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jayspa65's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This collection brings the fans of American Vampire several different stories - a tale of Travis Kidd, vamp hunter; a check in with Pearl and Henry; a tiny glimpse of Skinner Sweet - lots to keep your interest, and a chance to admire the illustration work of Albuquerque and a host of guest artists!
ramonnogueras's review against another edition
5.0
Una colección de historias cortas que mantienen el altísimo nivel al que ya nos tienen acostumbrados. Me estoy bebiendo esta serie como agua en el desierto.
elturko64's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what it was but I couldn't get into this. kinda disappointed in Snyder.
sqwaytalqs's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly, this wasn't my favourite of the American Vampire series. It was a collection of short stories that exist within the world, and most of them were fun, but I always look forward to Rafael Albuquerque's art, and most of it wasn't his. I also felt that the story wasn't progressed in anyway, which would have been fine if I'd known to expect that, but I was a little unprepared, and so I ended up disappointed. Overall, it was pretty good, just not as good as I've come to expect.
bloodravenlib's review against another edition
4.0
Actually, I gave it 4.5, but you know GR by now. Find out why, and check out my review on my blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Just click (or copy/paste to your favorite browser) the link below to check out the full review.
Review link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/booknote-american-vampire-vol-6.html
Review link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/booknote-american-vampire-vol-6.html
giantjackalopes's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
nickfrantisek's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars for this one - I enjoyed reading it (and just read it through in the last hour), but I wasn't a fan of some of the art for a couple stories in the anthology part. The stories were interesting and I loved The Long Road to Hell, but this was probably my least favourite volume so far. It's definitely worth reading though.
amandaventure's review against another edition
4.0
This volume is more or less just a grab bag of short stories. Nothing new in the main story arc of the series as a whole. They were all great stories, I just was hoping for a continuation of the main story arc.
First off we get a new Travis Kidd adventure. I think out of all the characters I've meet, Travis is my favorite character of the series. I would read an entire spin off series just about him. So good. His story is The Long Road to Hell. Its a really tragic love story actually. I won't get into details but, even though it was only a short story, all the characters were so multi dimensional. There are several panels toward the end with no dialogue at all and there are so poignant. Great story telling. WE also meet a little kid named Jasper. What's the deal with him? He's still a bit of a mystery. He either has some kind of inherent profiling ability or maybe there is something supernatural at play? I wish I could have spent some more time with him to fins out more about him. Maybe he will pop up later on...?
Speaking of Travis Kidd, there is this short story called Canadian Vampire. The Indian child started calling himself "Kid" to honor Warnhammer after he called him that and saved his life. Maybe he was a distant relation to Travis Kidd?
Hattie Hargrove's story was actually really sympathetic to her as a woman. It showed how the tragedies of her life shaped her into the insane super villain she becomes. Its really a revenge story and she totally deserved her just desserts. :)
I'm onto volume 7. Hoping to get back to the main story.
First off we get a new Travis Kidd adventure. I think out of all the characters I've meet, Travis is my favorite character of the series. I would read an entire spin off series just about him. So good. His story is The Long Road to Hell. Its a really tragic love story actually. I won't get into details but, even though it was only a short story, all the characters were so multi dimensional. There are several panels toward the end with no dialogue at all and there are so poignant. Great story telling. WE also meet a little kid named Jasper. What's the deal with him? He's still a bit of a mystery. He either has some kind of inherent profiling ability or maybe there is something supernatural at play? I wish I could have spent some more time with him to fins out more about him. Maybe he will pop up later on...?
Speaking of Travis Kidd, there is this short story called Canadian Vampire. The Indian child started calling himself "Kid" to honor Warnhammer after he called him that and saved his life. Maybe he was a distant relation to Travis Kidd?
Hattie Hargrove's story was actually really sympathetic to her as a woman. It showed how the tragedies of her life shaped her into the insane super villain she becomes. Its really a revenge story and she totally deserved her just desserts. :)
I'm onto volume 7. Hoping to get back to the main story.
djotaku's review against another edition
3.0
This originally appeared at: http://www.comicpow.com/2016/01/20/canadian-vampires-eh-american-vampire-vol-6/ -- go there to see images
--
American Vampire has always been more about America than vampires. Because America has always been portrayed as a land of opportunity, it has always attracted those most desperate for that opportunity. That has often led to the exploitation of those least able to defend themselves. Yet, unlike many countries, throughout a good chunk of America’s history, it has been one of the easiest countries to move up the social ladder. For some that meant running away from debts to start anew in America. For others, it was getting free, large tracts of land out west from the American government. From the industrial revolution forward, a good idea and a bit of luck could propel one to the highest heights. A great deal of fiction has explored what happens once someone catapults out of their poorer circumstances – sometimes up just one level and sometimes from poor to rich. Do they now treat their former peers with the same contempt they once received? Or do they remember where they came from and remain respectful of those in poorer circumstances?
While other countries have had similar stories, it has a greater association with America. Sometimes it’s been truer than other times. But it’s this big theme that unites all the stories in the second half of American Vampire Vol 6, made up of American Vampire Anthology #1. Here Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque hand their universe over to some of my favorite writers, including Jason Aaron, Becky Cloonan, Francesco Francavilla, and Gail Simone. The stories take place all over American history from the time of the first European settlers to the 1960s. (And one takes place in Canada!) All of them but the story bookending the anthology, The Man Comes Around, involve those in power taking advantage of those with less power.
A good chunk of the stories involve Hollywood. It’s no surprise that even the main series went from the wild west to Hollywood. There are fewer places in America in which the power dynamics are so imbalanced than in Hollywood. After all, while not just anyone can act, far more people can act than there are professional actors. It is the men who guard the money to produce movies that wield the power in determining whether or not a promising young man or woman becomes a star. Reality has many tales of those taken advantage of with promises of stardom. In the world of American Vampire, sometimes becoming a vampire means become a slave to yet another set of people with power over you. But it can also give you the physical power over others to allow for revenge. Plenty of both happens in these stories.
It’s not often that stories have us rooting for the bad guys, but the story in which a vampire is marked to be sold into slavery on a ship – shanghaid – certainly had me hoping he would take revenge on those who sough to take advantage of his poor condition. Another powerful story used vampires as an analogy of the power vacuum that existed in the 1960s among African Americans. Even those who were famous entertainers often found themselves treated like garbage when not on stage. Of course, Snyder and his collaborators on this anthology are never anvilicious with the morals and the stories remain great, short romps. It’s also fun to see the comic short story revived. The original comics were essentially collected short stories before they became stories that could last through a year or more of issues. It’s nice to see what can be done with short form comics with modern comic storytelling conventions.
Returning to the first half of this volume, we also have the very American subject of redemption. Again, I know there were redemption stories before America (see, for one thing, stories in The Bible), but they are certainly a common theme in American stories. A young couple without the education to take white collar jobs turns to masterful pick-pocketing to earn enough money to get married and start a family. It’s another interesting theme that certainly deserves some investigation. I’ve seen it in a lot of stories, mostly older stories from the 50s and 60s where characters who are down on their luck thinks that things will look up once they get married. Of course, being married won’t magically get them jobs or money, but for some reason it’s a pretty common theme. When they get caught by some vampires and turned, rather than lust for power like some of the trampled upon in the anthology, they decide to look for a cure and, in the meanwhile, only feed on evil people like wifebeaters. It’s not an unheard of trope, but the way Snyder couples their competing desires and fear of the unknown really brings the emotion to the reader while telling this most American of stories.
Questions? Comments? I love discussion and invite it whereever you happen to come upon this article.
--
American Vampire has always been more about America than vampires. Because America has always been portrayed as a land of opportunity, it has always attracted those most desperate for that opportunity. That has often led to the exploitation of those least able to defend themselves. Yet, unlike many countries, throughout a good chunk of America’s history, it has been one of the easiest countries to move up the social ladder. For some that meant running away from debts to start anew in America. For others, it was getting free, large tracts of land out west from the American government. From the industrial revolution forward, a good idea and a bit of luck could propel one to the highest heights. A great deal of fiction has explored what happens once someone catapults out of their poorer circumstances – sometimes up just one level and sometimes from poor to rich. Do they now treat their former peers with the same contempt they once received? Or do they remember where they came from and remain respectful of those in poorer circumstances?
While other countries have had similar stories, it has a greater association with America. Sometimes it’s been truer than other times. But it’s this big theme that unites all the stories in the second half of American Vampire Vol 6, made up of American Vampire Anthology #1. Here Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque hand their universe over to some of my favorite writers, including Jason Aaron, Becky Cloonan, Francesco Francavilla, and Gail Simone. The stories take place all over American history from the time of the first European settlers to the 1960s. (And one takes place in Canada!) All of them but the story bookending the anthology, The Man Comes Around, involve those in power taking advantage of those with less power.
A good chunk of the stories involve Hollywood. It’s no surprise that even the main series went from the wild west to Hollywood. There are fewer places in America in which the power dynamics are so imbalanced than in Hollywood. After all, while not just anyone can act, far more people can act than there are professional actors. It is the men who guard the money to produce movies that wield the power in determining whether or not a promising young man or woman becomes a star. Reality has many tales of those taken advantage of with promises of stardom. In the world of American Vampire, sometimes becoming a vampire means become a slave to yet another set of people with power over you. But it can also give you the physical power over others to allow for revenge. Plenty of both happens in these stories.
It’s not often that stories have us rooting for the bad guys, but the story in which a vampire is marked to be sold into slavery on a ship – shanghaid – certainly had me hoping he would take revenge on those who sough to take advantage of his poor condition. Another powerful story used vampires as an analogy of the power vacuum that existed in the 1960s among African Americans. Even those who were famous entertainers often found themselves treated like garbage when not on stage. Of course, Snyder and his collaborators on this anthology are never anvilicious with the morals and the stories remain great, short romps. It’s also fun to see the comic short story revived. The original comics were essentially collected short stories before they became stories that could last through a year or more of issues. It’s nice to see what can be done with short form comics with modern comic storytelling conventions.
Returning to the first half of this volume, we also have the very American subject of redemption. Again, I know there were redemption stories before America (see, for one thing, stories in The Bible), but they are certainly a common theme in American stories. A young couple without the education to take white collar jobs turns to masterful pick-pocketing to earn enough money to get married and start a family. It’s another interesting theme that certainly deserves some investigation. I’ve seen it in a lot of stories, mostly older stories from the 50s and 60s where characters who are down on their luck thinks that things will look up once they get married. Of course, being married won’t magically get them jobs or money, but for some reason it’s a pretty common theme. When they get caught by some vampires and turned, rather than lust for power like some of the trampled upon in the anthology, they decide to look for a cure and, in the meanwhile, only feed on evil people like wifebeaters. It’s not an unheard of trope, but the way Snyder couples their competing desires and fear of the unknown really brings the emotion to the reader while telling this most American of stories.
Questions? Comments? I love discussion and invite it whereever you happen to come upon this article.