By: Scott Snyder (writer), Mateus Santoluco (artist), Dave McCaig (colors), Steve Wands (letters) & Mark Doyle (editor)
The Story: Pearl and Henry run into trouble with vampires while unknowingly being followed by an old enemy.
What’s Good: Again, lots of stuff. Go back and read some of the prior reviews for this series on this or other sites and I don’t think you’ll find anyone who isn’t head over heels for this title. At this point, the drama is when will Snyder & Co. toss out a clunker? With monthly comics, it WILL happen but right now I almost read AV like I was watching a pitcher who has a perfect game going in the 6th inning.
Well, the good news is that this is another great issue. The story is interesting and engaging dealing with Pearl and Henry fighting off some vampires (old fashioned style). Boy did those vampires make a mistake when they thought that Henry would be easy prey? But, the thing that is most interesting from an overall plot standpoint is the Henry/Pearl’s relationship and how rooted in true love it is. Who knows what the future holds for this story, but I’ll be very interested to see how this relationship ages as Henry grows old and Pearl does not. Will Pearl continue to be a closet vampire? Does her vampirism gnaw at her? The end-game is pretty obvious: Henry needs to become a vampire, so why not just get it over with?
Of course, it isn’t all just fighting those wussy old-school vampires as Hattie continues to stalk Pearl in a tension filled B-story. The creators do a wonderful job of building Hattie up as creepy and unstable. It is NOT going to be pretty whenever she catches up with Pearl.
Before moving on to applauding the art, let’s also give credit for the 2-part story that we just finished up here. In this era of superhero comics that should be 4-issues, but are extended to be 6 issues so they can be better collected, a 2-parter is almost a lost art. But, 2 issues was exactly the right length for this tale.
Ahhh… The art… It would be a disservice to call Santolouco a “fill in artist” because this guy is really good! While he maintains the same basic look for the comic (with a huge assist in that department from colorist Dave McCaig), I think his style is even more raw and visceral than Rafael Albuquerque. His American vampires just look completely feral and the opening fight scene is just a bloody, noirish thing of beauty. He also makes Hattie into an intensely creepy character with her Joker-esque scars. You would run away from this woman even before you knew she was a vampire. And it isn’t just the characters that are so awesome. He draws the great cars, chairs, lamps, houses, etc. that really set apart a top-notch illustrator. Wow!
What’s Not So Good: I am starting to have a voice in the back of my head that wonders what the bigger picture is? Where is it going? How long is the story? Is this a 30-issue story or is it like TWD or Fables? What’s next now that we’ve seen that AVs can slaughter old-school vampires with impunity?
Not that those are huge problems, but it is often around issue #12 or so that those questions arise. When you read a novel or non-fiction prose work, you can tell where you are in the story and my biggest question is whether we are still in the very early stages or whether there is a LOT more to go. Knowing Sndyer, it is a LOT more, but this is the one thing that always bugs me about comics as a medium: It is often difficult to tell where you are in the story (not to mention that a series can be cancelled for sales reasons).
The only thing holding this issue back from an “A” is a tiny lack of clarity about where this story fits in the larger AV puzzle.
Conclusion: To continue the baseball analogy, the perfect game continues into the 7th inning as Snyder & Co. retire the side in order on 2 strikeouts and a broken-bat dribbler to the first baseman. Seriously, if you aren’t reading this series, what is wrong with you? I don’t know that it’s the “best” in American comics right now, but it is right up there in the top 5 with The Walking Dead and Scalped. Wonderful story and killer art.
Grade: A-
-Dean Stell
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Conclusion