Holy smokes! I mean I knew Sean Murphy was talented, but good god did he kill it on the story he drew. Rafael Albuquerque was his usual amazing self on his section of the book. So what I'm saying is if you like art, read this book. That said, the story was also really awesome. Very action oriented, in pulpy way, that just felt right. If I'm honest the cast of characters that makes up American Vampire is one I don't love (they're good, but I haven't found myself attached to them), but it is fun seeing how Snyder has this story jumping all over the globe and 20th century. So I'm in it for the plot, if not the characters. Snyder didn't really take advantage of the WWII setting which was a shame. The art continues to be fantastic; I love Sean Murphy and I loved Zezelj's work on Scalped. Each artist drew their own arc, Zeselj drew a Skinner Sweet revenge story one-shot, Sean Murphy drew the miniseries Survival of the Fittest, and Albuquerque had a six-issue story arc called Ghost War. I would give each individual story 3 stars by themselves hence the overall grade. None of these stories struck me as anything great. I think this book should focus more on Skinner and Pearl traversing the world, instead we keep getting James Bond-esque story arcs. I don't want car chases and huge explosions, I want a twisted, dark vampire tale told throughout the ages. I still enjoy the stories and I'm certainly in for the ride, but I no longer consider American Vampire to be a classic Vertigo series along the lines of Scalped, Y: The Last Man, and 100 Bullets. Honestly I'm going to have to re-read volumes 1 & 2 and reevaluate the 5 stars I awarded them.My only other qualm is with Scott Snyder's style of writing. He is ALWAYS trying to have some meaningful narrative that comes in at the beginning, disappears, then comes back at the end to wrap it all up. I don't mind him or any other writer choosing to do this, it's just that Snyder does it for almost every issue, he does it with his batman work too.Also SPOILERS: Why does everything have to be world-shattering? An army of vampires and a bomb that will turn nations into blood-thirsty vampire-beasts. Doesn't that sound like a bit much?
Do You like book American Vampire Volume 3. (2012)?
Best book in the series yet. Wonderfully macabre.
—Mia
