Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
American Vampire #22
Vertigo (DC) Comics
Snyder & Albuquerque
The start of a brand new arc brings about a good jumping on point to an outstanding series. This arc, entitled "Death Race", is set during the 1950s with a new (mostly anyway) set of characters. The book provides some nice character work, good story misdirection and some excellent art. Dare I say that if this is the only American Vampire issue that you read you will be entertained, get yourself a complete story and find a nice cliffhanger to come back for more. What else are you looking for in a comic book?
The book is set during the 1950s and plays up to a lot of the Happy Days/American Graffiti stereotypes that make the time period so boring in my opinion. All that is missing are some bomb shelters and TV dinners. However, Snyder doesn't use the time period as the driver for the story. Instead he uses one aspect of it, the drag race, as the book ends to the story. It works to perfection.
Heavy exposition gets us introduced to Travis Kidd. Like a lot of teenagers during the time period he's got a chip on his shoulder. His girlfriend, Piper, comes complete with crazy, overbearing parents that Travis just loves to needle. The showdown between Travis and the parents proves to be a launching point into a bigger adventure that will bring the remainder of the arc to a higher threat level.
Snyder continues to broaden the base of characters in this book that keeps this series from constantly relying on the drawing card of Skinner Sweet. In this issue he manages to play with three or four vibrant and charismatic characters that all have some degree of danger. It will be interesting to see what the main villain ends up looking like in this arc. I can see it being a character from a previous arc or an entirely new character and either way I am up for seeing how the puzzle fits.
The artwork continues to play with the reader's expectations as this issue teases, which character is a vampire. The art is up to the task helping the reader into one direction before jerking them in another as the story demands. The backdrop of the 1950s is done very well too without creating a campy world. As you should come to expect from this book, the visuals are excellent.
American Vampire is not a book just about vampires. It's about characters that usually play government (or military) roles in a world that happens to hold various covens of these creatures. The encounters are deadly and this book captures snapshots of them here and there. If you like a little bit of horror mixed with some noir and intrigue then this is the book for you.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
