American Vampire

Marvelous. I liked this more than the first arc of American Vampire. Snyder and Murphy are an amazing duo (re: The Wake) and they have used certain Mignola tropes (undead Nazis? Check.) and created an original story that is compelling, brutal, and high octane thrlling. Another collaboration. Please.

Gritty, fast paced, and bloody (of course), this is a very good graphic series. The artwork full of jagged lines is great and the story is good too. Looking forward to more.

Fantastic read. Got more than I expected.

While the art work was a little "cleaner" than I like in my graphic novels, I really enjoyed the two stories and how they connected. Can't wait for this series to continue.

I've decided to check out more graphic novels at the local library, and have started going through alphabetically. Which is how I found this series, by Stephen King, Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque. It's an adult graphic novel, complete with tons of action and obscenities. It's set back in the 19th and 20th Centuries, in - you guessed it - America. It's about a new breed of vampires; the American Vampire, stronger and less vulnerable than the original European vampire. Of course, the two groups are rivals. Best friends fight each other, and one person welcomes death instead of becoming a monster. It's all very interesting and exciting. The art is great, too - it really portrays the action and danger and monstrosity of the vampires. But I, personally, got a bit lost and confused with the timeline - there are dates and everything, but I often forget them. And all the different characters got a bit confusing for me, too, but that might be because I didn't have the time to sit down and really focus on the novel. I'm still planning on reading the next few volumes of this series. It's really interesting, and I like this new breed of vampires. As for the young girl born at the end..... I wonder where that will go! 3 stars.

If you'll allow me to go off topic from this graphic novel for a bit, I need to tell you about my love affair with vampires. From the time that I was 10 years old, and saw Dracula (the 1931 version with Bela Lugosi of course!), I was absolutely enamored with vampires. I read the original Dracula book, I pawed my way through all the Anne Rice vampire novels (which I probably shouldn't have read at 11, but *shrug*), and my bookish world became centered around finding more vampire reads. Then in 2005 Twilight came out and I was so excited. I bought the book, read it, and promptly threw it across the room. What had happened to my vampires? Where were the cunning and vicious predators that I loved? Keep in mind that I hadn't read much YA at this point. I all but skipped it, with the exception of Lurlene McDaniels books, since my mom essentially let me read whatever I wanted. So I wasn't used to paranormal romance on a YA level, and I was angry. I pushed my vampires away, and moved on to other topics. It wasn't until 2011, when I picked up Enter, Night by Michael Rowe on a whim, that I finally started to fall back in love. Still, to this day, I'm very wary about anything vampire related. I'm always afraid to be burned. Which is why my comic book loving friend had a very tough time convincing me to read American Vampire. He pushed, he prodded, he used my love of Stephen King against me. Finally, I gave in. I have to say that, while I wasn't totally in love with this first volume in terms of the story, I am definitely in love with the vampires here! Putting these characters into the late 1800's and the early 1900's was a brilliant choice. There's nothing more perfect than the vicious deeds of a the notorious Skinner Sweet, set against the backdrop of the Old West. When Pearl Jones, a 1920's silent film actor, was introduced? I was hooked. These two characters couldn't be more different, but the vampirism flowing through their blood ties them together in the best way possible. If you'd allow me, I'd go on for ages about the clever ways that these two stories are tied together. How brilliant Stephen King's writing for Skinner Sweet's origin story is, and how much my heart was happy at the art here. The illustrations are gorgeous, plain and simple. They're gritty and violent. I'm tentatively in love. I'm looking forward to Volume 2, and having a more fleshed out view of these two characters as they move forward. I'm glad I gave in and finally read this, because my bad-ass vampires are back!