American Vampire #11

"The Way Out," Part Two
written by Scott Snyder
art by Mateus Santolouco

Despite Skinner Sweet's reputation and his seemingly never-ending feud with his inadvertent vampire makers, the existence of the American vampires Pearl and Sweet doesn't appear to have gained extensive currency among other vampire groups, who continue not to recognize Pearl and to be correspondingly arrogant prior to confrontations with her.  Pearl, almost single-handedly, destroys Little Feet Beale's entire blood-smuggling operation and the nest of vampires he caters to.  She's a natural and electric killer even though her lifestyle means she gives into that very infrequently.  And Henry does his part, chasing down Beale and his fellow bootleggers.

Pearl's constant fear that Henry will finally realize who and what she really is, that he already wants to leave her or is already almost gone, is sweet and sensitive to the very real problems with their romance.  Henry's response is equally sweet and considered.  He is growing old.  They've been married for more than a decade, obviously without children or hope of them.  His mortality is closer than ever, especially still bearing the bruises and wounds from their fatal altercation with Beale and his associates, and perhaps for the first time, both Henry and Pearl acknowledge that the idea of turning Henry has crossed their minds.  But not now, if ever, and not for fear.

Hattie, meanwhile, sporting her Black-Dahlia/Man-Who-Laughs smile scars, continues to hunt down Pearl, chasing her by memories she has of their friendship.  Hattie's status as an American vampire continues to go unexplained, so much so that I will likely return to the previous volume to double-check my recollection of her transformation.  In a pleasant surprise of storytelling chronology, Snyder pulls the rug out from under reader expectations on this one.  I had, I think not accidentally, assumed that the action in the two storylines was simultaneous, that Hattie would be waiting for Pearl and Henry when they returned home from Beale's bar.  Instead, the events at the roadhouse had taken place six months earlier, after which the couple had moved out and on.  Hattie's desired confrontation with Pearl is thereby averted for the moment.

Santolouco's work really jumps off the page in the second of the two-issue arc.  The two-page spread early in the roadhouse fight between Pearl and the other vampires is particularly fine, Santolouco's central figures breaking the panel boundaries around the remainder of the page.  This is, in fact, his best work so far in the series.

[March 2011]

As collected in American Vampire, Volume 2 (ISBN 978-1401230692)