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American Vampire #7
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Art/Cover: Rafael Albuquerque
Price: US $3.99
Release Date: October 6, 2010

***CAUTION: This Review Contains Spoilers!***

Chief McCogan, Agent Straw, and Felicia Book go see the man in question from last issue, Jim Smoke.  Skinner Sweet, if you’re nasty.  They question the woman (Mr. Albuquerque draws really pretty!) that had relations with the victim, Howard Beaulieu.  She’s got an alibi.  After seeing her, such a tiny thing, McCogan concludes that she couldn’t have been able to take down a man of Beaulieu’s size.  The hunt for the killer is still on.  Later that night, Sweet appears in Felicia’s hotel room.  He knows who she is.  He came to welcome her to Las Vegas and remind her that he can’t be touched.  He has immunity.  Such an arrogant bastard, that one.

The next day, McCogan, Straw, and Book head out to the Hoover Dam to question Mr. Filmot, one of Beaulieu’s partners on the dam project.  Filmot tries to point the finger at one of the dam workers until Chief McCogan shows Filmot  a picture of Beaulieu’s body completely drained of blood.  Filmot gets a little nervous and excuses himself to make a phone call.  The voice on the other end tells him not to worry, and that a team has been sent out to investigate.  Before the conversation can finish, a fanged creature steps out from the shadows of Filmot’s office.  Outside, McCogan hears the screams, but when they get inside it is too late.  The body count is now up to two.

Out in Arrowhead, California, a man and woman are posted to surveillance on a peaceful looking little home.  They are watching “the deadliest vampire on Earth.”  Pearl Jones….

Alright!  We’ve got our two favorite vampires back in the addictive pages of American Vampire, once again!  What the gentleman says about Pearl being the deadliest vampire on Earth confirms my suspicions.  Pearl is a badass!  I can’t wait for the next issue so we can be clued in on Miss Jones’s adventures!  I like how this series has been centered on Cashel McCogan’s murder investigation.  It is a rather intriguing detective story that gives me no doubt whatsoever that Detective Comics will be in fully capable hands with Scott Snyder.  There is quite a lot of story for your $3.99, here, as well.  It is easy to lose yourself in an issue of American Vampire, much like you would in an episode of your favorite cable network’s original series.  The only difference is, it is more entertaining than what you can see on television.  It tops them all!  American Vampire runs circles around the likes of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire!

Before we move on to the next issue, I would encourage you, if you haven’t already, to go and get your hands on THIS:

The American Vampire hardcover, volume one.  It’s a beautiful book!  Not only do you get the great first cycle of American Vampire all inside one cover, but it is loaded with extras!  Extras like character sketches by Rafael Albuquerque, a variant cover gallery, and script excerpts from Scott Snyder and Stephen King!  All of that for only $24.99!  That’s a freakin’ steal!  It is a definite “must have” for the American Vampire fanatic, and it would be the perfect way to introduce yourself, or someone you love, to the series!  What’s more is that it debuted on the New York Times Best Seller List!  Congratulations to Team American Vampire, from all of us here at Comic Attack!

American Vampire #8
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Art/Cover: Rafael Albuquerque
Price: US $3.99
Release Date: November 10, 2010

***CAUTION: This Review Contains Spoilers!***

Cashel McCogan.  An honest, hard working chief of police that gives his all to protect his people, much like his father did as chief, before him.  Cashel’s father was killed, shot in the back, and Jim Smoke is the prime suspect.  Agent Straw and Felicia Book have just told Chief McCogan that the murders that are happening are being done by vampires, and that they are not really federal agents.  They are members of an organization called The Vassals of the Morning Star.  They’re vampire-killers.  Chief McCogan thinks what any straight-laced man would think in this situation.  He thinks they are full of crap.  He starts to change his tune, however, after he witnesses a winged creature (think, Man-Bat.  Only, more badass!) crash a limousine it was carrying through the air.  The limo belonged to another head of the Hoover Dam project, Blaine Isbelle.  That leaves only one other member of that group alive.  Mr. Gracie.  McCogan, Straw, and Book head over to the Gracie estate to warn him, but he’s already aware of the vampires.  The four men who were funding the Hoover Dam project went to a group of vampires and asked them to join as a fifth, silent partner.  Things go wrong at the Gracie estate when a man from Cashel McCogan’s past steps out from a corner of the room and turns into the winged creature.  Now Gracie is dead, and the winged vampire escapes yet again.

In Arrowhead, California, Pearl and Henry come home to find the two strangers waiting for them.  They are Linden Hobbes and Abilena Book (yes, THAT Abilena!).  They are also members of the vampire-killers known as The Vassals of the Morning Star.  Hobbes and Book want Pearl to tell them how to kill her kind.  They want to go after Skinner.  Pearl tells them to leave.  She’s not killed anyone since 1925, and she wishes to be left alone so she can continue her peaceful existence.  The two leave, but not before telling Pearl where they are staying in case she changes her mind.  Later at the hotel, Abilena has a visitor.  Someone is ready to talk, but it’s not who we’re expecting.

Put on your shorts and flip-flops, folks!  Things are starting to heat up!  There’s vampire-killers in town and the muscle for the group of vampire investors have just come into town, too, to do their own investigation on the murders.  I have a feeling that there is going to be tons more blood come issue #9!  I can’t say enough about this series.  Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque are hard at work to make this book the best damn book on the shelf each month, and they are succeeding.  Everyone has that one book that they just can’t wait to get their hands on every month.  American Vampire is that one for me.  Give it a try and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  If you’re right there with me, you already know what I mean.  Do yourself a favor and put down that tired, over exposed super hero comic book, and pick up American Vampire.  You’ll thank me in the morning!

While you’re impatiently waiting for December 1st to get here, go check out our interview with the man himself, Scott Snyder!

Aron White
aron@comicattack.net