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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_american_vampire_6825.jpg]]
2
3''American Vampire'' is a comic book from Creator/VertigoComics.
4
5The comic is written in arcs, each set in a different time period and locale. The first arc follows Pearl Jones, a girl struggling to make it big in Hollywood in the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]]. The second arc follows Cashell [=McCorgan=], a police officer during TheGreatDepression. The third arc follows Henry Preston joining a team of Vassals of the Morning Star agents to investigate rumors of vampires in the Japanese islands, against the backdrop of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The fourth arc follows Travis Kidd, a young rockabilly vampire hunter in the 1950s as he crosses paths with the Vassals. The fifth arc follows one of the survivors of the Taipan mission, who has now become a vampire. The sixth arc reunites Pearl Jones and Skinner Sweet in 1950s Hollywood, during the Red Scare.
6
7The book is written by Creator/ScottSnyder and illustrated by Raphael Albuquerque. Creator/StephenKing wrote "Skinner Sweet", a back-up feature for the first arc detailing the origins of the original American vampire.
8
9The series started in May, 2010 and ended in February 1, 2013. Winner of the 2011 Eisner Award for [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/23/comic-con-eisner-award-winners-2011/ Best new series.]]
10
11The Series was followed by:
12* ''American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest'' (2011) - A series following Cashell and Felicia Book in Europe during UsefulNotes/WW2.
13* ''American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares'' (2012) - A series that follows Felicia some time after as she aims to kill {{Dracula}}.
14* ''American Vampire: The Long Road To Hell'' (2013)
15* ''American Vampire Anthology'' (2013)
16** ''American Vampire Anthology #2'' (2016)
17* ''American Vampire: Second Cycle'' (2014-2015)
18* ''American Vampire 1976'' (2020-2021)
19----
20!!The series contains examples of:
21
22* ActionGirl: Pearl is no pushover. After [[spoiler: being attacked by the Hollywood Coven and being turned by Skinner]], she does not hesitate to bring on the pain to those who have wronged her. Abilena also fits this trope.
23** By ''Survival of the Fittest,'' Felicia has become this as well.
24* AlwaysABiggerFish: Rears its head at the ending of ''Survival of the Fittest'', when [[spoiler: The Ancients that Pavel had been nurturing back to health wake up and save Felicia and Cash before tearing into the Nazi Vampires and utterly slaughtering them.]]
25* AlwaysChaoticEvil: As noted in ''Lord of Nightmares'' #3, the Carpathian species of vampire. It's true enough that in ''Second Cycle'', [[spoiler:Felicia Book's leadership has all other species brought in for recruitment to the VMS ''except'' the Carpathian strain]].
26-->'''Hobbes:''' All other species of [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Homo abominus]], [[VampireVarietyPack all the other vampires]], there is generally an element of ''[[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire goodness]]'' to them. There may be darkness, but it is tempered. Even the mindless ones work on [[NonMaliciousMonster instinct]]. But the Carpathian species... Something in ''that'' blood, something neurological that damages the ''brain'' in such a way that no good--\
27'''Felicia Book:''' They're just plain ''evil,'' is what you're saying.
28** The only exception seen was the couple in ''Long Road to Hell'' - they try desperately to hold on to their humanity and love for each other, but within a few days of being turned into Carpathians they've almost gone mad with bloodthirst. They attempt to find a cure and to only feed on "bad" people, [[spoiler: but in the end they allow Travis Kidd to MercyKill them rather than go on living that way.]]
29** It is however, somewhat averted by [[spoiler: Travis Kidd, becoming the "new Dracula" to fight the Beast, it's heavily implied that all Carpathians are psychically connected to their progenitor who was a genocidal monster, which is what caused their strain to be this trope, Kidd is shown to be exactly the same as he always was, despite taking the blood and role of the most evil vampire in existence.]]
30* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Carpathian bloodline engineered a genocide of all other vampire breeds in the world a few centuries before the Nazis even became a thing. So it wouldn't be a surprise that when World War II rolled out and the two would join forces.
31* ApocalypticLog: The eponymous Miner's Log in ''Second Cycle'' #5, which the Vassals of the Morning Star had obtained from Creator/HPLovecraft, and reads like one of his stories.
32* AssholeVictim: Chase Hamilton from the first arc. Not only did he [[UngratefulBastard backstab the vampire hunter who had saved his life]] and feed him to his quarry in return for fame, he fully assists with the European vampires' coven and feeds aspiring starlets to them. When he encounters the newly vampirized Pearl, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he doesn't even]] ''[[ButForMeItWasTuesday remember]]'' [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he gave her to his partners the previous night]]. It's a bit hard to feel bad for Pearl making him her first kill. Little Feet Beales also deserves note given he spent years selling musicians to vampires to have their blood drained.
33* AxCrazy: Skinner Sweet was somewhat...unhinged after being entombed thirty years and takes his anger out by butchering an entire town. The undisputed queen of madness though? Hattie Hargrove after her vampirization, with her obsessive drive to destroy Pearl and her unhinged murders of others.
34* BadassNormal: Henry, a fully normal ex-marine who's fully willing to fight alongside his American Vampire girlfriend, and win. Cashell [=McCogan=] who's an ordinary police chief who becomes an accomplished vampire fighter as well. Linden Hobbes, out of all the Vassals of the Morning Star, deserves special note as leading the organization in their war for decades and being the greatest vampire killer alive. [[spoiler: Special points that he takes down ''Dracula'' at cost of his own life.]]
35** Travis Kidd is a good contender for greatest vampire killer, unafraid to take on scores of vampires on his own and fought Skinner Sweet to a standstill without any allies or powers and still a teenager.
36* BattleCry: "SemperFi, SugarWiki/{{Mo|mentOfAwesome}}therfuckers!"
37* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Creator/HarryHoudini and Creator/HPLovecraft made use of an ApocalypticLog linked to [[spoiler:the Gray Trader]].
38* BewareTheNiceOnes: Pearl is a nice girl, until you push her. While she has a vicious side, she's a genuinely sweet woman who adores her husband and helps people who need it...but touch her husband or wrong innocent people and she will kill you and enjoy it immensely.
39* BigBad: Skinner Sweet was this for a time, but he's supplanted as the story goes on. Dracula himself is more the contender for this title, but in ''Second Cycle'', the spot is taken by the Gray Trader. It ultimately turns out that [[spoiler:the Trader serves an AncientEvil known as the Beast, who is revealed to be the ultimate villain in the setting]].
40* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Skinner can genuinely not remember meeting Travis Kidd or killing his parents. [[spoiler: Because he had absolutely nothing to do with their deaths. It was a Carpathian death squad sent to town for a matter Skinner was connected to. Travis still blames him for it.]]
41* ButtMonkey: The Carpathian Vampires have this as their hat, though they do [[AlwaysChaoticEvil deserve it]]. Not only are they the easiest of all vampires to kill (with a weakness to sunlight and wood), but they keep siring random people and creating stronger bloodlines than them. It's definitely ironic that they think of themselves as [[SmugSnake the superior species]].
42* CharacterDevelopment: One of the series' high points. As he lives longer, Skinner gradually becomes more human. Pearl Jones goes from a naive aspiring starlet to a powerful vampire trying to live morally. Linden Hobbes, head of the Vassals of the Morning Star progresses from an anti-vampire fanatic into someone who gradually realizes how his true fight is against ''evil.''
43* TheChosenOne:
44** One of [[spoiler: The Ancients in ''Survival of the Fittest'' says this to Felicia in its language before she escapes]].
45** In ''Second Cycle'' its revealed that [[spoiler:Skinner Sweet is this for the Beast, as he is intended to become its new host. He says "screw that noise" and tries to end his own life]].
46* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Skinner has betrayed everyone at some point or another. He admits himself he is "just pitiful" at keeping deals.
47* CreatureHunterOrganization: While they appear to just be {{Vampire Hunter}}s, the Vassals of the Morning Star, a.k.a. VMS, are more akin to this, due to how "vampires" are merely a convenient term for the general monsters that they face.
48* CruelMercy: Skinner takes time to mock an old enemy for being old and decrepit while Skinner is young forever, viewing that as the cruelest punishment.
49* DamselInDistress: Pearl starts off as one. It didn't work out so well. So she went ActionGirl and got revenge.
50* DarkIsNotEvil: Not all vampires seen in the series are completely evil like the Carpathian and Japanese bloodlines: Gaelic vampires were able to coexist peacefully with humans, such as [[spoiler:Cash's adoptive father]] who lived as police officer. In fact, the Vassals eventually realized this and [[spoiler:under Felicia Book's leadership, started employing ''vampires'' as members]].
51* DaywalkingVampire: The premise.
52** American Vampires can, as can Gaelic-Primes and [[spoiler: Native American Vampires. Strangely, their progenitors, the ancient ones, can't, and burn (albeit very slowly)]]
53* DeathByDisfigurement: [[spoiler:Brun is torn limb from limb as part of Dizz's IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure interrogation of Felicia in "Dark Moon", though he manages to free them with one last spit of his saliva.]]
54* DecapitationPresentation: Skinner does this to Felix Camillo's father in Issue 3.
55* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: Various people utilize the weaknesses of different abomination species through weapons or coating their natural weapons with the substance. The Vassals of the Morning Star are a standout example, as they have a device that can transmute small samples of the material into a bullet on short notice.
56* {{Dhampyr}}: Felicia Book is the daughter of the human Abilena and the American Vampire Jim Book.
57* DiedInYourArmsTonight: At the end of ''The Blacklist'' arc, [[spoiler: Henry pushes his aging body to the limit to kill Hattie once and for all to save Pearl's life before dying in her arms.]]
58* TheDreaded: The Gray Trader's arrival in America is considered a portent of the apocalypse. Nobody talks about this guy in anything but a hushed whisper.
59* EldritchAbomination: Potentially what the progenitors of the vampire race are. [[spoiler:The Beast is certainly one]].
60* EqualOpportunityEvil: The Nazis have vampires among their ranks, though it has more to do with sharing similar supremacist beliefs.
61* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: [[spoiler:Brun's disembodied head]] manages to spit his corrosive saliva at the DeathTrap holding [[spoiler:Pearl and Felicia]] in "Dark Moon", setting them free despite the person holding him thinking he missed.
62* FallenHero: [[spoiler:Hurin was the original founder of the Vassals until he was turned by The Beast and becoming the Great Traitor to humanity, or commonly known in his bastardized name the "Gray Trader."]]
63* FauxAffablyEvil: Skinner Sweet can put up a show of being polite and charming, but he's utterly without morals or scruples.
64* FightDracula: ''Lord of Nightmares'' has Dracula, the progenitor of the Carpathian bloodline, as the primary villain after it has broken out of its prison.
65* FlatEarthAtheist: It seems Lyndon Johnson was one. The VMS had been operating for the U.S. government for decades and had plenty of records and evidence of the existence of vampires. But after Johnson became President, he completely refused to believe in the existence of the supernatural, considered the VMS just a crackpot waste and shut them down.
66* FriendlyEnemy: Pearl's relationship with the Vassals of the Morning Star is shown to evolve into this by TheForties. While the Vassals still tend to see her as an abomination, they're mostly content with the fact that her husband works for them and that Pearl is at least not going around and killing people [[spoiler:except those who deserve it]]. It also helps that they share a [[EnemyMine common enemy]] in Skinner.
67* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Pearl is by far the nicest, most sympathetic and arguably most ''human'' vampire in the series. All she really wants is to live her life in peace and be with Henry...although God help you if you piss them off. [[spoiler:Gus Mccogan]] is also revealed to be one, only resorting to killing [[spoiler:the Consortium]] for what he sees as the greater good of Las Vegas.
68** The American bloodline as whole has this trope as a hat. While other bloodlines such as the Carpathians and the Japanese vampires tend to commit TranshumanTreachery when turned, the American vampires stay more or less the same they were when they were human and the most we see are nice and friendly. The most obviously evil of that bloodline (Skinner Sweet and [[spoiler:Hattie]] were already evil before they became vampires.
69* GameFace: The new breed pass for human easily, but when fighting or feeding or angry, they shift to clawed and fanged monsters.
70* GlasgowGrin: [[spoiler: Hattie]] now has one of these. She covers it with makeup.
71* GreaserDelinquents : Travis Kidd has everything : fondness for "race music" (he's seen dancing to The Nocturne's record) and fast cars/racing, leather jacket, sunglasses... And a very special switchblade [[spoiler: a golden knife in his sleeve.]]
72* TheGreatDepression: Cashell's story starts here.
73* HappilyMarried: Pearl and Henry marry some time after the first arc and are utterly devoted to one another, verging into SickeningSweethearts sometimes. Pearl's greatest fear is losing him.
74* HeroicSacrifice: The series has a few:
75** [[spoiler:Erik Pavel]] and [[spoiler: Cash Mccogan]] in ''Survival of the Fittest''
76** In ''Ghost War'', [[spoiler: The Vicar is infected and grabs a string of grenades and rushes into a crowd of Japanese vampires, killing them all and saving Calvin and Henry.]]
77* HemoErotic: Henry and Pearl love to have bite-y, [[KissOfTheVampire feeder]] sex with each other.
78* HistoricalInJoke:
79** The destruction of the "Land" portion of the Hollywoodland sign was caused by a conflict between Pearl, Henry, and the European vampires' coven (although twenty-four years early).
80** Albert, Duke of Clarence, became UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper after being DrivenToMadness by {{Dracula}}.
81** The underground nuclear tests conducted in Nevada in the 1950's were not tests but aggressive attempts conducted by Hobbes and the U.S. military [[GodzillaThreshold to kill]] [[spoiler:The Beast]].
82** Sputnik was launched by the Russians to keep check on [[spoiler:The Beast]].
83** Area51 is named for the year 1951, the same year that the Vassals of the Morning Star started actively hunting [[spoiler:The Beast]].
84** The NumberOfTheBeast is a reference to [[spoiler:the six main bloodlines of Homo abominus]].
85* HollywoodHistory: The earliest parts of the story go back to TheWildWest, skips a few decades, then starts again in the RoaringTwenties. So far, every main story arc has taken place around ten years after the last, with the story progressing through TheGreatDepression and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Judging by some solicitations, the trend will continue at least through TheFifties.
86* HorrorHunger: When Book was turned into an American Vampire, he fought his hunger for three years with nothing short of HeroicWillpower despite the overriding desire to devour every human in sight. Pearl, thankfully, suffers little from this given Henry's willingness to be a donor.
87* HowWeGotHere: The first few story arcs start out this manner. The first one opens with Pearl being dumped in the desert after being bitten and cutting back to 3 days before; the second arc opens with Cash carrying some mysterious package followed by what happened 6 months ago and the third arc opens with Henry pinned by enemy artillery writing a goodbye letter to Pearl and the story moving to a month before. The entire "Skinner Sweet" segment has the InUniverse narrator detailing the story that took place over 40 years ago.
88* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Skinner Sweet]] as of the end of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Ghost War]] arc. [[spoiler: This is revealed to be false during the Travis Kidd story arc.]]
89** [[spoiler: Henry on the other hand...]]
90* KryptoniteFactor: Every vampire breed has some weakness. The Carpathians have sunlight and wood as theirs, while American Vampires become extremely weak on new moons and have a weakness to gold.
91* LizardFolk: The Japanese Vampires in the Ghost War Arc are eyeless lizard-men with ''huge'' fangs.
92* MayDecemberRomance: Partially invoked, but mostly subverted with Book and his goddaughter Abilena. Abilena wanted to invoke this trope, but Book is creeped out by the idea. He even tells her he thinks of her as his own daughter. Still, [[spoiler: when he wants her to kill him, she agrees to do it if he will impregnate her first.]]
93* MayflyDecemberRomance: Pearl is painfully aware of Henry's aging as she remains young and her greatest fear is losing him, even though he makes her swear to never turn him out of desperation.
94* MeaningfulEcho: Will Bunting does this with Abilena. ""Can I tag along?" "Just keep up." Earlier in the story, he asks James Book this on a few occasions.
95* MissingReflection: Played straight with the [[VampireVords Euro vamps]] while the American species have distorted reflections.
96* TheMole: [[spoiler:Agent Bixby]] turns out to be an agent of [[spoiler:The Beast]] by the end of "Dark Moon". It is unclear if this was always the case, or if it is a recent change.
97* MuggingTheMonster: A group of Japanese soldiers think it's a good idea to try to rape Pearl. A group of racist toughs also try to torment and murder Calvin Poole. Calvin gives them one chance to stop before he just flat out butchers them. As both these people are American Vampires, this doesn't end well and had their attackers knew, they would have given pause to this idea.
98* {{Mummy}}: Joel is of a species that is the origin of the mummy mythology, and believes in Myth/EgyptianMythology to boot. His healing can be accelerated through the use of dung beetles.
99* MysticalHollywood: A coven of the Carpathian vampires control Hollywood, using it to strengthen both their financial clout and influence over mortals. It also turns old Hollywood from merely being cruelly exploitative to horrifyingly dangerous, as the conscienceless vampires are more than happy to feed on naive wannabe actors and actresses and have all the power necessary to cover up their sadistic and murderous deeds.
100* NaziZombies: The 77th Division of the Nazi forces in "Survival of the Fittest" is made up of Carpathian vampires.
101* NinjaZombiePirateRobot: Joel in "Dark Moon" is both a {{mummy}} and the first man in space, making him a zombie astronaut.
102* NotQuiteDead: Pearl didn't exactly kill Hattie, just put her in a hibernation via gold star through the face. [[spoiler: She didn't kill Skinner either, as the Vassals recover him and make him their agent.]]
103* NuclearOption: [[spoiler: After the American government disavowed the Vassals and therefore unwilling to hunt vampires and The Beast, the Soviet Union is willing to risk launching their entire nuclear arsenal on The Beast should it appear while knowingly this would cause MutuallyAssuredDestruction for the sake of it.]]
104* ObstructiveBureaucrat: What ultimately destroys the VMS is not vampires. Rather it's after John F. Kennedy was killed and Lyndon Johnson refused to accept the existence of vampires and so shut the VMS down just as they were about to take down the Gray Trader.
105* PayEvilUntoEvil: A running theme: Pearl and later arc protagonists have zero issue destroying those who deserve it...they may enjoy it a ''bit'' more than is normally healthy though.
106* OralFixation: Skinner Sweet loves peppermint sticks-- even as a vampire.
107-->"Do you motherfuckers have any candy?"
108* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:"Isakku" are giant, white-skinned, bald humanoids that are confused for angels, with their blood being the "blood of light" that can kill pretty much any agent of the Beast. They are seen as the opposite to Homo abominus. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any left alive, and the only one remaining has very limited blood left.]]
109* OurGargoylesRock: Brun in "Dark Moon" is of a species that is the origin of the gargoyle myth. Their skin toughens and hardens in the sun, causing them to sit for a very long time.
110* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: Known as "g'ul", this species of abomination eats not only flesh, but also bone marrow.
111* OurMonstersAreDifferent: "Vampires" are more a general term than anything, with the taxonomy apparently including creatures resembling the legends of gorgons, dragons, werewolves, mummies, and zombies, among others.
112-->'''Hobbes:''' The term "vampire" is a ''colloquialism''. A word by common folk that we have adopted here at the [[CreatureHunterOrganization VMS]] out of ''laziness''. ''"Abomination,"'' the proper term, is mercilessly adaptable, as is that black bloodline.
113* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The new breed has powers that the older vampires lack. (So far, they have elongated finger-claws, rattlesnake fangs, can swim, and are powered by sunlight, only becoming vulnerable during the nights of the new moon.) [[VampireVarietyPack There are also several other types of Vampires.]] Heck, they have an entire taxonomy for them! Essentially, the Vassals admit that there really is no such thing as a 'vampire'. There's just a lot of freakish, blood-drinking monsters in the world that happen to have enough similarities to be grouped together.
114-->'''Skinner Sweet:''' See sometimes, when the blood hits someone new, from somewhere new... it makes something new. With a whole new bag of tricks, get it?
115* OutsideContextProblem: Zig-Zagged with [[spoiler:the Beast. The Vassals are completely stumped as how to fight an EldritchAbomination and its minions since they are an vampire-hunting organization. But then they find out the Vassals were founded all along to ''fight the Beast'', but since the vampire threat rose with Dracula's genocide, they have devoted all their efforts to fighting vampires. Unfortunately, by the time the Beast became a threat once again, the Vassals don't know to fight against them]].
116* PayEvilUntoEvil: Pearl's out for vengeance [[spoiler: on the Hollywood vampire coven]], and [[spoiler:Skinner's old enemies]] want to put an end to his depredations. [[spoiler: Not to mention what Hattie does to her captor...]]
117* RedEyesTakeWarning: A key part of a Carpathian vampire's GameFace, which is contrasted against the SupernaturalGoldEyes of the American vampires.
118* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: After selling out the VMS and setting everyone up to die, [[spoiler: Bixby finds himself attacked by the Trader's people. He begs that "remember all I've done!" and they sneer "We'll remember it...always.” This ends up being {{Subverted}} as they don’t kill Bixby, who ends up as an agent for the Secret Service, assisting the Gray Trader of his own free will (at first) in influencing the president’s decisions.]]
119* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Skinner and Pearl both go on these, against their enemies. [[spoiler: Hattie's also started one, against Pearl.]]
120* RoaringTwenties: Pearl's story starts there.
121* SaltSolution: [[spoiler:Tongues of the Beast]] are deathly vulnerable to salt.
122* SealedEvilInACan: Mimiteh, rumored as a Native American goddess of death sealed herself away to keep from harming others.
123* ShoutOut:
124** [[spoiler:The Asian vampires. They bear some resemblance to the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies.]]
125** ''Lord of Nightmares'' has a host of references to ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', such as Agent William S. Harker being sent to recover from a mission to take down the Carpathian Prime with his cousin Creator/BramStoker.
126* SilverHasMysticPowers: The [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Homo abominus canis Asiatic-2]] are deathly vulnerable to silver.
127* SlapSlapKiss: [[spoiler: Pearl and Skinner.]]
128* SlasherSmile: American Vampires do these ''real'' well.
129* SlidingScaleOfVampireFriendliness: European vamps are at the unfriendly end to the point they're described as (re)born without the human parts that would give them compassion, so they literally ''can't'' be good. Ironically, Sweet's line of American vampires are potentially incredibly friendly, having little to no HorrorHunger, no personality shifts, an easily sated blood thirst (Pearl survives for decades from mild feedings on her husband Henry). It's ironic because Skinner Sweet is perhaps the most misanthropic and sociopathic character in the series.
130* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: When Book wants Abilena to put him out of his misery, she agrees on the terms that he will impregnate her first so she will have this at least.
131* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Part of the American vampire GameFace, in contrast to the Carpathian RedEyesTakeWarning.
132* TakenForGranite: The venom of the Gorgon can cause the petrification of soft tissue in humans, though it is just a temporary paralytic in others of the abominations. This venom can be turned into a gaseous form for "gorgon gas" grenades, as shown in "Dark Moon."
133* ThoseWackyNazis: In ''Survival of the Fittest,'' it's shown that yes, there ''are'' [[spoiler:or ''were'']] Nazi Vampires. They apparently signed up believing that the same Aryan/Master Race rhetoric applies to their kind as well as to humanity.
134* TookALevelInBadass: Pearl, of course...[[spoiler: and Hattie.]]
135* TwilightOfTheOldWest: The first volume shows this in action, which continues to a degree in the second (set in TheThirties) as more of the Old West aesthetics transition into something more recognizably modern.
136* UndeadChild: [[spoiler:Pearl is keeping a group of these safe to transport elsewhere during ''Second Cycle''.]] Cashell's son Gus is another example, given Skinner vampirized him in the womb.
137* UnstoppableRage: Pearl. After the Hollywood Coven does bad things to her, her rage is only stopped when they're corpses.
138* VampiresAreRich: The Carpathian vampires. Justified, since they achieved wealthy positions as actors and bankers. The American vampires, on the other hand, tend to live more simpler and humble lives (though Skinner becomes a successful businessman during the Great Depression).
139* VampireHunter: The Vassals of the Morning Star are a secret society of Vampire Hunters dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Unlike most vampire hunter organizations, however, the Vassals are remarkably metropolitan about who they employ, to the point of working with Pearl, [[HalfHumanHybrid Felicia]] and [[spoiler:Skinner]]. Also, unlike most such organizations, their prey is a variety that is not strictly vampires alone, but branches into many other lines of monster. By ''Second Cycle'', [[spoiler:Felicia Book's leadership causes them to take on ''any'' species of abomination except [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Carpathians]]]].
140* VampireVarietyPack:
141** The types of vampires seen so far have been the European vampires (traditional vampires also known as Carpathian vampires, who believe themselves to be the dominant species), American vampires (jaws like rattle snakes and powered by the sun), Gaelic-Prime vampires, a shape-shifting type that is actually quite nice. Its other form is a pretty vicious looking creature with giant bat-like wings ( [[spoiler: Cashell's adoptive father was one before being killed by Sweet]] ), the Japanese vampire (introduced in the Ghost War story arc), a creepy looking thing with giant teeth and no eyes, and the newest species to be introduced, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Homo Abominum Canis Asiatic-2]], which, like the Gaelic Prime species, were thought to be extinct but there are apparently enough left alive to pose a threat due to how a person can be easily infected if their wounds are exposed to the Abominum Canis' saliva (it is implied that the species tries to prevent this from happening however). The same arc that introduces the Canis mentions one based on [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]].
142** The 'Survival of the Fittest' arc also revealed a few minor bloodlines, apparently ancestors of the Carpathian breed, who are vulnerable to different bands of the ultraviolet spectrum. It also revealed ancient vampires, enormous, golem-like creatures who's skin is so tough that it only tarnishes slightly when exposed to direct sunlight.
143** [[spoiler: We've now seen a kind of American Vampire that predates Skinner Sweet, Mimiteh, the Native American vampire. It's a huge, terrifying lizard monster with orange skin, and a total immunity to sunlight.]]
144** The "Dark Moon" arc of ''Second Cycle'' includes a host of other strains, including ones based on [[OurGargoylesRock gargoyles]], [[{{Mummy}} mummies]], [[TakenForGranite gorgons]], and one mentioned based on [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]].
145* VillainProtagonist: While Pearl, Cashell and Henry all have their stories, let's face it. Skinner's the true main character, whose actions drive nearly everything else in the plot directly or indirectly, [[EvilIsCool and we wouldn't have it any other way.]]
146* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: While Henry's usually able to handle himself, if he's in over his head, particularly against vampires, Pearl's right there and ready to rumble.
147* TheVirus: Unlike most depictions, humans can only be turned into vampires by being infected with the blood of a vampire, not just by being bitten.
148** Played straight with the Japanese vampires, who are completely feral. A single drop of their blood coming into contact with your skin will turn you almost instantly.
149* TheWildWest: Skinner's story starts there. May be seen as a kind of WeirdWest as well
150* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: The third arc of ''American Vampire'' takes place in the Pacific theater (Skinner Sweet, Pearl and Henry continue their story here) while the mini-series ''Survival of the Fittest'' takes place in Europe (Cashell and Felicia continue their story here).
151* WhamEpisode: The final issue in ''Second Cycle''. [[spoiler: The heroes discover that the superweapon against the Beast is revealed to be an dormant angel incased in a warhead. Skinner tries to kill himself so the Beast wouldn't take control of him, and while he managed to both break free and survive at the same time, he discovers to his horror that he also was inadvertently cured of his vampirism and he can't be infected again.]]
152* WhamShot: The last panels of the second Anthology: [[spoiler:Jim Book is still alive]].
153* WorthyOpponent: You'd be forgiven thinking Skinner had nothing but hatred towards Jim Book given their early encounters, but when he encounters an actor playing his old nemesis in an Old West show, Skinner kills him while snarling "you don't deserve to wear Jim Book's name!" In their youth, Skinner even mused being 'bad' was no fun without Jim to chase him.
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