American Vampire | the m0vie blog

The Spirit Archives, Vol. 12 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Darren

The Spirit Archives, Vol. 12 marks Will Eisner’s return to the strip. To be fair, the writer and artist had returned for the last two entries in the previous volume, but this is the first book entirely composed of Eisner’s post-war Spirit stories. While I don’t think Eisner had quite found his groove yet – the best was still yet to come – it’s amazing how dynamic the comic feels after reading the non-Eisner material. It’s easy enough to point to the Eisner-esque tropes and tricks, the techniques and the plot devices and the philosophy that faded from the strip in has absence, but there’s also something much less tangible here. There’s certain energy, a je ne sais que, that had been absent for the previous couple of years, returning in force.

Eisner is back. And, in a way, so is The Spirit.

It’s like he was never gone…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Vampire, Eisner, history, holocaust, Mike Richardson, Post-war, Scott Snyder, Spirit, The Spirit: Femmes Fatale, Twentieth Century, United States, Wars and Conflicts, Will Eisner, World War I, world war ii | Leave a comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 4 (Review)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Darren

This October, to get us in the mood for Halloween, we’re taking a look at some awesome monster comics. Check back in every Monday this month for a review of Scott Snyder’s American Vampire Saga.

American Vampireis a wonderful vehicle for Scott Snyder to explore his obvious fascination with the social history of the United States. In this fourth volume of the series, Snyder brings the action into the fifties. The fifties time that seemed to be rife with great social change coming out of the Second World War. However, despite those origins, they would ultimately just serve as a prelude to the more dramatic social developments during the sixties. This collection of issues allows Snyder to hint on a number of familiar themes that fit quite well with the setting, including the conflict between old and new – something that has been at the heart of the series since the very beginning.

Grabbing the snake by the… whatever it is you grab snakes by…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Vampire, Death Race, elvis presley, Marv Wolfman, People, Protagonist, rafael albuquerque, Rock and roll, Scott Snyder, Severed, Skinner Sweet, Snyder, sweet, Tomb of Dracula, Travis, United States, vampire, Vampire Diaries | Leave a comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 3 (Review)

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Darren

Scott Snyder’s American Vampire continues to barrel towards the present, with this third volume in the saga exploring the secret history vampires during the Second World War. As great as the series is, I do find myself feeling just a little bit sad with every step that Snyder takes towards the present day, as it means the series is one step closer to being over and done with, finished. I have no doubts that it will read astonishingly well from cover-to-cover when that happens, but it doesn’t mean I won’t miss watching Snyder’s exploration of American history through a darkly fantastic lens as it unfolds.

Jump on in…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Vampire, Comics, ghost war, rafael albuquerque, Scott Snyder, Sean Murphy, survival of the fittest, vertigo | Leave a comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 2 (Review)

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Darren

What happens to those childhood monsters when there are no more shadows to hide in? Do they leave? Do they move on? Or do they simply learn to live in the light?

– Cashel McCogan pretty much sums up American Vampire

The more I read, the more I like Scott Snyder’s American Vampire. The author has proven himself quite adept when it comes to writing comic books, handling his short stint on Detective Comics with great skill and proving a worthy scribe for Swamp Thing. Outside the mainstream superhero books, Snyder has defined himself as one of the leading writers of comic book horror. He did an outstanding job on Severed, but his on-going American Vampire might be the finest work I have read from the writer.

No bones about it, this something special…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Vampire, arts, Bram Stoker, Chats and Forums, Death Race, halloween, horror, Interview with a Vampire, los angeles, Otherkin, People, rafael albuquerque, Scott Snyder, Skinner Sweet, Snyder, stephen king, swamp thing, United States, vampire | Leave a comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 1 (Review)

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Darren

In the end, though, it’s all about giving back the teeth that the current “sweetie-vamp” craze has, by and large, stolen from the blood suckers.

– Stephen King’s introduction to the collection

Stephen King, who wrote the origin half of this collection based off Scott Snyder’s notes, remarks in his wonderful foreword, “Here’s what vampires shouldn’t be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and only work at night; lovelorn southern gentlement; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes.” American Vampire seems to be a strong rebuttal to all those modern and soft depictions of the blood-sucking monsters we’ve been swamped with over the last decade or so.

If that isn’t enough to at least interest you, then I don’t know what will.