review: American Vampire (graphic novel)

Now most of you may know my stance on recently released vampire books, namely The Twilight Saga which is EVIL, but Excuse the Quality recommended American Vampire and his recommendations are usually pretty spot on. However the biggest draw was Stephen King's involvement with this series.  Not only is he a co-author for the first volume but he also wrote an awesome forward called Suck on This. His forward  glorifies the return of vampires as "cold blooded killers" and denounces the wimpy "dewy-eyed" vamp.

With Stephen King, the master of horror, endorsing this I had no fear that this series would turn out to be some about whiny bimbo with no goals who lets abusive men make all her decisions (that's my opinion of the Twilight Saga for all of you who didn't catch on there).  Scott Synder (author) and Rafael Albuquerque (artist) are the co-creators for the series.

We follow Pearl Jones, an aspiring actress from the 1920's, and Skinner Sweet, a murder and thief from the Wild West era. Sweet is the first "American" vampire. He is turned by one of the species of the European vamps accidentally by having some blood dropped into his eye. Fearing Sweets' revenge (because all it takes is one drop to turn you), the European vamps have him locked up in a coffin under 60ft of water. Too bad for them, Sweet escapes to wreak havoc on those who confined him. Unlike the European vamps with their classical weaknesses, Sweet can walk in the sun and is actually fueled by it and traditional methods of disposal do not work on him (sunlight, wood, or silver). Instead he's most weak during moonless nights. And if you want to kill him, it's best to use gold, otherwise he's basically immortal.

Thus he's still around in the 1920's to meet Pearl Jones. Now Pearl is in Hollywood trying to become an actress. And when some bigwigs invite her to a very swanky soiree she accepts (despite Sweet's warning) thinking that she might be a better part. Unfortunately, she gets eaten but Sweet finds her and, as I said, all it take is one drop - now we have two American Vampires. And the shenanigans begin!

With excellent plot and art, American Vampire should be in every 13 year old's (and everyone else's) bedroom. I give American Vampire 5 out of 5 stars. But don't just take my word for it - check out Excuse the Quality's review.