The Short Goodbye
THE GOOD
Scott Snyder and Rafael Albequerque have been knocking it out of the park in the pages of American Vampire, and the developments of this issue indicate that that won't change when the book returns in several months. I'm especially interested to see what goes on with Abilene Book and a certain something in a certain room in her house (spoilers ain't cool).
This ties into the above paragraph, but I really liked the vision of the future that happens in this issue. We see the return of a character, Vegas, and a muscle-bound sleeping vampire. Those are all really cool things that I can't wait to see. I will absolutely be there to see all of those things and the rest on that beautiful double-page spread.
THE BAD
I felt like this issue was much shorter than previous issues. Maybe that's because the preceding issues in this arc dropped bombshells like chickens drop eggs, or maybe that's because the whole purpose of this issue appears to be about three pages: the two pages with the vision of the future, and the page that talks about the Gray Trader. Everything is really filler for those three pages, and there are few words so it goes by really fast. I don't feel like this issue will stick with me, unlike the last three issues of American Vampire.
There are too few things here to really make this a hiatus issue. I'm more excited than ever for this series to return. None of my excitement was tempered by this issue, and this issue doesn't even offer any resolutions. My ideal hiatus issue offers resolutions for the story, but has something like a last page twist that also keeps me excited for the series to return.
THE VERDICT
When Snyder and Albequerque bring this series back it'll be nothing but good times. This issue does a great job of making me excited for the distant future, but the here and now is kind of disappointing.