I'm loving this series, which is saying something for me, since it has vampires in it. I love how the story moves through different cities and regions of the US as well as different time periods. Scott Snyder writes a mean script, and I'm impressed with, and really enjoying, that the stories are strongly character driven, yet still feature kick-ass action scenes brought to life by the muted-yet-splashy, loose-but-boldly-lined artwork of both Raphael Albuquerque and Mateus Santolouco. With the premise of the series established in Vol. 1, the second volume is free to start having fun with the set-up, flashing forward in time to see how certain characters have fared, and raising the stakes (eh, sorry) for the continued existence of those characters as knowledge of their somewhat special qualities is dispersed. We see in this volume two members of a vampire-killing squad, and how their actions complicate the efforts of a local Vegas sheriff to find some semblance of justice in his young city. The story here also has some politically-charged elements relating to the construction of Hoover Dam. The revelation of who is funding the dam is just one of the entertaining aspects of this story. Mention must also be made of the gothic-like artwork, which helps to establish a properly mysterious tone for the series. I didn't quite warm to the series after the first collected volume, but after reading this volume, I am fully on board. Overall, the series presents an excellent twist on vampire stories in general, and one that is less formulaic and more gory than both the Twilight series and True Blood.
