American Vampire. Volume 1

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"Suggested for mature readers"--dust jacket back.
"American vampire created by Scott Synder"--T.p.
"Originally published in single magazine form as American vampire 1-5."--Verso t.p.
"A new vampire for a new century. Cunning, ruthless, and rattlesnake mean, Skinner Sweet has a reputation for cussedness as long as he is ornery. As the first vampire conceived on American soil, however, he's not your usual creature of the night. Stronger, fiercer and powered by the sun, Sweet is the first of a new breed of bloodsucker: the American Vampire. Forty-five years after rising from his grave, Sweet finds himself in 1920s Los Angeles, where the young and beautiful are drawn like moths to the burning lights of Hollywood. Something beyond simple human greed is at work here, however, as struggling young actress Pearl Jones is about to discover. When her movie-star dreams are transformed into a bloody nightmare, Sweet provides her only chance for survival as well as the power to take revenge" -- dust jacket back.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Read it. submitted by eknapp on July 24, 2012, 7:06pm Volume 1 tells two parallel stories. First--written by none other than Stephen King--is the tale of Skinner Sweet, an 1880s Western outlaw who has unknowingly stolen from a cabal of Old World vampires; Sweet is accidentally turned in the ensuing hunt and becomes a major thorn in the side of the monied Eurovamps. Told concurrently by Scott Snyder is the story of Pearl, a feisty 1920s wannabe-actress who gets turned by Sweet after being eaten and disposed of by the ubiquitous Old World vampires.

After flipping through AV at a bookstore, I initially decided to pass on reading it. I think it was the cheesy action-movie one-liners that turned me off. A review convinced me to give it another shot, and while American Vampire won't make my all-time-greats list, I'm still glad I did. (I almost walked away again when Stephen King admitted in his intro that his first draft included THOUGHT BALLOONS.)

I really dig Rafael Albuquerque's illustrations. I'm not sure how to describe it...maybe a cross between Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night except not as smeary) and my man Sean Phillips. The vamps are lean, pointy, and scary. The background colors do a great job establishing a mood and setting for each frame. Win.

The dialogue is fine, except when there's fighting. The aforementioned cheesy action-movie one-liners didn't get any better in context. The characters are reasonably well-written when they're not channeling Stallone/Schwarzenegger. Sweet is an utter bastard and easy to hate; Pearl is sympathetic and easy to root for. The supporting cast is similarly good.

AV takes a fairly novel (to my knowledge, anyway) approach to the genre: when the Eurovamps accidentally turn Sweet, he comes back as a new type of vampire, a daywalker with unknown weaknesses. The two camps jockey for power over decades, which sets the stage for a number of promising American historical settings in upcoming volumes. Should be fun.