No Metrosexual Vampires to be Found Here
If you thought Scott Snyder was a Batman one trick pony, think again. Together with Stephen King, Snyder weaves a new vampire mythology that undoes all that emo vamp crap we've had to deal with since Interview with a Vampire. This volume goes back and forth between 1925 and 1880 with a couple of stories that quickly become entwined. The 1880 story is neatly wrapped in the frame story that an old guy is recounting the events that he puts into a book. It's the story of Skinner Sweet a ruthless wild west cowboy villain who becomes the first American Vampire. And Snyder couldn't have chosen a better character for the first vampire. Sweet is an unrepentant killer and his personality just gets meaner as a vampire. Of course, Snyder doesn't make him cartoonishly evil. He does have enough of a soft side to help out another character mid-book. But the important thing to know is that he is just about a complete psychopath - not some brooding forever teenager waiting for a girl to help him feel love.
The 1926 story takes place in Hollywood just as talkies are starting to come on the scene. All is not how it seems in Hollywood as a few actors and actresses find out. I don't want to give much more of this story away as it is a very moving story and ends up being the jumping off point for volume 2. Suffice it to say that Skinner does not remain the only American Vampire for long.
Overall, Snyder is telling the story of America from the point of view of a few characters who can live forever. What do they do with this power? Do they become ruthless? Mad? Joyful? And how will they perceive the changes their country makes? Skinner Sweet goes from the West to Hollywood. One lawless area to the next. In the next volume he's in another lawless area, but as America runs out of those, will he run out of places close enough to the world he grew up in? Snyder also uses the animosity between the European Vampires and American Vampires to explore that aspect of America's history. We weren't always the powerhouse we are now. In fact, few countries truly respected America before the aftermath of World War II. So I'd like to see where Snyder takes things between the Vampires as times passes. Also curious if he has non-White vampires as we get into the 1960s and what that might mean for the characters.
Note: This book is DEFINITELY not for kids. Not just because of the violence, but there's also profanity and sex. So make sure you check this book out yourself to make sure you feel comfortable letting the minors in your life read it.
