Nearly four years since the last issue hit the stands and the acclaimed DC horror comic book series American Vampire is coming back this October for American Vampire 1976, with the former Vertigo title being published as part of the mature readers imprint DC Black Label. With original creators Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque back at the helm, the nine-issue miniseries sees a very different Skinner Sweet as the United States approaches its Bicentennial, while Pearl and the Vassals of the Morning Star take on different vampiric threats all over the globe, setting the characters up for an epic collision course.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Snyder provided the first major details about the upcoming miniseries, how the storyline ties all the anthology tales and miniseries together for an epic finale and how easy it was for him to return to the world of American Vampire after so many years away. Also included is a first look at the debut issues cover, with the standard cover illustrated by Albuquerque, and early preview art from the opening issue.
CBR: So American Vampire is coming back! You've taken Skinner Sweet to the Golden Age of Hollywood and into outer space. What was it about bringing him to the Bicentennial?
Scott Snyder: It was in my initial pitch, when I pitched the series, that this would be the biggest arc that we did, and it would be the one that pretty much brings us up to the present. After this, we're going to do stories that take place in the present but harken back to the past and some that take place in the past isolated [from the main story.] But this one will actually complete our journey to the present, it's our big, nine-issue extravaganza. We're already working on issues #4 and #5 right now so, behind-the-scenes, we've already done quite a lot of stuff.
Where we find the characters in 1976 is in a really dark place, and I think it'll speak in a lot of ways to this moment in the same way that I think the 70s mirror our era in many, many ways in terms of disillusionment and anxiety and a sense of directionless... and yet hope that we can get on track again. All that stuff is there and, in the way we love to do American Vampire, it plays through a lot of fun iconography and aesthetics.
Skinner Sweet is working as a kind of stuntman looking to kill himself, because he's mortal now, working out in the desert almost like an Eviler Knievel. And Pearl has been hunting for the Tongue through the VMS for a long time, and she goes to find him. And essentially, they have to concoct a plan to stop the bad guys, the Tongue, from infiltrating the White House too deeply and creating an all-out war. And there's a plot in New York City that plays with serial killers and Son of Sam, and all that that picks up with Cal and with Travis. There's disco and all kinds of crazy stuff, there's a plot with Felicia and Gus, so everybody's back in this one. Everything from the first [story arc] with the Council of Monsters, Dracula, it kind encompasses everything that we've built. We wanted it to bring all the threads together in the biggest way possible.
We've been working on it a very long time and I can say very confidently that it's my favorite arc so far, so I feel very strongly that it will make people happy in terms of an American Vampire return.
So in bringing all these miniseries and side stories together, how has it been working flexing those creative muscles again and working with Rafael?
It's been so easy, man, it was the weirdest thing. I reread the whole series, the anthologies, everything. My wife always asks if she can read my stuff, and sometimes she reads things like Last Knight on Earth, Wytches and The Wake, but I never [specifically recommend] her anything because I'm still so insecure. But when I reread the whole series, I went to her and said "I want you to read American Vampire. It's my home, it's where I put everything I love, it's my first creator-owned title, and the longest thing I've ever done, and I love it more than anything else."
So going back to it here, it was so deceptively easy, I thought it was going to be tough. I showed James Tynion IV the first issues and he was like "You wrote these in just a week?" and I was like "Yeah, I just did it!" And I loved them and went back and edited them and refined them -- because I want them to be the best things that I've done for the series -- but it was weirdly effortless. It was like getting back together with old friends. And I'm really, really want everyone to know how grateful I am for their support on the series. This is our 10-year anniversary this year. That's why we really wanted to do it now, so we can't wait for people to see it. I think it's our best work, it's the original team and I'm really proud of it.
Written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque, American Vampire 1976 goes on sale October 20 from DC Black Label.