Sometimes, you just know.

As soon as I finished this issue, I knew it was going to be my pick of the week.

This is the final chapter of the latest arc, but as befits an arc called “Death Race” there are plenty of turns you don’t see coming.

This issue is explosive one second then steeped in tension the next. There’s James Dean cool, X Flies conspiracy and action movie revenge. And of course, there’s blood.

Scott Snyder is crafting an epic like no other. Every issue, he ups the ante while teasing in nuances and new ideas so smoothly, you don’t even realize how drawn in you are until you get to the last page and realize you have to wait a month to get more. This comic is a drug like that.

And Rafael Albuquerque? Simply fantastic. His art is fluid, his action actually feeling in motion. His use of shadows deepens the moods but he knows when to pull back and let the light shine, which is part of what separates American Vampire from other vampire tales.

And hats off to colorist Dave McCaig as well. He knows exactly when to punch certain colors and when to let them wash over the scene. His color work is as much a part of the storytelling as Snyder’s script and Albuqurque’s lines.

Vampires may have been around for years, but there’s never been a take on them quite like American Vampire. Horror has never been so habit-forming. And while this isn’t a good jumping on point, it just gives would-be readers a good reason to go back to the start of the arc… Or better still, to the start of the series.