Title: American Vampire Volume 3
Author: Scott Snyder
Artists: Rafael Albuquerque, Danijel Zezelj, and Sean Murphy
Genre: Horror / Action / Adventure
Year Published: 2012
Year Read: 2012
Series: American Vampire #3
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Gory Violence and Strong Language)
Brief Introduction:
I am definitely on the roll with Scott Snyder’s fantastic series, “American
Vampire” and the third volume of this series does not disappoint me! “American Vampire: Volume Three” is probably the most
intense out of the entire “American Vampire” series as Scott
Snyder’s dramatic writing and Rafael Albuquerque, Danijel Zezelj, and Sean
Murphy’s artwork contribute greatly to this volume!
What is the story?
In this volume, there are two
stories being told regarding Pearl
and Felicia Book. In the first story, it
is the 1940s when there is war between America
and Imperial Japan and Pearl’s husband, Henry
Preston, is called into battle to fight off a group of vampires that are
sighted on an island near Japan. Unfortunately, Skinner Sweet happens to be in
the same group as Henry and he is planning revenge on Henry and only Pearl can rescue her
husband from Skinner Sweet! In the
second story, Felicia Book, the daughter of Jim Book, who was killed by Skinner
Sweet, goes on a mission with Cash McCogan to Nazi occupied Romania to find Dr. Erik Pavel, who
claims that he has a cure for vampirism!
What I loved about this comic:
Scott Snyder’s writing:
What can I say? Scott
Snyder’s writing for this series continues to get better and better as the
characters are thrown into new and troubling situations! For one thing, I loved the way that Scott Snyder actually made the story
progress in the timeline as the setting goes from the 1920s to the 1940s and it
really gives the story a more realistic feel to the characters. It is rare that I see many comic books
actually progress the characters forward in time, so this was a welcoming change
for me! I also loved the way that Scott Snyder tied in the historical
aspects of World War II into this story without trying to twist the history of
World War II. Usually, the problems I
find with stories that has historical elements mixed in with fantasy elements is
that sometimes it tries to state that the fictional characters were actually
involved in any kind of historical event that happened in history. What I like about what was being done with
combining the historical aspects of World War II with the fictional characters
of “American Vampire” is that they
never really mentioned any historical figures like Hitler and the stories were
more centered on the characters and their fight against vampirism while using
the historical elements to bring the reader into a whole new world on the idea
of vampires existing in such times. I
also loved the way that Scott Snyder
developed the relationship between Pearl and her husband, Henry, as Henry seems
to have second thoughts about their marriage since Pearl is a vampire and is
much younger than he is and he wanted to feel wanted again. I also loved the way that Pearl and Henry
still cared about each other, despite the fact that Pearl is a vampire.
Rafael Albuquerque, Danijel Zezelj, and Sean
Murphy’s artwork: Rafael Albuquerque, Danijel Zezelj and Sean Murphy
all
contributed greatly to the artwork of this volume as each artwork is scratchy
yet dramatic for these stories! In the
story “Strange Frontier,” where it talks about Skinner Sweet’s former lover,
I loved the way that Danijel Zezelj made the artwork a bit
brighter than what you would normally see in “American Vampire” and I also loved the way
that the characters’ faces are shadowed in which makes them look really
dramatic. The only problem I have with Danijel
Zezelji’s artwork is that sometimes it is hard to distinguish the characters’
facial features since it seems like their facial expressions are lumped into
one expression as there are barely definite linings on the characters’ faces
that could really detail their emotions.
Rafael Albuquerque’s artwork is as usual, brilliantly done as the
artwork is scratchy and yet, it fits perfectly for this type of story. I loved the way that Rafael
Albuquerque illustrates the characters’ facial expressions in a dramatic way as I
really felt the emotions that the characters were feeling. Sean Murphy’s artwork in “Survival
of the Fittest” was extremely well done as the characters’ faces are shadowed in such a
dramatic way and I loved the snow covered landscape when Cash and Felicia came
to Romania!
What made me feel uncomfortable about this book:
As with the previous volumes,
there is some strong language and gory violence in this volume including people
having their heads ripped off and that might be disturbing for anyone who is
not a huge fan of gory violence. As for
the strong language, there are many instances where the characters drop the “f”
bomb and say the “s” word, so readers might want to skim over those words if
they are uncomfortable with reading them.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “American Vampire: Volume Three” is a fantastic volume
where using historical context in a fantasy series is used extremely well and
anyone who is a huge fan of Scott Snyder’s works will easily enjoy
this volume of “American Vampire.”
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