American Vampire #13

"Ghost War," Part One
written by Scott Snyder
art by Rafael Albuquerque

American Vampire's opening issue in its World War II arc is an excellent tease that invites new readers with its easily accessible exposition, fine character moments, and mostly fresh start for vampire Pearl Jones and her human husband Henry Preston.

It's an inevitable—albeit entirely hypothetical—stress on a marriage when one party grows old and the other does not.  Henry's greying hair and aging face are constant reminders of his mortality, his human frailty, and his vulnerability next to his ageless vampire wife Pearl.  He's still beautiful, and his age troubles Henry far more than it does Pearl, who by all accounts loves him just the same.  But, when considered with the uselessness he feels after being politely rejected for WWII combat, it's enough to make him want more from himself and enter into some kind of deal—maybe with the vampire-hunting organization Vassals of the Morning Star, maybe with Skinner Sweet, maybe independently with both—which lands him on an island lousy with vampires, on the verge of death, and writing a dying letter to Pearl.

Recruited by Hobbes—the politically savvy, if morally questionable, member of the Vassals to whom Henry confided Skinner's (and Pearl's) weakness; a man of his word, it seems, but a dangerous ally—to help exterminate a vampire nest on Taipan just off the coast of Japan, Henry Preston joins with a small band of agents either masquerading or doubling as a military team:  Private John Tickman (known commonly as "Tick"), communications expert; Corporal Calvin Poole, linguist and taxonomist; Sargeant First Class Samuel A. Lants, weapons and explosives technician; and erascible Romanian, senior member from the Vassals, Platoon Leader Vicar Jan Miro.  They're an unlikable bunch, haughty and self-righteous.  So, when Skinner Sweet shows up on the same ship, in uniform no less, and seemingly friendly with Henry, it's both surprising and unsurprising that he and Henry seem to share another plan.

[May 2011]

As collected in American Vampire, Volume 3 (ISBN: 978-1401233334)