American Vampire #8

When the vampire killers finally show up, our heroes are faced with the difficult of decision of whether to turn their secret weakness over.
 

The Good

Tone can make all the difference in the world and I seriously enjoy how mean this title is. There's a hard terseness to all the dialogue that makes me think fondly of provocative historical dramas like There Will Be Blood and it's a nice counterpart to the usually gothic atmosphere these stories have. And Albuquerque's art is an absolute revelation; mercurially shifting from raw intensity to sexy cool.

The Bad

It's hard not to evaluate this without thinking of deluge of vampire fiction that's been raging throughout basically every corner of entertainment, right now. Though the tone and the execution is sharp, I'm not sure what distinguishes this conceptually from other stories that have either taken a contemporary historical look at vampirism or painted the bloodsuckers as the heroes.

The Verdict - 4/5

This is another book where I've unfortunately had to enjoy it piecemeal. I didn't get to read what came right before and I probably won't get to read what comes next but, taking this for what it is, you'll be hardpressed to find too many other comics with execution as tight as this. It's almost like watching an musician at peak performance, as every little gesture is so finely tuned.