After becoming hooked to American Vampire after issue #2 and realizing that the season three premiere of HBO's True Blood is only weeks away, I spent a weekend rewatching True Blood's first two seasons to quench my vampire thirst, unwilling to turn to the faux-literature emo trash that is the Twilight series. As much as I love me some True Blood, the only thing I could think the entire 24 episodes was how much cooler American Vampire bloodsuckers are.
Issue #3 picks up right where the last installment left off, with both Scott Snyder and Stephen King creating narrative parallels with their main characters despite the fact that the stories are separated by decades. Both Pearl and Skinner Sweet have only recently awoken to the realization of what they are and have begun to lash out at those responsible. Usually, that involves buckets upon buckets of blood.
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Snyder's story of Pearl, the recently turned Hollywood starlet, is still the most interesting portion of the book, but I found myself really digging on what King was doing more than I have in ten years. This entry into Skinner Sweet's origin by King is definitely the strongest to date, showing off his supreme chip on the shoulder and his badass violent attitude. The literal interconnectivity between Pearl and Skinner is non-existent in this issue, a first for American Vampire. Now that character establishment is out of the way, issue #3 becomes more a revenge tale than it is even about this new vampire mythos.
While I still approach certain portions of American Vampire with a small amount of caution (King's story), one aspect that has solidified its quality is the art of Rafael Albuquerque, along with the rest of his art team, colorist Dave McCaig and letterer Steve Wands. Every panel, character, layout, color palette decision and sound effect is expertly crafted, resulting in one of the most honest-to-god gorgeous books currently being sold on shelves.
Only three issues in and I'm already fearing that I'm going to run out of words to enunciate just how enjoyable American Vampire is.
