The series will explore notions of vampire evolution and trace the bloodline of a new kind of vampire, an American species, with new powers and characteristics, through various decades of American history.
The first story arc (issues #1-5) begins in 1925, from the point of view of an aspiring actress in L.A. and of a writer at a book conference due to the reediting of his book Bad Blood. Here, the author claims that his work which has been long considered a fictional western/terror story is actually based on true events which he has either witnessed or has collected reliable information on. The second story arc (issues #6-9) follows the chief of police of Las Vegas in 1936.The series imagines vampires as a population made up of many different secret species, and charts moments of vampire evolution and inter-species conflict throughout history. The focus of the series is a new American bloodline of vampires, born in the American West in the late 1800's. The first of this new species is a notorious outlaw named Skinner Sweet, who wakes from death, after being infected, to find he has become a new kind of vampire, something stronger and faster than what came before, impervious to sunlight, with a new set of strengths and weaknesses. The series goes on to track his movements through various decades of American history - along with the movements of his first and only known progeny: Pearl Jones, a young woman working as a struggling actress in the 1920's silent film industry when she is attacked by a coven of European vampires hiding in Hollywood. Sweet saves her (uncharacteristically) by giving her his blood, thereby turning her into an American vampire like him, at which point she seeks revenge on the classic vampires who attacked her in life. The complicated and charged relationship Jones has with Sweet is another focus of the series.
The first five issues featured two stories — one by Snyder and the other by Stephen King, both drawn by Rafael Albuquerque.[3] As of the sixth issue, Scott Snyder has taken over as sole writer.[4] In its second year of publication, American Vampire spawned a spin-off mini-series titled American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest, drawn by Sean Murphy, which focuses on the case files of the V.M.S., the vampire-hunting organization of the series' mythology.
Español
Un nuevo vampiro para un nuevo siglo. Astuto y despiadado como una serpiente de cascabel, Skinner Sweet tiene fama de ser terco e intratable. Es el primer vampiro concebido en tierra americana, pero no es la habitual criatura de la noche. Es más fuerte, más fiero y el sol renueva sus energías… Sweet es el primero de una nueva raza de chupasangres: el vampiro americano.
45 años después de alzarse de su tumba Sweet se encuentra en Los Ángeles en los años 20, donde los jóvenes y bellos se ven atraídos como polillas por las luces de Hollywood. Sin embargo, hay algo más que simples humanos acechando allí, como la joven actriz Pearl Jones está a punto de descubrir. Cuando su sueño de convertirse en una estrella de cine se transforma en una pesadilla sangrienta, Sweet le da su única oportunidad de sobrevivir, así como el poder de vengarse