writer to punish new customers with inside jokes that make new people feel unwelcome.

What we find in this issue is both Pearl and Skinner in a sort of Vampire Middle Age.  Pearl tried to basically live her early years as a vampire as if she was just a super-powered human.  She had human friends, a human husband and what-not, but they all got old and died while she is living forever.  So, now she is entering her hermit phase where she lives in an old farmhouse and appears to take in runaway vampire children.  It’s a neat concept and I like that Snyder is still playing with the idea that there are all these different races of vampires kinda like breeds of dog.  They look at her newest rescue project the way you’d look at a mutt at the dog park: “Hmmm…. He must have some chow because he has a partially black tongue and her snout is very terrier…”  We learn at the very end of the tale that one of these kids has had a run-in with The Gray Trader… Hmm…  I really like the idea of Pearl mothering to these kids who have been turned into a vampire.  I’d imagine that being a vampire is a difficult transition for a fully formed adult, but it would probably be really challenging for a child who hasn’t had time to develop the emotional strength to handle the transition.

Animal Man #24 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors)

The Story: You’re always at the top of the Totem pole if you’re the only one left.

The Review: Having recently pointed out Wonder Woman as one of the original New 52 titles to maintain the energy it started out with, I now draw your attention to this series as one that has failed to do so.  The Rotworld arc, instead of being the supernatural Big Event it promised to be, ended up sapping the title of much of its momentum and even its spirit.  What’s left is a husk of a title, trudging along in a desperate attempt to regain its footing.

The blame doesn’t lie entirely with one ill-conceived arc, however.  Reading through the last few issues makes it clear that Lemire has lost the clarity of his vision for this title, which makes it even harder for him to course-correct any missteps taken during Rotworld.  Even worse, this issue seems doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past since Lemire borrows some very familiar elements from prior storylines to build the plot.

Batman #24 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up by: Snyder & James Tynion (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Story: Batman finally hatches his plan to take down the Red Hood.

Review (with SPOILERS): Boom!  Batman is really back!

I’ve had difficulties enjoying the first several issues of Zero Year (beginning with issue #21 in June).  It was the first Bat-related story from Scott Snyder that I haven’t LOVED (since he started working on Detective Comics  in the Old 52).  It was weird and shocking for me NOT to think the Snyder/Capullo Batman was among the Top 10 comics in current publication.  I just didn’t enjoy revisiting Batman’s origin for a whole pile of reasons that you can find in those older reviews.  Mostly it was because the origin conflicted with my preferred Old 52 origins and the fact that Bruce Wayne stories are usually less interesting than Batman stories.  Has there ever been a comic called Bruce Wayne: The Death of the Parents #1?  No… Well, there’s probably a reason for that.  Bruce is less than Batman.

American Vampire: Anthology #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder, Jason Aaron, Rafael Albuquerque, Jeff Lemire, Becky Cloonan, Francesco Francavilla, Gail Simone, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Declan Shalvey, Ivo Milazzo, Ray Fawkes, Tula Lotay, Greg Rucka, JP Leon, Dave McCaig, Jordie Bellaire, Jared K. Fletcher, Steve Wands, Travis Lanham, Dezi Sienty

The Story: A group of super-creators gathers to tell short stories set in the American Vampire universe.

Review (with very minor SPOILERS): Whoa! This was really incredible.  I knew I wanted to read this issue because I’ve read and loved every issue of American Vampire.  It wasn’t even a question for me, despite the $7.99 price tag.  I love AV and this was a MUST READ.  Even if it costs as much as two other comics, it was twice as long and probably ten times as good.

Even though I expected quality, I was still surprised by the excellence of the content.  I really didn’t know what to expect from the stories within.  I’m sure there have been interviews out there that detailed the content of assembled stories, but I quit reading such interviews a long time ago.  So, I went into this cold and couldn’t be more pleased.

The issue features a framing sequence by Snyder and Albuquerque (the regular creators on AV), set in 1967 New Mexico featuring everyone’s favorite American vampire: Skinner Sweet.  There isn’t a ton of content here.  Just a few little pages showing Skinner getting into a messy fracas that is surely a tease for when the ongoing series returns from hiatus.  I can’t wait to see more of this story.  Why did those bikers want to kill Skinner?  Skinner versus Hell’s Angels?  That sounds nifty.  I’ll read that.  Please hurry up and create those comics for me, sirs.  It also raised an interesting thought in my mind: Skinner sure hasn’t gone very far from home.  Except for his World War II excursion, he has never left the American Southwest and southern California.  I’m not really sure if that means anything except that Skinner was probably a lot like other Americans of that era: He mostly stayed around his home area except for war.  I mean, we haven’t seen Skinner in New York or South Beach.  Kinda interesting…

Batman #23 – Review

 

Main story by: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up story by: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Attacked in his own home, young Bruce Wayne is inspired to “become the bat.”

The Review: This is a tricky comic to review because I’m starting to feel that this Zero Year storyline is written for people who are not me.  As I consume this story (issue by issue), I cannot help trying to shoehorn its events into Bat-continuity.  I literally spend the whole time thinking, “Is this at the same time as Year One?  Is it before?  After?  Gosh, it seems like the same time as Year One, but how could this happen when we already know that that happened?”  Of course by Year One, I’m referring to the classic 1987 four-issue storyline by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.  That story is about as perfect as any superhero story that has ever been written: tight, focused, well paced, poignant and beautifully illustrated.  I’ve reread Year One a few times over the years, and while many 1980’s superhero stories don’t “hold up” (see: Dark Phoenix Saga or the Kree-Skrull War), Year One still has its mojo.  But, this isn’t specifically a problem with comparing Zero Year with Year One.  It happens to me anytime superhero comics gaze backwards because I’m a person who tries to complete the puzzle, and often superhero comics make me feel as if they are multiple puzzles combined that have the same finished picture, but where the pieces have been cut differently so that you can’t mix-and-match; you can get a general outline of what the characters look like, but never a tidy image.

On the other hand, even though Year One is great, it is also close to 30 years old.  Sometimes you gotta freshen up your look and I don’t want to be the old dude who holds back progress by demanding that all comics of today conform to the comics I read 30+ years ago.  New 52 and all that…  It’s just that maybe these comics aren’t for me, or at least I realize they aren’t quite for me when they look backward.  I find I like the “continuing saga” but not the history anymore.

Batman #22 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) & Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up by: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Review (with very minor SPOILERS): This issue/storyline still isn’t really grabbing me.  From a technical standpoint, it is 100% good. The dialogue is excellent and the art is crisp and lovely.  But it still doesn’t have me on the edge of my seat…

Why have I LOVED everything else that Scott Snyder has done with Batman, yet this story gives me a lukewarm reaction?  Let’s consider some possibilities:

• It’s still early in the story: If memory serves, Zero Year is supposed to be an eleven-issue story.  We’re only on issue #2 of this story, so perhaps it just hasn’t had time to fully congeal?  However, Snyder has written other lengthy Bat-stories (The Black Mirror, Court of Owls) and those tales got under your skin right away.
• It’s about Bruce and not Batman: You’ve heard the old argument about whether the guy really IS Batman, and Bruce Wayne is just his disguise?  It’s usually framed as a contrast to Superman/Clark Kent where Supes is still mild-natured, midwestern Clark even when he puts on the tights.  I’ve never been as interested in Bruce and his motivations and his family and his relationship with Alfred.  So much of Bruce is wrapped up in the lack of a family and that’s something I was never able to identify with…  I was fortunate to always have my father around and I’ve always been around for my family as well.  I suspect that the Bruce/Alfred relationship speaks more to readers who had less of a relationship with their own fathers.
• It isn’t creepy: You’ll hear some commentators complaining that Snyder is a one-trick pony and that he only does horror-themed stories.  Black Mirror, Court of Owls and Death of the Family were all very creepy.  So is American Vampire and so was Severed.  Swamp Thing was kinda creepy.  Zero Year is not even remotely creepy.  It’s a different look for Snyder.
• Maybe expectations are unreasonably high: With the track record of Snyder and Capullo, you just expect an epic masterpiece right away.  I think they probably demand masterpieces from themselves and I admire their work ethic, but you can’t hit a home run every time.

Seriously, the funny thing is that I’m talking about this like it was a bad comic and it isn’t.  It’s a solid “B” which is entirely respectable and my criticism has more to do with the immense respect and admiration I have for the creative team.  I expect them to blow my socks off  every time and they aren’t quite doing it yet.

American Vampire: The Long Road to Hell #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & Rafael Albuquerque (story), Albuquerque (script & art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: American Vampire returns with an extra-length one-shot about a young couple who run into some vampires.

Review (with SPOILERS): This was a really good issue.  Given that AV has been away for a few months and isn’t quite ready to return as a regular, monthly comic series, it’s really smart to give readers this appetizer to remind us (a) what a special series this is and (b) of some of the general themes of the series.  This issue is also a great sampler if you haven’t been reading AV and want to give it a try.  No previous knowledge of the series is needed.  Read it, and – if you like it – I’m sure when the series restarts in a couple months, it will be pretty new-reader friendly.

The story itself is really sharp.  It follows a young couple in love, who are trying to raise enough money to get married.  Mostly they seem to raise money via minor pickpocketing and through this, they run into a next of nasty vampires.  Along the way, they run into a young, abused boy who has a knack for pointing out wicked people, so they are able to satisfy their blood lust Dexter-style.  But, eventually they realize what monsters they have become and come up with a clever – and heartbreaking – plan to end things.

Batman #21 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up story: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Story: A young Batman has to deal with the Red Hood and other Gotham menaces.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): When the last two Bat-epics you’ve written have been the Black Mirror and Court of Owls, expectations are bound to be high when you launch a new 11-issue saga with the ambitious title “Batman: Zero Year”.  Scott Snyder and his able companions are mostly able to live up to expectations and give us a solid first issue that leaves us wanting more.

Probably the strongest part of this issue was the first several pages where we see a trashed Gotham and a little boy spear-fishing in the flooded Gotham subway system.  He gets attacked by some guys wearing horrible masks [What is it with Snyder and creepy masks?  Owl Masks, gas masks, etc….] and he is saved by Road Warrior Batman.  The single panel of Batman with his sleeves ripped off and kitted up with all sorts of post-apocalypse standards like crossbows, dirt bikes and rope was really tantalizing: I’m willing to read just about any story if the payoff is that we learn how Batman ended up in that state.  I think we’ve found Greg Capullo’s Batman: Black and White sculpture!

American Vampire #34 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: After the personal loss of The Blacklist, how will American Vampire move forward into its hiatus?

Review (with SPOILERS): I’m so happy with how this issue turned out. Because the “main story” wrapped-up in issue #33, I worried (a little) that this issue could be a maudlin look back at what had transpired: Pearl sitting by Henry’s grave, Skinner getting into some kind of mischief, the Vassals trying to rebuild, etc.  I expected that because that’s typically what comics do in wrap-up issues: some character acts as a tour-guide as we visit the entire cast to see what they’re doing.  It can be well done, but I’m not a huge fan of reflective storytelling when the actual issues/stories we’re reflecting on are sitting right there on the bookshelf to be re-enjoyed again.  It just isn’t necessary and comes off more as the creators taking a victory lap (perhaps deserved, but a victory lap nonetheless).

American Vampire #33 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: A final showdown between Pearl, Hattie, Skinner, Cal and a bunch of normal vampires.

The Review (with SPOILERS): American Vampire can be a complex story and sometimes plays with deeper allegorical themes, but it was nice to see this issue be all about characters.  As we head into this planned hiatus for the series, it was interesting what messages Snyder and Albuquerque wanted to leave us with.  Here’s what it comes down to: Hattie is evil, Pearl/Cal are good and Skinner has his own agenda.  Remember that and you should be fine to pick this series back up when it returns.

That’s really smart storytelling.  I’ve mentioned a lot in these reviews my enjoyment for the way AV has served as an allegory for the growth of the United States, but sometimes that stuff can get heavy.  Likewise, the relationships between this web of characters is also pretty complex between Skinner, these Euro vampires, the Book family, Pearl/Hattie, etc.  It’s very smart to put those issues on the back shelf for now, remember who the vital characters are and let the complexity creep back in once this series gets ramped back up next year.

The major theme for this issue was loss and moving on.  I’ve always wondered WHY Pearl didn’t just turn Henry.  Snyder never really got into that question before this issue.  Traditional vampire-fiction has always prattled on about the “loss of humanity” or the “horrors of being a creature of the night” and that’s always rung so hollow to me: getting to be immortal with someone you love sounds like a pretty good deal.  So, I loved the way that Snyder finally addressed this in Henry’s good-bye letter.  His explanation that he always knew that Pearl had more life in her than could be used in one lifetime but that Henry was already a little tired when he met her was very fitting.  I get it, and, more importantly, I believe that this is something Henry would think given his characterization over the course of the series.

Henry’s passing is obviously going to be a major impact for Pearl and surely that’s what the comic will examine when it returns.  Pearl has always been a vampire in name only.  She basically functions as a human and only vamps out when she needs to kill someone.  For her, it’s always been life as usual (except for sucking blood out of her husband).  Her links with humanity are pretty much broken now and she has some obvious issues with Skinner.  What does she do now?  It’ll be interesting to find out….

As for Skinner, his motives just aren’t clear at all, but that’s how he’s always been.  He’s a very interesting character.  Fiction is FULL of “scoundrels with a heart of gold” (think Han Solo), but Skinner is not that.  He really is a scoundrel and if he does good deeds, it’s because it temporarily suited his needs.  On the other hand, he isn’t an evil mastermind either.  He doesn’t have it in him to “think big” and he isn’t evil; he’s just a guy who used to rob banks and now he’s a vampire.  What does a guy like do now that he’s ~100 years old?

American Vampire #32 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: Hattie is back and takes the fight to Pearl and the VMS.

A few things (with SPOILERS): 1). That dirty bastard! – Of course, nobody is really surprised that Skinner has betrayed the VMS and Pearl.  He’s just a dirty, rotten bastard.  He was a lousy human and he isn’t any better as a vampire.  So, the betrayal itself is obvious.  In fact, it’s so obvious that you wonder why anyone would have trusted Skinner in the first place.  I mean, Pearl has been trusting him on dangerous missions when only ~10 years earlier she had stabbed him with a gold knife and left him for dead on a Pacific island.  I don’t know about you, but I tend to keep one eye on all the people that survive when I stab them and leave them for dead.

The reason this plot twist works and has such resonance is that Snyder and Albuquerque have built up Skinner so well.  It isn’t so much that they convinced us in this story arc that “Skinner is good” or that they made us believe that the VMS’s remote control gizmo could really control him.  It’s that over ~30 issues they made Skinner into a character that we wanted to believe in.  He is/was so cool and charismatic and competent that we readers just wanted him to eventually be a good guy.  We wanted him to be like Han Solo and that’s why it’s easy to understand why the VMS and Pearl trusted him.  Very nice character work!

American Vampire #30 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (artist), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: Pearl and Skinner continue tracking down vampires in Hollywood while Henry lies old and close to death.

The Review (with SPOILERS): 

1. Pretty big event on final pages! – Is this the first sex we’ve seen in the pages of AV?  Maybe we’ve seen Pearl and Henry together, but this is definitely the first hot and naughty sex.  Remember when AV started, people just rolled their eyes and said they were sick of vampires?  But, this lack of sex is just one of the many ways that AV is so different than other vampires stories.  The creators have never fallen back on love triangles when they’ve gotten bored telling real stories.  And because we haven’t had much sex in the series, it hits that much harder when Pearl and Skinner get it on at the end of this issue.  Not only is it just kinda fun to watch a vamped out sex scene in AV, but it really puts an exclamation point on the problems in Pearl and Henry’s relationships: She can love him all she wants, but the fact is that he’s going to die and leave her alone, and maybe she doesn’t want to be alone.

2. Vulnerabilities make the AVs more interesting. – It was very refreshing seeing Pearl bite off more than she could chew in this issue when she jumps onto the boat and gets attacked by the normal vampires.  So far in the series, the AVs have been kinda portrayed as virtual superheroes without many vulnerabilities.  They’re stronger, faster and can go out in the sun.  Every time they fight regular vampires, they make instant work of them, but seeing Pearl behaving recklessly and almost dying was a nice reminder that the AVs aren’t invincible, and it also made the sex scene with Skinner a little more believable.

3. Still don’t understand the Henry problem. – The Henry situation has always bothered me and I’ve never understood why Pearl wouldn’t just make him a AV.  There’s always this sense that vampirism is a horrible curse once you get past the superpowers and the fact that everyone suddenly finds you super-sexy.  You know….all that “creature of the night” and “loss of humanity” claptrap that you hear about in Twilight or True Blood.  But, here’s the thing….Pearl’s life doesn’t seem so bad and neither does Skinner’s.  Sure, they have people who try to kill them sometimes, but Henry already has endured that risk by association.  Just make the guy a AV already.

American Vampire #29 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: Pearl and Skinner sniffing out vampires in 50’s Hollywood.

A few things (with very minor SPOILERS): 1). The art is great. – It’s easy to carry on about how well Rafael Albuquerque draws his action vampire scenes.  His vampires are so nasty looking and energetic that they really spoil us.  A True Blood vampire – with their wussy fangs snapping into place – just isn’t very scary anymore.  But Albuquerque also is able to ace all the quiet panels where he needs to command the scene through clever use of perspective, framing, level of zooming in, detailed backgrounds, proper looking machines, etc..  Love the difference between his vampires at rest and regular people….the vampires just have this smoldering tension about them whereas the people look kinda dopey.  Dave McCaig is all over the colors in this issue too.  Usually if you actually notice a colorist, it’s because they are doing something great or something terrible and McCaig was definitely adding to the visuals in this issue.

Batman #11 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

Back-up by: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Dezi Sienty (assistant editor) & Marts (editor)

The Story: The “final battle” between Batman and his evil brother (?) Lincoln March.  Stuff is revealed….

The Review: 1). Just an epically good Batman story. – As a personal aside, it’s not a big secret that I’ve been souring on the world of superhero comics for some time.  I buy more Vertigo titles than I do DC and Marvel combined.  It isn’t that I don’t like these characters, it’s that I’ve already read them in hundreds of issues and it takes a very special creative team to make it feel special.

American Vampire #28 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (artist), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared K. Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: It’s 1950’s Hollywood and the pinko movie crowd isn’t just hiding communists, they’re hiding vampires too!

A Few Things (with SPOILERS):

1. Comfortable cast of characters. – This story was like a comfortable pair of blue jeans.  Even though all the arcs of AV tie together, this was the first time in awhile where we haven’t had to remember some slight connection among supporting characters to make the story click.  Everything in this issue flows directly from the first story arc as the story centers around Pearl and Henry and vampires in Hollywood.  It’s nice to be able to sink effortlessly into the story without trying to remember relationships between John Book’s family.  The other arcs aren’t bad, but this issue really drove home who the main characters of the series are (in my mind at least).

2. A little wordy in a place or two (gasp). – This is a nit-pick, but over the years I’m poured so much honey on the scripting of Scott Snyder, that I DO have to point it out when he has a clumsy paragraph….just for the sake of preserving objectivity.  The opening monologue in this issue does run on for a few sentences too long and the sentence constructions get a little clunky in places.  Honestly…..you’d just shrug it off with most comic writers, but with Snyder it’s like seeing an elite athlete make a bit of a mess out of something; it’s Michael Jordan missing a dunk.  Is it a fatal flaw for the issue?  Hell no!  To continue the sports analogy, Snyder recovers to have his customary 32 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot…..  But, it is evidence that Snyder is human and not some weird alien from the Planet of Writing.

3. The diverse skills of Rafael Albuquerque. – I really enjoy how Albuquerque seems equally comfortable with all aspects of sequential art.  It has to be liberating for a writer to collaborate with an artist who doesn’t have any glaring weak spots.  Albuquerque draws wonderful vampires.  They just ooze evil intentions when he shows their jaws protruding and their fingers getting elongated.  He does great sequential action.  He’s comfortable with all manner of perspectives and poses on characters.  And he also seems to really enjoy drawing things like the metal skeleton behind the Hollywood sign and cars and houses and desks.  I simply love his artwork.  There seems to be nothing in AV that was drawn that way because Albuquerque envisioned something else, but knew he couldn’t draw that.

American Vampire #25 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: This 50’s era arc wraps up with a big battle between Skinner & Travis.

A Few Things: 

Everything ties up nicely. – The last time it seemed like Scott Snyder was taking us in a brand new direction was the Las Vegas arc (roughly #6-#10).  At the time, it seemed only loosely connected to the first arc of AV and I wondered if AV was going to be a series of loosely connected arcs.  This arc again seemed quite different as we had a new protagonist and only the loosest of ties to the previous material, until this issue where (again) Snyder has tied all the action up nicely.  It’s just so damn clever.  By writing this way, Snyder is keeping each arc very accessible to the new reader but THEN making it pay off for the long-timers.  What can I say? Month after month Snyder shows how he’s more talented and more devoted than the typical comic writer.  No wonder all the cool artists want to work with him!  [As an aside, let me say how annoying the naysayers are who say, “Yeah?  Well, Snyder’s comics are great, but he DOES work with nothing but the best artists!”  That makes it sound as if Snyder has either (a) hit the lottery of artist assignment over and over again or (b) that artists have no choice in who they choose to work with.  It’s a virtuous cycle: Snyder and great artists want to work together because they want a partner of comparable skill and level of devotion.  I guarantee you that if I started to write a comic, I would have exactly ZERO A-list artists wanting to work on the project because I’m not that good of a writer.]

Two or three cool twists at the end. –  SPOILERS…  Three… Two… One… Okay, how cool was it that Skinner is working with the Vassals?  Talk about strange bedfellows!  But then, history is FULL of stories of kinda-enemies coming together to deal with a greater threat.  It happened in WWII when the USA, Great Britain teamed up with the Soviet Union to fight the Axis.  Heck, it happened in The Hunger Games.  Nevertheless, I never saw this twist coming.  I wonder what Pearl’s role in this was (if anything) since the Vassals know about her?  Or is it just leftover from the Vassals/Skinner team up in WWII?  Of less import was the double cross on Travis by the young girl.  I guess it really doesn’t matter to the AV story longer term, but it was still really unexpected and the way Travis sniffed it out shows that he isn’t distracted by a pretty girl.  And the final twist was in the Epilogue….  Let’s just say that I doubt this long-term, well-developed character will go out in an Epilogue.  Will he become a vampire and if so, will he be an old-school vampire or an American Vampire?  It’d be kinda cool from a dramatic standpoint if he were old-school, right?

American Vampire #24 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: Fighting vampires on the hood of a speeding car.

A few things: 

1. Very smoothly written. – How do I know that Scott Snyder has a gift with the English language?  It’s because I don’t mind his narration boxes.  Using narration boxes as a primary element of storytelling usually annoy me: they’re overwrought (“Gotham is a living beast…blah…blah”) and usually are attempting to make up for other deficits in the storytelling OR they are duplicating things that the art already tells us.  But, I’ll be damned if Snyder doesn’t make narration boxes work.  Some of his success stems from how he uses the boxes; past tense color commentary versus present tense pointing out the obvious.  But, I also think Snyder is just a better writer than we usually get in comics.  He’s probably too good for comics.  His words flow.

2. Fun story that adds to the AV universe. – Travis is a great addition to the AV mythos.  He’s just some hardscrabble kid whose family was killed by vampires and he is meting out his revenge one vampire at a time.  I enjoy the Vassals of the Morning Star as a concept, but the Vassals are an ancient European society of vampire hunters.  Their secret society nature is kinda like European royalty.  Given the themes of this book, it makes sense that we’d see a character like Travis who is quintessentially American: He’s on the same side as those Euro-tinged Vassals, but he’s his own man, pulled himself up by his bootstraps and he’ll kill vampires his own way, thank you.  And we see some of that attitude in his rejection of the Vassals in this issue.  Actually, in hindsight it makes sense that the Vassals were more instrumental in previous arcs that took place before World War II.  After WWII, America really emerged as the sole western superpower, so I wonder if Snyder is using Travis as an allegory?  Are the Vassals going to be proxies for France and represent an increasingly ineffective ally?  Heck, I wonder if we’re going to see vampires as a proxy for communism or used as a “red scare”?

3. Typically wonderful art from Albuquerque. – I’ve really enjoyed this arc from Albuquerque.  In some ways, I think he’s gone back to the style that he was using at the beginning of this series that was a little more cartoony and open, but on certain panels he’s still ramping up the vibrancy from the characters (like in that tight panel of Travis hanging off the front of the speeding car…Wow).  Man, do I love this guy’s art! This is a rare comic that actually merits a reread just to focus on the art.  There is some goody in every panel.  Take this panel where he shows a mouth gag being removed from young Travis’ mouth…THAT could be a really dull panel, but Albuquerque puts some blood on his face (so you know he’s been smacked around) and puts a trail of spittle from the gag to Travis’ lips, that trail of spittle (a) indicates the action in the scene because without it you wouldn’t know which way the gag was moving and (b) shows that this cork thingie is a gag that was deep in Travis’ mouth.

American Vampire #23 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (artist), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared Fletcher (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: The Death Race arc gives us a little background on our new vampire hunter, Travis.

Four Things: [SPOILERS]

1. This is a background issue. – Last issue introduced a bunch of brand new characters, so the creators had some background work to do.  They do a pretty nice job of showing us bits of that background in scenes that bounce back and forth with the titular “present day” death race between Travis and the vampire.  Honestly, this is a hard issue to pull off.  We readers DO need a little background on new characters, but getting that background can be like eating your vegetables.  The creators make those vegetables about as tasty as possible and remind me of a cooking truism: If you cook something in bacon fat and garlic, just about anything tastes good.  I’m not sure who of Snyder and Albuquerque is bacon fat and who is garlic, but the same truism applies.  Not only does the background give us information about Travis and the other characters, but it also opens up interesting mysteries for the creators to play with in future issues.

2. Very nice art. – As some of you know, I bind my single issues into hardcovers.  One really cool thing about that is you get to revisit early issues and appreciate how much an artist’s style changes over time.  I’d observed this in AV as Albuquerque’s style had changed a little by the end of the Ghost War arc.  But the art in this issue looks very much like what he was doing at the beginning of the series.  I almost wonder if he went back to revisit those first few issues and found himself inspired.  The characters in this issue go back to that smoother look that they had in the beginning and I like it.  There’s so much to love about Albuquerque’s work.  Just seeing the work he does with the brush on his backgrounds and the way he scatters ink and white-out (?) all over the place is kinda mesmerizing.

American Vampire #22 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (artist), Dave McCaig (colors), Jared Fletcher (letters), Joe Hughes (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: We jump forward to the 1950’s for another vampire story from Snyder & Albuquerque

Five Things: [SPOILER WARNING]

1. Great to be back into the “ongoing” story” – I saw a few reviewers (not me) who expressed some displeasure with the last story arc featuring Jordi Bernet on art.  That story was a look at Skinner Sweet and John Book in the late 1860’s and it felt a little like a flashback because [SPOILERS] Skinner had died in the preceding arc and also just because it was in the past.  That’s probably not the proper way to look at this story given that the really isn’t a current timeframe to make that story “the past” and that there’s a decent chance that Snyder and Albuquerque are telling one BIG story in semi-non-linear fashion.  Still, this story felt like it had forward momentum and a sense of newness about it.

2. Nice bit of misdirection as to the identity of the vampire(s). – I love how this story opens with it being very unclear who the vampires are.  You start out thinking for SURE that it is the teenage guy driving the muscle car.  He even has a “Skinner Sweet look” about him.  So, you worry about what’s going to happen to this cute girl that he’s dating.  Thus, I loved the plot twist when it became clear that the parents of the girl were the vampires and the kid was a vampire hunter who was just using the girl to get to the parents (who were using the girl to bring them the boy, LOL).  There was just something about the way Albuquerque drew the parents coming out of the house, they kinda stick to the shadows and then McCaig gives the father a dot of a red eye in one panel.  It doesn’t conform that they’re vampires, but it’s enough to start your brain churning before the reveal a few pages later.  And there are lots of subtle clues in the dialog too (“they’ll chew you out.”).  It’s the kind of well-executed reveal that I wish more comics devoted themselves to because it shows that not only do the creators have a cool idea, they also understand the mechanics of a sequential storytelling well enough to pull off the reveal.

3. Neat new characters. – This new teenage, James Dean-esque guy named Travis Kidd sure is nifty.  Love his attitude.  Love that he’s a self-trained vampire hunter.  How’d he learn to do that?  How long has he been on the radar of the Vassals of the Morning Star, yet staying outside of their system?  Questions abound and they’re all juicy.  And the new girl is fun too.  In a way, they remind me of Pearl and Henry from the first few story arcs.  Not sure why that is given that neither of them is a vampire, but they have this same vibe of two people who are both “involved” in the vampire world, but a little outside of the “mainstream” vamp vs. Vassals conflict.

American Vampire #18 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Rafael Albuquerque (artist), Dave McCaig (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer), Joe Hughes (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: The final issue of the WWII/Pacific-theatre story is here.  Some folks will survive and some won’t.

What’s Good: I’m going to pick at a few things below, but overall….this is another strong entry for the award-winning series.  The big event of this issue is the showdown between Pearl and Skinner.  Not only is this a fight between the two American Vampires (that we know of), but there’s all kinds of residual and complex issues going on between the two: Pearl is defending her human husband and probably has some issues with the fact that Skinner made her a vampire in the first place….Skinner also reveals that he has some issues with Pearl that go beyond him just being a jackass.  So, there is a lot more to this fight than mere fisticuffs.  You’ll just have to read it, but it makes clear why Skinner has been on the lookout for Pearl and Henry for decades and why he has it in for Henry.

We also get a few cool cliffhanger events in this issue.  One major character sure seems dead, but this being comics, you can’t really be sure.  It seems like we have closure on the island of feral Japanese vampires, but since it happens off-panel, we can’t be entirely sure of what happened.  There is a really cool cliffhanger final panel where we might have a new American Vampire, and you have to wonder what that’ll mean for Pearl.  AND, there is even a major character who might be vampirized too.  He did get bitten and nothing is really said about the bite (although a full panel is devoted to it), so I guess we’ll just have to see.

There is even another example of Snyder not taking the easy way out of a scene.  At one point, the protagonists are tossed into the ocean with the feral vampires below them and Snyder comes up with a very cool reason why the vampires can’t just swim up to grab them.  I love the way Snyder takes this neat idea and just tosses it away after a page because it makes me feel confident for the future of the series.  Weaker writers construct 6-issue stories around this sort of idea, but Snyder uses it for a page and then moves on.

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.

American Vampire #15 – Review

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

The Story: Henry’s gang of vampire hunter/soldiers runs for their lives on the Japanese island of Taipan in WWII.

What’s Good: Fun and exciting story?  Check!  A sense of mystery?  Check!  Great art?  Check!  I feel like I say those things every month about American Vampire and it is truly one of the most consistently excellent books on the market.  Seriously, if you haven’t been reading, get the first two hardcovers and catch up.

The first couple of issues of this story arc had a lot of ground to cover to establish this story: Henry joining the U.S. military and being sent with a team of secret vampire-killer commandos to deal with possible vampires on the Japanese held island of Taipan and keep the vampires from interfering with U.S. forces landing on the island.  All of this is set against the backdrop of Henry and Pearl’s strained relationship as he ages and she doesn’t and whatever schemes Skinner Sweet and the secret society of vampire hunters back at Pearl Harbor have going.  What’s great about all the plotting and scheming is the reader never gets the feeling that says, “I know what’s going to happen next!”  Life is too short to read predictable stories and given how inundated a modern reader is with “story” in all forms of media, it is a real testament to Snyder & Albuquerque that they can keep us guessing about what’s next.

This is also a mostly all-action, run-for-your-fucking-life kinda of story as these weird feral vampires descend upon our band of soldiers.  One thing stands out in this action further drives home what a gifted writer Snyder is.  At one point, one of the soldiers is rapidly transformed into a feral vampire and comes after the good guys.  Snyder proceeds to show us the scene where the other characters pause to discuss how their vampiric buddy [paraphrasing] “didn’t even know who we were.  he just came after us”.  That scene can be pretty cliché because we’ve all seen it countless times in vampire/zombie movies, but Snyder is able to power through the cliché by wrapping it with a discussion of the nature of these new vampires (and probably a little bit of accumulated good will from the entirety of the series).  It just goes to show that some writers can pull off a challenging scene when other folks would struggle.