44.
Title: [American Vampire]
Author: Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, and Stephen King
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: 12 May 2016
Rating: ***1/2

American Vampire is a fantasy of the Old West and silent film Hollywood, each dominated by tyrannical Old World vampires who own banks and studios, and treat humans ("humes." Yes, actually) as the cattle they are so often read to be within the genre.  The Old West sees the birth of Skinner Sweet, whose backstory is penned by Stephen King, and a new, distinctly American race of vampires. Skinner Sweet is no hero - his actions are fairly repugnant, and stereotypically outlaw: theft, rape, and countless murders, including the shooting of a toddler. When he gets into a physical altercation with a vampire whom his gang has robbed a drop of blood gives him new life, and the reader again meets him in 1920s California, acting the same sweets-guzzling creeper that he is in the late nineteenth-century.

While the characters are fairly stock, they're very well-executed, and Skinner Sweet has a ghastly charm that holds attention even as the reader understands that he has no redeeming qualities. Whatsoever. Truly.  Pearl shows promise, although she's given little room to be "new," and could develop into something wonderful if given half a chance. The story itself is likewise trite, but not so wooden that it wears thing, more like a familiar and comfortable sweater than a sodden mess, blending genres in a way that firmly grounds the story geographically and culturally, and leaning heavily on beautiful artwork to pull the book through.

Stephen King's introduction nearly ruins the experience before it begins.  He opens by saying, "Here's what vampires shouldn't be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and only work at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes. What should they be? Killers, honey. Stone killers who never get enough of that tasty Type-A. Bad boys, and girls. Hunters. In other words, Midnight America." In typical King fashion he thus demonstrates his blinder-version of genre and characters, asserting his "rightness" over the "wrongs" of other authors in a brazen display of ignorance. Clearly, King is not a fan of Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Interview With a Vampire, or ... one I haven't heard of. Nor will I say he should be - each have their targeted audience, and readers like King are not among them. What King here asserts is exactly what this books is - an assertive rewriting of an ageless figure against overly aggressive American archetypes. Essentially, King is arguing for a distinctly masculine American vampire - a violent and twisted creature that runs parallel with a culture of physical violence as old as our first war of Independence. Vampires begin as sexual creatures, which then evolves into romance - their true origins are as spectral figures raping dreamers and strangling children. In their Victorian hey-day they are feared for their sensuality and sexuality more than their physical violence; they are consumptive figures standing in for the tuberculosis that becomes an epidemic in the nineteenth-century, stealing away beautiful young women and supporting the romantic cult of mourning and death in Victorian England.  They are representatives of deviance and inversion - feared for social transgressions rather than outright slaughter. Historically, and personal taste aside, Edward Cullen's theft of Bella is more historically grounded than Skinner Sweet's murderous rampages.  But American horror generally doesn't go for subtlety, and the King I've read hasn't ever struck me as slow, creeping horror. For a good, junky, American punch in the gut, King's vampires will do; to suggest what vampires should and shouldn't be is to artificially limit a tradition that has gone on long before, and will thankfully outlast her abusers.

45.
Title: [Wytches]
Author: Scott Snyder, Joch, Hollingsworth, Robins
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: 13 May 2016
Rating: *****

Pledged is pledged.

Scott Snyder's Wytches is a stunning and horrific graphic novel perfect for a Friday the 13th, or any day one is looking for a creep. Snyder slowly builds a narrative to come back full circle, drawing on pathos and looming shadows to engage readers as they follow Sailor, and the difficult times she's had. Sailor is an adored only child, and when she is involved in a traumatic incident her family decides to move, hoping a fresh start will give her the peace she needs to recover.  In a typical-but-still-enjoyable fashion the new house proves to be less of a fresh start than they believe, and Sailor soon comes face-to-face with a horror story much bigger than she, in which she is enmeshed by the actions of others. It's difficult to be much more clear without ruining the plot, which I certainly don't wish to do - the build and resolution are much better with a veil of uncertainty. I will say that the story is well-paced and fantastically executed, and the dark, sketchy artwork adds perfectly to the tension and the horror.  A sure hit for horror fans - I'll even agree with King on this one, as he says on the cover "It's fabulous. A triumph."


46.
Title: [Coffin Hill] Volume 1: Forest of the Night
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: 13 May 2016
Rating: ***1/2

Moving back and forth through time in a series of exposes, Caitlin Kittredge's first volume of Coffin Hill tells the story of Eve Coffin, the youngest in a line of wealthy witches dating back to Salem. Notoriously selfish, and not balking at evil, Coffin women (Coffin Witches) unapologetically pursue black magic, and when Eve "rebels" she goes straight to the family tradition, leading to a catastrophe that builds for a decade.  Eve is a compelling protagonist, deeply flawed but essentially good, with a hand in both worlds that allows her to function in a series of supernatural conflicts. There is a strong suggestion that there is far more to the story than the first volume relates, establishing enjoyable tension and a drive to the second volume. The epilogue seemingly confuses its own genealogy, which is unfortunate, but Eve's narrative itself is compelling. Though less of a thrill than Snyder's Wytches, it's an enjoyable book with a well-paced narrative and attractive art.