By: Scott Snyder (writer), Mateus Santolouco (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Steve Wands (letters) & Mark Doyle (editor)
The Story: Let’s catch back up with Pearl, the cute actress who was turned into an American Vampire in the first story arc. And, remember her friend, Hattie?
What’s Good: American Vampire continues to not miss a beat. One of the great things about this series is that there appear to be no throwaway characters. Pretty much everything that Snyder built up in the first story arc of this series is still being used. One of the characters that hadn’t made a second appearance was Hattie, the treacherous roommate of Pearl. There were the two actresses who were living together in 1920’s Hollywood and got along fine until Hattie betrayed Pearl to the vampires. I really liked the way Snyder brings Hattie back into the story and uses her absence to continue this struggle between the old-fashioned vampires and their new-fangled (pun intended) American counterparts. If you thought Hattie was a little screwed up before, that’s nothing compared to how she’ll be after this ordeal. This arc should be a LOT of fun.
It was also great to catch up with Pearl and her human boyfriend, Henry. It just wouldn’t be a vampire story without a little vampire-human love angst, although I do have a quibble that I’ll discuss below. Snyder is really nailing the pacing of comics now. He bounces from one story to the other very seamlessly and builds tension wonderfully for a cliffhanger ending (unlike a lot of Vertigo books that are written for the trade). Bravo!
I’ll admit to being a little worried when I saw an art change on this book, but I needn’t have been. Who knew that American Vampire had a “house style?” I say that because unless you saw the name on the cover, you wouldn’t guess that this wasn’t Rafael Albuquerque. Santolouco’s layouts and style are very similar to Albuquerque’s. I don’t know if that is his natural style or if he is just extremely gifted at mimicking Albuquerque, but it works just fine. What a spoiled guy Snyder is to have these two guys to work with! If you dig a little deeper, you do see some differences. Santolouco’s style is a little softer and his inks are a little brushier, but the effect is still awesome. I’d have no trouble making room on my wall for one of these original pages!
What’s Not So Good: As a comic reviewer, I actually hate it when I have nothing to complain about with a comic. Saying “no complaints” just sounds lazy so I was actually happy that Snyder gave me something minor to harp on. 🙂
Why is there angst about Henry being turned into an American Vampire so that he can be with Pearl forever? It isn’t like he’d be doomed to “forever be a creature of the night” since American Vampires can go out during the daytime. And they don’t have the same weaknesses as normal vampires either. Honestly, there isn’t a lot of downside to him getting turned and the upside is pretty good (immortality with the woman he loves). I guess there is the whole drinking the blood of innocents, but it seems like they could find some sort of Dexter-like solution if they really applied themselves. Or maybe I’m forgetting some other downside to being an American Vampire.
Conclusion: Minor quibble aside, this is another outstanding issue. Snyder is really growing rapidly as an episodic storyteller and the art is top-notch. I wish that Vertigo, Image, etc. could come out with more series like this because I could completely kick my superhero habit if all creator-driven/owned comics were this good.
Grade: A-
-Dean Stell
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