By: Scott Snyder & Stephen King (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) & Steve Wands (letters)
The Story: Both of our American Vampire heroes (?) get some payback against their enemies.
What’s Good: I really enjoyed this issue. It has a little bit of everything: Action, love, slimy-yet-cool villains, bad vampire and vampirettes getting staked… And a lot of great Rafael Albuquerque art!
From what I understand, this is the last oversized issue of AV and it ties up both of its story lines with real style. Snyder’s story finishes up what has amounted to an origin story for Pearl as Pearl and her boyfriend lay waste to the old-school Euro-vampires. This is just some cool vampire-staking action and was a lot of fun to read.
For the first time, King’s origin story of Skinner Sweet held a candle to Snyder’s work. I really enjoyed how this story played out with Skinner triumphing over John Book, but making a new enemy along the way. Skinner is really a bad dude, but for some reason I find myself rooting for him because he is fun, irreverent and cool. His character wouldn’t work at all if he weren’t a little likable and I have to give credit to the creators for pulling this off.
One of the things I’ve liked about the characters in AV is that folks mostly keep their human personalities after being turned. Skinner was a villainous bank robber; Pearl was a nice girl who couldn’t harm a fly. In some ways, Skinner has been made a slightly more sedate guy by his change whereas Pearl is not capable of taking down a nest of vampires with a vengeance. I’m looking forward to reading more of their ongoing stories.
I could just copy-and-paste my kudos about Albuquerque’s art each month, but the dude can seriously draw. I love his vampires, especially his “American Vampires” when they instantly grow long fingers and fangs and distend their jaws. Cool stuff!
What’s Not So Good: I really don’t have any complaints about this issue. If I had any disappointment, it was that I was assuming that Pearl was going to turn out to be John Book’s daughter, but alas…. that was not to be.
Conclusion: This was a very good ending to both stories. King will be gone for the next issue, but Snyder and Albuquerque will be just fine without him. This is shaping up to be a really good title for Vertigo.
Grade: B+
– Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion