American Vampire #34

Here's the final X review of the week.  Um, that's all of the intro I have for you guys...

American Vampire #34

Summary: This is a tough one to review, so I'm going to hit the broad strokes because, in plain English, I doubt anybody will even read this post.  This issue deals with Gene Bunting heading to the home of a retired Vassal named Abilena Book.  Gene is worried that some guy named the Gray Trader was coming to America, and was hoping Abilena could help validate his suspicions since she had been bitten by a snake creature that gives it's victims visions of the future(yes, really!).  Abilena doesn't want to help Gene because using her future sight "alerts others" so Gene goes to leave.  Before he goes though, Abilena tells Gene not to stop at a hotel that night(due to a vision she had).  With that, Gene leaves and Abilena heads to her basement where a vampire was apparently living.

Thoughts: Um...  Yeah...  This issue was kind of confusing...  I didn't know who Abilena was, I didn't know who Gene was, and I didn't know who the vampire(if it WAS a vampire ) in the basement was...  But that's the problem with this series, I guess.  It bounces around in time so much, and since I usually read like 60 comics between issues of this series, I tend forget most of what happened previously.  I'll remember the main storylines and characters, but bit players like Abilena end up getting lost on me.  That's one of the main reasons I wish DC would dedicate a page at the front of their comics like Marvel does, something that tells you what had happened in the previous issues, as well as who the characters in this issue are, and why I should care.  As it was, I only know a) the Gray Trader is a big time bad guy, and b) this series is going on a hiatus...  Which means that by the time issue #35 drops, I'll have forgotten...  Well, pretty much everything in this series...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

Oh no!  It's Creepy Silhouette Man!!!

A Quick Look At... May 30th's New Releases.

Hey there X-Maniacs, Vampire X here with an unexpected post... Which is better than no post at all... Well, I guess that depends on the person, but I say it's better than no post at all. Although some people would vehemently disagree... Anyway, pointless rambling aside, I read almost all of the comics I picked up at the comic shop yesterday during my lunch break, and figured I'd just throw a quick post out with the score and what I thought of each book in two sentences or less... Yes, in two sentences or less... What?! I have to get to sleep soon! So yeah, I'll do this post today, and then I'll later on in the week I'll try to get a few proper reviews up and posted around here. So that's the plan, let's see how it works out!

American Vampire #27: There's really nothing to say except this comic was good as usual. The ending sets up some great stuff going forward, which is always a good sign!
Score: 8 out of 10.

Wolverine and the X-Men #11: This issue was way better than I expected it to be. Wolverine surprised me a bit here, but in a good way for a change.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

New Mutants #43: Boy am I glad this x-over with Journey Into Mystery is over... Who'd have expected two books that I really enjoy reading to put out such a crappy x-over...
Score: 5 out of 10.

X-Men Legacy #267: If you are a fan of Rogue then THIS was the comic book for you! I'm not much of a Rogue fan(she's alright, I guess...), so naturally this WASN'T the comic for me!
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39: This comic was actually a pleasant surprise... The story was strong(if a bit predictable), and it was basically a good read.
Score: 8 out of 10.

Wolverine #307: Yep, this definitely should have been this week's Runt of the Litter... I can't think of a single good thing to say about this comic, so I think I'll just end things here...
Score: 3 out of 10.

I figured I'd do a post like this in case anybody really wants to talk about one(or more) of these books. Now there's a place to post comments about them, plus you basically know what I thought about each comic. In two sentences or less... And hey, look at that, this post only took me a whopping 10 minutes to do, which is great because now I can close my casket and sleep until the sun sets! Until later, Vampire X out.

American Vampire #26

First comic to be reviewed tonight? Let's head over to Vertigo and Scott Snyder's awesome American Vampire series. Yeah, I think that's a good idea, let's do that!

American Vampire #26:

Summary: Some vampire named Calvin heads to a small town in 1954 Alabama to see a friend of his play a music gig(incognito since Cal doesn't want his friend to know he's there since Cal had faked his death to join the Morning Stars). Cal ends up getting hassled by some of the town's teenagers, but the kids are chased off by an old man. Later on, Cal again runs into the teens, and they try to warn him that the town wasn't what it seemed. At that point the old man comes racing over and smashes one of the teens in the head with his cane before scolding the teen for airing the town's dirty laundry. With that, the old man transforms into some sort of new vampire creature, surprising Cal and ending this one.

Thoughts: Meh. My problem with this issue was the fact that I don't remember Calvin... At all! I assume he met Skinner Sweet during WWII, but for the life of me I don't remember for sure... While the story as it was wasn't bad, I can't help but think it could have been even better if I knew who the hell Calvin was!

Score: 6 out of 10.

You always have to watch out for those tricky old men!

American Vampire #25

And now, it's time for me to review an issue of American Vampire! Since I've finally caught up with this series, I'll be able to review the newer issues as they come out. Now hopefully THIS issue will pull me out of the comic book funk I've been in this week... Seriously, the books from this week have been terribly disappointing!

American Vampire #25:

Summary: This issue gets started with Skinner getting the upper hand on Travis, the greaser vampire hunter who had been tracking him. Naturally Skinner taunts a little bit too long, allowing Travis the chance to slice Skinner with a gold plated knife(gold is the only thing that can hurt/kill an American vampire). That simply serves to piss Skinner off even more, so he bites Travis in the neck... But not fatally, because as I've already stated, Skinner LOVES to taunt. Skinner is sickened by the taste of Travis's blood at which point Travis reveals that he had mixed some gold dust in his morning coffee in the event Skinner bit him... Huh... That's interesting... From there, Travis gives us a flashback as to why he hates Skinner(European vampires hunting Skinner killed his folks), and then proceeds to taunt Skinner as opposed to, you know, KILLING HIM!!! Skinner takes this opportunity to turn the tables on Travis and prepares to kill him, but is stopped by Hobbes and the Vassals of the Morningstar... Wha?!?! Hobbes takes “Agent Sweet” away(again, Wha?!?!), and Travis manages to sneak away after getting stuck by a needle that cured him of the paralysis that Skinner's bite would have eventually brought on. From there, Travis kills his girlfriend, Piper, who once again was trying to betray him to vampires. With that, Travis heads into a den of bloodsuckers, guns blazing. This issue ends with a vampire murdering Pearl's longtime husband, Henry(!).

Thoughts: This was, as usual, a really good read. The end came as a HUGE shock, mainly because Pearl and Henry had been through so much together I didn't expect to see him offed in such a casual manner. Pearl's reaction to Henry's death should be REALLY interesting... There are A LOT of different ways Scott Snyder can go here, mainly with Pearl, but who knows, maybe even with Henry. As for the main story? I like Travis and all, with him playing the whole rebel with a cause role, and his origin story kind of made sense in explaining why he hated Skinner(even though it wasn't Skinner who killed his folks), but the twist with Skinner working for the Vassals was kind of jarring... I'm not quite sure what I think about that. The Vassals are working with the WORST vampire ever crated on US soil? Aren't they supposed to be killing vampires? I guess they figure Skinner will help them hunt down and kill the older vampires, but come on, everybody knows if you hang around a mad dog you're gonna get bit! So I'm not sure what to make of Hobbes and the Vassals actions here. But overall? This was a good read.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Words to live by.

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 (August 2011)

Okay, here's a “Retro-Review” that's not all that “retro”... I've been reading through the American Vampire trades and singles in an attempt to catch up to the current issues, so I figured since I'm already reading through the third American Vampire hardcover, I might as well do a review from it. It's actually not from the American Vampire series itself, but a mini-series that sprung from the main series... Go figure.

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1(of 5):

Summary: First things first... This mini-series takes place during WWII... This issue kicks off by showing us who Felicia Book is and what she does... Who she is? The daughter of James Book, who was killed by American Vampire, Skinner Sweet. As for what Felicia does? She kills vampires for the Vassals of the Morning Star(the HUGE Castlevania mark in me LOVES the Morning Star reference fyi). Felicia was going to take a leave of absence from the Vassals after having killed dozens of vampires to track down wild rumors of somebody finding a cure for vampirism... Oh yeah, that's another thing you need to know about Felicia... When she was in her mother's womb, Skinner injected some of his blood into Felicia's mother's abdominal region, corrupting Felicia with some of the vampire taint. Felicia's boss at the Vassals tells her that he had a more promising lead on a vampirism cure, but that the scientist who had been working on it had fallen into the hands of the Nazis. As such, Felicia's boss asks her to go to German-occupied Romania to find the scientist with another Vassal agent by her side, a Cash McCogan. McCogan also wants to find a cure to vampirism due to the fact that his son was born a vampire... I'm blanking on how or why, but I'm sure Skinner Sweet was somehow to blame... This issue ends with Felicia and McCogan deciding to head into Nazi dominated Europe hoping to find the missing scientist and his potential cure.

Thoughts: Ah, this was a VERY promising start to this mini-series! The portrayals of the major characters here(Felicia Book and Cash McCogan) were VERY well done, as is par for the course when it comes to Scott Snyder. On top of that, the story itself looks really strong, although there's really no doubt in my mind as to how this one will end(you KNOW there's either no cure or the two will come tantalizingly close to getting the cure before something tragic occurs)... Still, I AM interested in seeing where this mini goes, and will probably happily polish the next four issues off by the end of the night.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Yep, that's gonna leave a mark...