I Don't LIKE Vampires, But I Liked This: American Vampire vol. 1

Hey,
Here's some thoughts on a book that I finally finished.

I Don't LIKE Vampires, But I Liked This: American Vampire vol. 1

Ever since it started coming out last year I've heard good things. American Vampire was not on my personal must-read list when I first saw it solicited. I had never heard of Scott Snyder. And just the idea of another vampire series made my throat fill with bile. The rise of the "sensitive" vampire has been a tough pill to swallow for me as a reader. This is not the kind of vampire that I want to read. While I will concede that vampires can be sexual, they should not be romanticized. Vampires are vicious violent parasites who prey on the vulnerabilities of those who are weaker than they are. This is the original template designed by Bram Stoker in the 19th century. There was no romance, or existential angst involved.

So whose to blame for this shift? It's the commercial economic power of the teenage girl. Teenage girls will buy into anything that plays on their own romantic notions. Having been a teenage girl myself, I can verify this as true. Shrewdly this vulnerability has been cultivated into a commercially viable source of income for a dying publishing industry. I don't blame them at all for getting what they can out of it. However this is not the kind of "vampire" that I am interested in reading about. Maybe it's my age, some jaded cynicism, what have you.

So when it came to American Vampire, I cast it aside. But then I started to hear that this series was good. It was cool. And it was different. Well I picked up the hardcover when I got the chance and found out that this series fulfills the hype. It delivers on the kind of vampire template that I want to read. How delightful! And surprising!

American Vampire is an original series that is set in LA in 1925. The main protagonist is a hard working girl named Pearl, who can barely make ends meet. She ends up trapped by a horrible group of European vampires, which leads to battle between "old school" vs. "new school." Pearl ends up being helped by a charming, slick, white trash vampire named Skinner Sweet. Sweet is the subject of an enjoyable backup story which is written by Stephen King.

I was delighted by the mix of terror and western that Snyder and King bring to the vampire genre. It feels fresh and new and unique. The western genre naturally lends itself to a harsh realism that fits my preference of the violent vampire. These writers have created a darwinist world with the violence to back it up. Praise is also due to brazilian artist Rafael Albuquerque with his bright reds, and monstrous depiction of these frightening supernatural beings. Vampires in this world are not "beautiful" and they don't sparkle. Thank God.

American Vampire is well worth checking out. I urge those who may have been turned off at first to check this book out.