SCOTT SNYDER RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE \ ReOF COURSE YoU DO, CHIEF! T UNDERSTAND. THe Wire 5 LaiD uP ano READY TO POP. You s LD JIM SMOKE YOUR HOOVER'S MOVERS. IT {aN HONOR. Pea ory WITH WHOEVER WITH HOWARI BesuLied Yesre' ‘MURDERED. INeeD. OUR GIRLS, SEEMS HE'S BEEN cuier McCOGAN! WHAT ANICE SURPRISE. WHAT CAN Z HELP YOu WITH?’ TO ONE 1OKE. WAS D ERDAY MURDERED! OW MY. WELL ‘OF COURSE, cnier PETAL! come TALK To us, DOLLY,OH! Chou. Hey T JUST WANTED TO’ M REAL, REAL SORRY ABOUT YouR DAD: T.MEAN, CHIEF MeCOGAN. HE WAS ‘AN ANGEL TO ME AND MY MOM ‘BACK IN THE Day ‘SHAME WHAT HAPPENED Toul T Appreciate “JENNIFER. NOW, HAROLD BEAULIEU AT THE ‘APACHE HOTEL LAST NIGHT? AND WHEN DID You PaRT ways? WELL, T GOT THERE ABOUT 4:30, SPENT SOMe TIME WITH MR, BEAULIE! AND WAS BACK HERE BY 6:00, 26:30 DATE, IN BE VERIFIED... IN FACT, YOU UST CHECK WITH OFFICER PALL. IN YOUR PRECINCT? He wasTHE MAN ADOPTED ME WHEN T WAS 81K YEARS OLD. TOOK ME IN ‘AND SAVED ME FROM ALIFE OF ORPHANAGES. RAISED ME LIKE His OWN BLOOP. YOU THINK IT’ Easy FOR’ ME TO STAND THERE WITH SMOKE, SUSPECT NUMBER ONE INWie MURDER, AND NOT RIP His GOD-DAMN HEAD OFF?! LOOK DOWN. MY FATHER BLED TO DEATH RIGHT HERE, ALMOST EXACTLY WaeRe You'Re STANDING NOW. SHOT IN THE BACK. WHY DON'T You TELL ME, CHIEF? YOu BARELY QUESTIONED THE ‘GIRL. YOULET SMOKE WALK ALL OVER Us ‘BUT “TIL THE END, MY FATHER BELIEVED IN RESPECT | FoR THe Law, FoR THe RIGHTS OF EVERYONE, | EVEN TRASH LIKE ‘SMOKE, AND IN ALL. “<= My YEARS AS His DEPUTY, I NEVER ONCE SAW Hi LOSE WIS COOL LIKE YOU DID BACK THERE! AGENT STRAW. WHAT WAS THE TEMPERATURE AT ABOUT SAY... 5 IN THE AETERNOON YESTERDAY? HOT. AT Least. EIGHTY-FIVE Deorees. iT was NINETY-ONE AT FIVE O'CLOCK YESTERDAY, NOW THAT GIRL BACK THERE WEIGHED MAYBE A BUCK TEN, APTER DINNER. EVEN IF SHE COULD TAKE DOWN a MAN BEAULIEU’S Size, AND ‘DRAIN HIM OF ALL HIS BLOOD...BECAUSE YOU SURE ASHELL AREN'T GOING TO BE ANY HELP TO. ME HERE, WE SAW AT THE PeaBoDy HAD BEEN LYING ON THe FLOOR, IN THAT ROOM, INNINETY DEGREE EAT FOR HOURS Lieu WAS TER THe HEAT THe NIGHT. BY iB, WHO STILL iO TROUBLE SNEAKING UPON Hi. 50 MOST LIKELY, SOMEONE Hi KNEW, AT LEAST IN PASSING. AND IF YOU, COULDN'T see THAT, THEN You MigHT a6 WELL \‘heao Back To \ WASHINGTON. oe = y WORKING MANN ACT CASES THE Last YEAR AND GIRLS KIDNAPPED INTO PROSTITUTION. SEEING THE FRONTIER--IT CUTS. ISN'T THAT RIGHT, ‘MI65 BOOK. ILost my HEAD. IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN. Feviciaz, IT BETTER NOT. NOW eT IN. IT'S BEEN ALONG DAY, AND SOMETHING TELLS | ME TOMORROW'S NOT GOING TO BE ‘ANY SHORTER.T READ IN THE NEWSPAPER THe OTHER DAY THAT PEOPLE ON THE COAST ARE STARTING TO CALL LAS VeGas "SIN CITY.” ALL THIS. LEGALIZATION Was: SuPPposeD To Be TEMPORARY. Te ‘GAMBLING, THE PROSTITUTION. TO MAKE a LITTLE EXTRA MONEY OFF THE ‘DAM WORKERS... HELP GET THE CITY THROUGH THE DARK TIMES.. LOOKING GUT at THe city NOW, THOUGH... IT’ HARD TO IMAGINE ANY OF IT GOING AWAY--EVES¥‘ 1st Me, DEPUTY. T ‘SURRENDER.WHAT'S BEING A COP GOT TO D0 witu IT? ‘CHASING DOWN DRUNKS ‘ND THETHATS WHat eveRvONe THINK: IN THE WiLL OF PEOPLE BEING A COP Is ABOUT 9 PUNISHING PEOPLE FOR fiat TO D0 WHAT'S RIGHT DOING WRONG. DESPITE THEIR OWN INSTINCTS. YOU'RE 6000 . AT THAT. BETTER THAN ‘BUT THAT’S NOT LAM. BETTER THAN I KNOW IT ever was. ISN'T. IT'S ABOUT So) BELievine IN PeorLe, ‘BELIEVING IN THE NO, IT'S TRUE. I’MLOSING IT, CASHEL. T TRY TO Be HOPEFUL ABOUT THIS PLACE, ABOUT THESE PEOPLE... TO BELIEVE WE'LL CLEAN OURSELVES UP WHEN THE DAM’S DONE, BUT I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE. AROUND AND ALL T see 15 A NIGHTMARE. YOu THINK 5 DON'T Feel THE Samer I'M sure you DO. DIFFERENCE |5, YOU CAN'T HELP SEEING PAST IT. YOU COULDN'T GIVE UP ON THE GOOD IF YOU WANTED TO. IF LWeRE you THOUGH, FOR THe SAKE OF THAT BABY, ID TRY.woriisome was THE RADIUS OF THE FANG, LIKELY THE SIZE OF THE LOCATED AT THE SECOND MAXILLARY PUNCTURES... INCISOR, CHARTS AT NEARLY NINE MILLIMETERS--TOO Bia FOR A COMMON CARPATHIAN. MY GUESS 16 SOMETHING OLDER. PRE-GENOCIDE. MAYBE GAELIC. ‘STOP TAPE, $0 SOMEONE LOCAL, WHO KNOWS bed THE PLACE AND ITS PEOPLE--WHO ohn Bet ae TRYING TO DISRUPT Zwae, CONSTRUCTION ON THE TALKING DAM FOR REASONS: sPOUT WaT ABOUT THE TARGET? WELL, ITS. FAMILIARITY WITH THE TOWN sugcesTs THAT IN ITS HUMAN FORM, IT RESIDESAPOLOGY ACCEPTED. HERE, AND MY PERBONAL HISTORY WITH HIM. BuT You \ KNEW 1 WANTED TT. OWETO MAKE IT WE'VE FELLED MOUNTAINS.LESS THAN AN ‘AMERICAN PYRAMID. THAT'S ALL VERY INTERESTING, —~ MR. FILMOT, BUT YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MAY QUESTION. IS THERE ANYONE YOU'D LisT AS AN ENEMY TO MR. BEAULIEU? ANYONE WHO'D WANT TO HARM Him, YOU, OR THE OTHER MEMBERS OF YOUR CONSORTIUM OF FOUR?5 S 20 IE YOU WANT FRE NOU ae ( mesine my SusPECTS NR. ne er ex my "Font, BEAILIEU'S MURDER, WE TOP AND WOR caer iecooan, ZCAN Lz PROVIDE YouWiTn a ier OF On 2a, ABOUT 2,000. Ou, I GET Your POINT Just Tis 16 A PYRAMID AND YOU, MR. BEAULIEU, AND THe OTHER TWO CONSORTIUM HEADS ARE THE PHARACHS. BECAUSE YOU'RE ONE OF FOUR MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR BUILDING ADAM, NOW SOMEONE MURDERED ONE OF YOUR THREE CONSORTIUM PARTNERS. LOOK AT THiS PHOTOGRAPH. DRAINED HIM OF EVERY DROP OF BLOOD. AND WHOEVER DID IT 6 STILL OUT THERE. ‘BUT SEE, NEVADA Ion‘ A KINGDOM, MR. FILMOT,. THESE WORKERS AIN'T SLAVES. AND 7’ TELLING W YOu IT'D GREATLY SERVE YOUR INTERESTS TO START THINKING LESS ABOUT HISTORY AND. MORE ABOUT THE PRESENT. Course FLL HELP IN NY WAY POSSIBLE. EXCUSE ME FOR AIT'S Me. eOVER HERE! IT First, TeLL me THis, fFee IN THE PART TWO SCOTT SN¥DER RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE DAVE MCCAIG STEVE WANDS RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE MARK DO¥LE CNM ee laa SCOTT SN¥DERMlle eft Cubs in the late 1960s after | realized | could no longer tive under the revolution | had once welcomed with open arms. For years, every time | would remember a story about that ‘ime — about my family, my artists collective, my time in prison — 1 would tell it. Dean Haspiel isa member of my extended family, so he literally grew up hearing ‘these stories. One day he told me | had to write them down. | told him there was too much to write, too much to remember. “You write it asa nove” he ai, “and | wl ilutrate it What would happen when I tried to remember the details of what | had spent years trying to forget? I went to Florida for two weeks and returned to New York with more than three hundred pages. My memories gushed like the rsh of water over adam. To select what would move the story forward was like playing chess: every single move was important. Finally, the collaboration with Dean began. Like me, he is very sure of himself, and | knew we would clash I had always admired his work and for years | encouraged him to be true to his artistic principles. But now I had to ask myself, what about mine? He would have to recreate my memories and feelings visually and what if | didn ike ther? Asa painter, | am accustomed to creating my pieces, identifying the pictorial problems, and solving them myself ‘Weeks and months went by, and | learned that when youre working with someone at a similar level of ‘creativity and experience, a miracle happens. We were a match, and after two years my world of words became a visual theater. Seeing the stores in print, | sometimes remember the bitin sting ofthe hose against my body, and smell my flesh buring from the wires. The fear will never go away, but | dont live at its mercy anymore. I now have a stronger sense of myself. | can write this work of fiction, inspired by my true experiences, withthe hope ‘of making my country a better place. — Invern Lockpez From first-time author Inverna Lockper and Eisner nominated artist Dean Haspiel, a power ful graphic novel inspired by a true story Against the turmoil of the Cuban Revolution a young medical student 1 Aheams of becoming 2 Rey painter, but is caught between idealism and ideology under Castro’ regime. ON THE ] pabironiad a [INVER Aue Ha « Fe Aaa + a + AMT SEMIN, eu Las SEED, eves Maen » 08 CINE, atta» 188 CONN Pru ES» ASU Manda» OA TE Vay» SPO, a ae aes Harvey Pekar was the first writer | brought into Vertigo. My first week onthe job Needless to say | was pretty excited Now it si year later and suddenly, Harvey s gone Tmstilin shock knew about his health problems, but somehow, Harvey seemed lke one of those guys who would just keep going and going. When we worked ‘together, Harvey called every dy. He read ever script cove the phone before e mailed it (He abnays mailed it The US. Postal Service could count on Harvey) The fst graphic novel he wrote for me was called THE QUITTER. The ttle was right forthe book, but not for the Harvey | knew When | was editing his latest and, as it turned out, last sues of AMERICAN SPLENDOR and hada two- or three-page hoe ofl called him, He often had a call witha diferent publisher goin on hs second house line, or ajazz discon the tumtable fra review he was writing, But within an hour (usually quicker. hel cal back and read his new story to me Nothing could stop him. It never even occurred to me tat anything woul. His comics were not “about” his life. They were, quite italy, his ite. In pencil and ink So we now liven an America without Harvey Pekar, plac tat for me becomes just litle more dificult to figure out: We produce, in this country very few of ‘those voices that can give us abit of guidance through this maze of fe. Now we have one es Harvey created a new kind of comics. Call them "gaphic memoi’ “indie” or whatever, they were comics for anyone whoever looked ina mirror, een a les ‘than-perfct person then gone on with lif anyway, Harvey made comics int art forthe people. For you nd me. He leaves an enormous body of work But Harvey also leaves usa trust that is art for the people wil keep going and going hope that all of us who read, love and create comics remember to keep that tus. Now that he's no longer part of my lif, hope | wll Atleast I try to do what you would do, Harvey. The best can — Jonathan Vann "AMERICAN VAMPIRE #7 » DAYTRIPPER #10 » DMZ #57 » FABLES #98 GREEK STREET #15 » HELLBLAZER #271 » HOUSE OF MYSTERY #29, Pe Ue Oe Ce Pe oS ee Le ee get AREER LOL nun Meee nat} (UUs asa a ; AMERICAN VAMPIRE VOL. 1 HC Collecting the frst story arc ofthe hit new series AMERICAN VAMPIRE introduces a new, more vicious breed of vampire from Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and horror master Stephen King! Packed with Bonus Features! ‘AND FOR A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE FIRST ISSWE OF ALL YOUR FAVORITE SERIES: www.vertigobooks.com 1H Hn nobis» GME il eae is» CAE i ov ie Se, ig & ses Geren» AE EG, Ve TAC HAE i SOL een & esa Pisin EE AEscans 'n edits y WTC TA)a ie oN ya iE — . : 7 The eye en ogc pate, ach