American Vampire Vol. 1

Gr 10 Up—Billed as "a new vampire for a new century," American Vampire takes traditional stories and reinvents them with a Western flair. In 1880, a criminal named Skinner Sweet is accidentally transformed into a vampire when the blood of a European vampire splashes onto him as he dies. Nobody realizes that Skinner is still alive in his grave—certainly not the men who try to find his coffin years later and learn the horrifying truth just moments before their deaths. Skinner is reborn as the next stage in vampire evolution, a creature who is energized by the sun rather than threatened by it, thus having the distinct advantage of being able to hunt in daylight. As King explains in his introduction, he was asked by Snyder to write a blurb and ended up writing Skinner Sweet's backstory as well. The book contains both stories; Snyder's story, which begins in the 1920s, and King's story, which begins in the 1880s. Thus readers see Skinner both as a human and as a new breed of vampire, and they see how his attitudes and abilities change after his transformation. They also meet Pearl Jones, a young woman who dreams of becoming a famous actress but who discovers that Los Angeles is even more dangerous than she expected. Albuquerque's illustrations are vibrant and colorful, and he uses a unique method of overlapping panels to great effect. His artwork is superbly suited for Snyder's and King's gruesomely imaginative tales.—Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library