American Vampire #26

Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Roger Cruz

Last month, Scott Snyder finished off his 50s rebel teenager storyline with a pretty big cliffhanger involving the main protagonists of this book, Pearl and Henry, who we hadn't seen for a few months (which means more than a decade in the comic's timeline).  I expected that to be picked up and continued with this issue, but instead, we are given the first of a two-part arc featuring Calvin Poole, who we last saw fighting with Henry in the Pacific during the Second World War.

Now, it's 1954, and Calvin, who is the third American Vampire in existence, has taken some time off from his job with the Vassals of the Morning Star to travel to Midway Alabama, where his brother is about to perform at a fair.  Now, this is Alabama in the 50s, and Calvin is black, so there are some pretty obvious challenges he has to face, which are of course made easier by his being a vampire.

Calvin can't actually contact his brother, but he soon learns that there is something odd going on in Midway, and he, the expert taxonomist, is soon facing something he's never seen or heard of before.  It's a good start to a short arc, and it's nice to see that Snyder is expanding his story and addressing new topics within the context of his vampire story.

The art on this issue is by Roger Cruz, which was a bit of a surprise to me.  I remember Cruz as a 90s Marvel artist (and so with little fondness), but in this issue he manages quite well, giving us work that evokes regular series artist Rafael Albuquerque.