Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Rafael AlbuquerqueGhost War” continues as Henry and his lost unit fight for their lives against a vicious new strain of vampire. Meanwhile, Skinner makes some unexpected moves and Pearl sets out on a perilous journey. The secret vampire war of The Pacific rages on!
I’ll repeat what I said in this week’s Comics Should Be Cheap: “Nazis and vampires. What more needs to be said?” Obviously I was being a bit facetious. While this story is set during World War II, it’s centered on the Pacific front rather than the European (though the upcoming Survival of the Fittest mini will be located on the other side of the globe). Still, World War II and vampires. What more needs to be said? Follow the cut and see… uh… what needs to be said.
Now, there’s a difference between intense and horrifying (at least, in the traditional sense). In, say, alien movies that attempt to scare the viewers, a traditional tactic is the idea of the swarm. However, this sort of scariness is born out of hopelessness rather than the traditional horror feel of something simply being “wrong,” and the feeling of being overpowered can outweigh the true terror of facing something that could otherwise only exist in your nightmares. When this issue opens up with the massive vampire ambush that began in the previous issue, though, Snyder uses a few tricks to keep that otherworldly horror at the forefront, rather than have it be overshadowed by the fear of mathematical doubt. Perhaps the most effective way that he does this is by having the various soldiers (relatively) keep their cool throughout the ordeal. The professionalism of the soldiers lessens the feeling of simple oppressive odds, coaxing the reader to slow down a bit. Upon slowing down, though, the reader fully absorbs not just how many of these creatures are facing the ragtag team, but also how terrifying they are. After a bit of dialogue, these new vampires are revealed to be even worse than expected, and it’s then that the value of numbers comes back into play: not only are these things worse than anything that was expected, there are also tons of them. Now, we have a blend of equal parts terror and hopelessness. That is how you do a swarm scene.
I think that’s enough of an indication of how well Snyder is doing on this book. I will admit, I was a bit skeptical of this book when it started out, but that was mainly because Stephen King’s sections seemed a bit plodding to me (just because you can write a book doesn’t mean you can write a comic). Since then, though, Snyder has really found his comfort zone on this book, and has been delivering great issue after great issue. In particular, he’s been quite good at getting the reader excited for the next issue, and the ending of this one is no exception. I think I know where this is going (and I think that it will tie into what I think Survival of the Fittest will be about), and if I’m right, then I’m excited. If I’m not, though, I think I’ll be even more pleased.
Also, can I say how much I loved the line “Batter up, you piece of shit?”
Of course, you can’t talk about this book without spending some time on Rafael Albuquerque’s art. I’m incredibly happy to hear that Albuquerque is now credited as co-creator, because this book really wouldn’t be the same without him. The way that he draws his vampires makes my skin crawl every time, and that’s just talking about the ones that we’ve seen throughout the book. These new ones? Holy crap does he make them scary. Now, the funny thing is that I often criticize artists for not being dynamic enough, but one of Albuquerque’s greatest talents in terms of sequential storytelling is how he knows when to tone down that energy in order to suit the tone. Whenever there’s “down time” in the story, Albuquerque is able to make it seem that much more uncomfortable by making things seem unnaturally still, though not so much that it hurts the way that the narrative progresses. It’s the classic “it’s quiet… too quiet” approach, only in a visual sense, and it takes a true artist to pull it off without sucking the life out of the story (though maybe that would be appropriate, since this is about vampires). But we can’t forget colorist Dave McCaig, who truly makes this book all that it can be. His choice of colors and his shading give the book the level of complexity and depth that such a story needs to be fully engrossing. Colorists don’t get enough respect in the industry, but it’s guys like McCaig who will hopefully break that prejudice, simply because you cannot ignore the great work that he does.
I think what I like most about American Vampire is the way that it shifts its tone a bit with each story. The first arc had a sort of classic horror vibe to it, with a bit of character-based drama thrown in. The Vegas story had the feel of a big screen mystery, with intrigue and suspense coming to a climax with vampires picking up cars and guns a-blazin’. And now, of course, we have a wartime story that hits all the right notes to evoke the same response that you might get from, say, Saving Private Ryan. The most impressive part, though, is that each of these otherwise wildly different stories are able to retain the series’ unique tone – which makes sense. Humans age as humans do, and the world at large changes to match that, but the vampiric conspiracy at the core of this story is nigh immortal; a decade seems more like maybe a year to them. Most vampire stories seem to be localized within a shorter period of time, though years of mechanization are usually hinted at, but Snyder realizes that such an approach hinders the amount of storytelling potential these timeless creatures of folklore have. I only hope that we’ll be seeing a noir take on vampires, since we’re reaching the post-WWII era where the genre began. Make it happen, Snyder and Albuquerque!
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy it!
