Vampires are everywhere; books and movies and TV shows. There are dolls and stickers and folders and video games – vampires are everywhere. Our culture is enamoured with them, with the romance and the fear and the legends surrounding them. The question everyone should have is: what would the value be in yet another vampire tale?
The answer is simple: we’ve borrowed vampires from everyone else. Now, one of America’s greatest horror writers has put pen to paper to create a new vampire mythos – one that belongs to America. Dragon’s Lair’s Signings Coordinator, Robbie J. LaBanca read this new story from Scott Snyder and Stephen King.
Writer:
Scott Snyder, Stephen King
Art & Cover: Rafael Albuquerque
1:25 Variant Cover: Jim Lee
40p FC $3.99
Scott Snyder teams up with Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King to bring you a thrilling tale of a new kind of vampire. An American Vampire.
This isn’t your grandmother’s vampire tale. There are no lavish castles, filled with candelabras nestled in the rolling hills of Romania. In the first issue of this five-issue story, we first meet Pearl, the would-be Hollywood starlet, trying to make it in the infant world of moving pictures during the 1920’s, while working three jobs to pay the rent. Things start to look up for Pearl when the handsome star of the film she is an extra in takes a liking to her and invites her to attend an opulent party hosted by the film’s producer.
The handsome actor’s statement that the producer is going to “gobble her up” isn’t far from the truth – and that is where I will leave you.
The next story, written by the master of horror himself (Stephen King), introduces us to Skinner Sweet via William Bunting who retells his first-person account of the unbelievable events that unfolded during a train-robbery gone horribly wrong. Skinner attempts to rob a train, as we are led to believe he has done many times before (in addition to countless other felonies) without accounting for one special passenger who doesn’t go down as easily as the others.
William Bunting tells this story to the world via a novel he writes titled Bad Blood, convinced that no one would believe the tale unless it was published as fiction. The events that unfold after the robbery gone wrong changes what would have been Skinner’s untimely demise into the beginning of a whole new tale. The two tales will be soon become one as the story continues in the next four issues and I am personally delighted to watch how Scott Snyder and Stephen King masterfully weave them together.
Rafael Albuquerque’s art lends a interesting, cinematic feel to the story. His saturated colors and odd, angular perspective choices bring a noticeable interest to his art that works in a tight harmony to Snyder and King’s melody. Albuquerque’s lines are reflective of the plot and become less contained and more wild as the plot goes flying off the tracks like a train coming loose from the tracks.
In King’s inaugural attempt in comics, I feel he is more than simply successful. Although he is not slated to continue past the first five issues, I am looking forward to how he and Snyder work together to bring America it’s very own vampire mythos. In an area where there are vampires in every tween novel, TV show and big-box store poster rack, it is refreshing to read a well-thought out tale of personal horror written for a mature and intelligent audience.
All comics reviewed are out this week and are available at your local Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy®!
