American Vampire is a graphic novel whose story features Skinner Sweet, a sociopathic outlaw in the 1880’s old west who becomes not just the first Old West Vampire, but the first American Vampire.
Sweet is a notorious thief and murderer who earned his nickname for his sadism and his love of candy. Unknown to him, he wronged an elitist society of European vampires, who hired James Book of the Pinkerton Agency to bring him in to hang. Sweet made a daring escape with the help of his gang but was attacked in the process by one of the vampires, Mr. Percy. He was bitten, and when Percy was shot point blank, some of the vampire’s blood fell into Sweet’s eye. As a result of the blood transfer, Skinner Sweet became the world’s first American Vampire.
After being stuck in his grave for twenty years, Sweet rose and discovered what he had become. an Old West Vampire. Skinner emerged from his flooded grave when European vampires would have been incapacitated. He immediately went on the warpath, killing everyone he could and going after the people who had wronged him in life. Skinner also infected an actress who was attacked and nearly killed by his European counterparts. He was soon defeated on a moonless night by James Book and sealed in a collapsed mine. Years later, he would be free again.
Skinner Sweet was created by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque as the central character of the American Vampire series for Vertigo. Sweet’s origin story was written by Stephen King, who liked Snyder’s outline for the series so much that he offered to write that rather than simply an introduction for the book.
The American Vampire storyline goes on to follow Sweet through various decades of American history: 1920’s Hollywood, 1930’s Las Vegas, World War II and into the 1950’s. You can grab the first trade paperback of American Vampire HERE.
