Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
American Vampire: Second Cycle #1
Vertigo (DC Comics)
Snyder & Albuquerque
After a prolonged hiatus, American Vampire returns with a world setting issue that comes in with thirty pages of story, a separate recap and a letter to the readers, all for four bucks. The comic book might seem kind of slow and split out into two stories, but the book is a mosaic and the strands get pulled together or collide usually in short order. This comic series is a reminder to me that you can't always judge a book by its first issue. I recall it took until issue four of the first series for me to be completely hooked. My point is: don't be fooled by a slower issue to start this series. There's steam here and it will only accelerate in the next few issues. I highly recommend this book.
Two of the main characters: Skinner Sweet and Pearl Jones take center stage in this issue and it's very fitting where they are now. The setting is 1965 and Skinner is down in Mexico, pulling some crimes and up to his usual level of bad-guy-ness. Whereas, Pearl is taking in orphaned vampire children to protect them from vampire hunters and raise them into strong but "good" vampires. The book has more to it than that though.
Pearl seems to raising her orphans, but into her own little group of allies for the coming war. This is made more likely because Pearl is studying the lineage of the vampires she's acquired. There seems to be a war room-like aspect to these scenes. While this is going on, Sweet finds a brand new threat and it seems to be a real big one. The ending is tremendous.
The mix of dialogue and visuals makes for the perfect reading experience. The visuals provide some dramatic pages to some key scenes. The book makes great use of splash pages at points when you least expect it. The comic definitely has a darker look in this issue, even during winter, than in previous issues in this series. There is a heavy feeling to the artwork and it's fantastic. Even with the darkness, there are still some panels of a slick looking Skinner. The book is visual terrific.
The first issue of American Vampire provides the reader, new or old, with the introduction of two of the main characters. While letting the reader get to know the pair we also get a bit of a taste of the threat surrounding the characters and the time period. The book is usual level of stellar storytelling and amazingly detailed artwork. Welcome back American Vampire. You've been missed.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
