By Zack Quaintance — This week saw the return of writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque’s series, American Vampire, via the release of the first issue of a new series, American Vampire 1976 #1. As the title indicates, this book is a continuation of the series — which has sat dormant for a bit — in the year 1976. 

I was excited for this concept as soon as I heard about it. I’ve long been a fan of American Vampire, which even is one of my favorite pieces of new vampire fiction in recent memory in any medium. At the same time, I think 1976 is a really interesting time period to examine through this story. It would be misleading for me to say that I envisioned the creative team using that time period to get at some truths about our current times (which is what they do here), but I did have an inkling that there was fertile ground in that era to find something true and poignant.

What this issue does in one of the most memorable comics monologues of the year is remind us that as bad as our national moment seems and as unprecedented as the challenges we face actually are, there is some universality in the struggle. The issues we face now did not crop up suddenly in a vacuum. They have, to varying degrees manifested in the challenges of the past. They are, perhaps, inherent to the fallible American Experiment, and we may in some shape or form be destined to face many of these challenges in cyclical perpetuity — all of which is an idea that I found to be both deeply concerning as well as comforting on some level, comforting in that there’s something that feels easier when someone anywhere tells you they’ve been through something before.

But all of that is perhaps the 20,000-foot view of this book. What about the character-driven vampire storytelling that has long made this a great time on the surface level? Well, all of that is here too. We get the aftermath of some recent plot points pushed forward to logical next steps. Some of it is severe and gritty — a character driving to regain lost immortality — and some of it is just sheer cool, using the new era to have some fun with vampires in general — there is a brilliant weaponization of disco via sun that really made me smile. 

What it all adds up to is a fun and thoughtful horror-tinged read, and it’s one I highly recommend to fans of the series or even newcomers looking for an easy entry-point to a new vampire world.

Overall: Ah, it’s so nice to have American Vampire back. I hadn’t entirely realized how much I missed this supremely well-executed book, until I was in the pages reading familiar characters talking about new challenges in a new decade. Great stuff. 9.5/10

American Vampire 1976 #1 - REVIEW

American Vampire 1976 #1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque 
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label
Price: $3.99
America is broken. Trust between the government and the American public has crumbled. Paranoia reigns supreme. It’s 1976, and this is the concluding chapter of the Eisner Award-winning American Vampire! Skinner Sweet has exhausted all efforts to regain his lost immortality. With his powers and purpose gone, he is now determined to go out with a bang. At a seedy motorcycle rally in the desert where he’s closer than ever to his death wish, Pearl Jones and a shocking partner tracks him down for one last, desperate mission: The force known as the Gray Trader and its minions are tunneling through the bowels of the world to unleash hell on Earth-just in time for America’s bicentennial. With catastrophe looming, it’s up to Skinner and Pearl to reconcile and change the course of history-or die trying.
Release Date: October 6, 2020
Buy It Digitally: American Vampire 1976 #1

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.