Before I get into my reviews this week (as always Beware of Spoilers!), I wanted to point out some great books that are not getting the full review treatment: ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #6 continues to be my favorite Avengers book, AQUAMAN #5 pushed the series in the right direction and like Daredevil is one of the more fun superhero comics coming out of the Big Two, and I VAMPIRE #5 was wickedly entertaining. With that in mind, here are my reviews:

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #23
Vertigo (DC) Comics
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Rafael Albuquerque

I did not review the first part of this story-arc last month, but it was a fantastic opening issue taking place in the 1950s. Travis is living fast killing vampires. Childhood trauma wired him well for it, and he’s been chasing the vampire driving the car in front of him all of his life. Sure the vamp’s got Piper, the girl he was going with to get close to a pair of vamps years before, but he will not let that distract him now.

Travis, as a new character, embodies the 1950s bad boy. Whereas much of this series has focused on specific vampires, this arc makes a human character the central focal point. His backstory is unfolding in slivers, and his methods for killing vampires is grand. (I still love that European vampires and American vampires have different powers and weaknesses.) I kind of saw the big reveal coming at the end, but it was nice to see nonetheless. I thought Snyder might try to stretch it out for a few more issues. I am glad he did not.

Continue reading »