American Vampire

jhanic

Celebrated short story writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque will launch a new monthly comic book series from Vertigo in March 2010 with a unique contribution from New York Times bestselling novelist Stephen King. The new ongoing series, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, will introduce readers to a new breed of vampire-a more muscular and vicious species of vampire with distinctly American characteristics. The series' first story arc, to be told over the course of five issues, will feature two different stories, one written by Snyder, the other by King.



King's story provides the origin of the very first American vampire:Skinner Sweet, a bank robbing, murdering cowboy of the 1880s. Skinner is stronger and faster than previous vampires; he has rattlesnake fangs and is powered by.... the sun?



>>> Full story and artwork

jhanic

That sounds really interesting. I've come to dislike the comic format, but it sounds like I'll be getting this one--at least for King's contribution.



John

BevVincent

Here's a long article at Newsarama



King decided to work on the comic when Snyder sent him a description of the story and asked if he could provide a quote for promotional purposes. "He wrote back and said he really liked it and he'd be willing to do a blurb. But he said he'd also be willing to do a couple issues," Snyder explained. "Obviously, I said yes."



Karen Berger, senior vice president at Vertigo, said it was a pleasant surprise to get a writer like Stephen King involved in "American Vampire." "Stephen King is the master of modern horror," she said. "He put modern horror on the map. The fact that the first comic story that he's actually written, and the fact that he's choosing to write his first comic based on the strength and the power of Scott's concept, and the fact that it's for us, is just a huge, huge thing."



And what was originally supposed to be just two issues by King quickly turned into more. "He kept saying, 'Do you mind if I expand this a little bit?'" Snyder said with a laugh. "And he ended up doing five issues. He had such an exciting direction after the second or third issue. At that point, it's totally his imaginative baby. And the series is so much better for that. He added so many great things to the character and the storyline and the relationships. He brought an incredible A-game. It was awe-inspiring to watch him do it."



[...]



But although Snyder invented the character, he said King's direction adds a whole new layer to the story.



"I provided him direction for the first couple issues, but when he ended up doing his own thing, the story actually got better," Snyder said. "He had this whole theme of fact vs. fiction, and legend vs. history He added characters, and severed heads being sent via Pony Express, and all kinds of crazy stuff.



"It was funny because I told Steve that I thought of Skinner being like Joker in some ways and that he was just such a bad-ass and was terrible. And he said, 'OK, I think I've got it,'" Snyder said. "And I was wondering if he would make him bad enough. But then it was like, wow, I didn't even realize the bottomless pit of evil in this character until he took him over."

BevVincent

Interview with the artist

BevVincent

Rafael Albuquerque's Artwork Debunks Sparkling In Vertigo's 'American Vampire'

The somewhat controversial "Sunpire" (that is to say, Vampires fueled by the sun rather than killed by it) aspects behind Stephen King and Scott Snyder's upcoming Vertigo title "American Vampire" may have some would-be readers wary - especially in lieu of the "Twilight" films' sparkly motifs - but I gotta say, Rafael Albuquerque's art makes me forget all about that noise.



Over at Vertigo's Graphic Content blog, Albuquerque gives readers a rundown on his creative process behind building the cover image for the series' second issue.



It's a pretty interesting look at his approach to composing a striking cover, especially his closing remarks about color choice.



The best part is that, judging from the light sources in the image, fans won't have to worry about the series' fanged protagonist sparkling when the series hits in March.

BevVincent

American Vampire marks King’s comic book arrival—he talks exclusively to The Daily Beast about boy-toy vampires, loving Casper the Friendly Ghost, and wanting a “fun quotient.” Plus, VIEW OUR EXCLUSIVE GALLERY of pages from American Vampire.

BevVincent

Interview with creator Scott Snyder.



Excerpt:

FT: So let’s talk about Stephen King. How exactly did he get involved?



SS: (Vertigo) asked if I knew anybody who would blurb the series, and I know Stephen King—he was incredibly kind to give me a quote for my short story collection. But I didn’t know if he’d have a time to read the proposal, which outlined the first couple of seasons and contained a long description of Skinner. And he wrote back saying he loved Skinner, and that he’d love to blurb it. But if I wanted it, he’d be up for writing a couple of issues, because he loved Skinner so much.



FT: Stephen King volunteered on his own?



SS: Oh absolutely. I didn’t even expect him to even be able to do a quote for it. I asked if he was sure, because if I told (Vertigo), they’d jump at it. He said, “I don’t know. I’ve never done a comic so I don’t know if they’ll be that excited.”



So I called Vertigo on a Friday afternoon after the studios closed. I left a message and said that Steve—he makes you call him Steve—said he’d be willing to do a couple of issues. On Monday morning, at 8:30, I got a call from the whole Vertigo office saying, “Did you say Stephen King would be willing to do an issue or two’? So I told them that he was.



FT: What was the extent of his involvement?



SS: Originally he was only going to do a couple of issues. I gave him the original Western proposal for Skinner, which Vertigo didn’t want to start with, and asked if he wanted to pick a couple of moments to write. I knew he had (the novel) Under the Dome coming out, he was working on a musical on the West Coast, and I couldn’t imagine he’d have a lot of time for this. I wanted to make it as easy as possible so I gave him a very clear, almost a paint-by-numbers couple of short issues with Skinner. The majority of it was already written, but there was no dialogue. Just general outline, almost like page breakdowns. Then a couple of weeks in, he was going to do two sixteen-page issues, and he was going to cut them up so there was a teaser at the end of each issue. And he emailed me a couple of weeks after he started. He said he was having fun and wanted to know if he could go off the res a little bit. I was like, ‘Sure, do whatever you want.’



The next thing I got was a third issue with a cliff-hanger. And then he wrote a forth issue, then a fifth issue. And he wound up doing five full sixteen-page issues about Skinner and about his relationship with his adversary, a Pinkerton who caught him when he was alive. And it was just so good. I mean the series as a whole, not just his part of it, is exponentially better for his involvement. I couldn’t be more grateful. He’s



FT: Of course, you weren’t expecting on that much story from Stephen King. How did that affect your plans for the series?



SS: We went back to the drawing board and gave him more breathing room, which is what he wanted. He’d felt kind of cramped. We adjusted my story (which took place during the 1920s) and we’d each do five issues: each issue with sixteen pages of my story, sixteen with his, back-and-forth like a double creature-feature, and it’d be a total of 32 pages. The issues themselves have a lot of overlap because his character Skinner is the catalyst for my character (Pearl) turning into the same vampire as him. There are some fun hidden things that cross over from cycle-to-cycle. But (Stephen King’s cycle) takes place in the 1880s and the early 1900s and mine takes place in the 1920s.



FT: How did you make sure that King’s vision stayed consistent with yours? To what extent was that an issue?



SS: It was an issue only because the characters are very close to my heart. Their stories were set in my mind. So admittedly, when he sent that email asking “Would you mind if I go off the res?” I was nervous because I didn’t know what he was going to do. I’ve read almost everything he’s ever written and I wasn’t expecting him to do something bad, that wasn’t my worry at all. My worry was more about what if he came up with something that was great, but that wasn’t in tune with the bible of the characters? How much should we adjust the blueprint?



It was stupid to worry about at all, though, because what he did right away was breathe extra life into the story the way it had been. He wasn’t about making huge plot changes (though he did actually add a lot of terrific twists) so much as enriching the story, extending it and deepening the characters, adding more layers to them, and adding this layer to the whole story about legend versus history.



FT: What else did he add?



SS: He brought Skinner up to the present and gave him a whole history we didn’t ultimately include. He broadened why Skinner is the way he is—things we don’t quite want to deal with now. But it was amazing to watch once I saw what he was doing, there was no question that he was going to do a better job than I would have been capable of. I feel I’d done ten or 11 drafts just to approximate how good he’s been with his stuff. And that was inspiring, because I had to bring my A+ game to this. It’s been a great process and he was very gracious about taking notes.

BevVincent

FT: Did Stephen King ever go too far off the res?



SS: There were a couple of times where he’d kill a character or have some vampire history come out before it should have, but when we mentioned that, he was cool with taking it out. Overall, he didn’t need extensive notes. I give Mark Doyle a lot of credit for handling that. It’s very intimidating to give (King) even the tiniest notes because so much of what he does is so good on the page. He’s honestly a storytelling genius. And at the end of the day, what he needed notes on at all was stuff where he’d jump the gun on certain things. There were characters we wanted to survive for the cycle and he’d tear their heads off.

BevVincent

Official King page for the adaptation

willowlove

Entertainment Weekly's take

willowlove

A different version of the above EW "review" appears in the 4/2 issue.

jhanic

It looks like Bernie Wrightson is doing the variant for American Vampire #2:



http://cgi.ebay.com/American-Vampire-2-BERNIE-WRIGHTSON-VARIANT-HOT_W0QQitemZ220579403959QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item335b8e98b7



John

willowlove

USA Today's article on the series, including issue 2 spoilers.

BevVincent

Scott Snyder Prepares to Go it Alone on AMERICAN VAMPIRE



Newsarama: Scott, you got a lot of attention for Stephen King's introduction of Skinner Sweet in this comic, running alongside your story about Pearl Jones. As you've taken over the writing with issue #6, has the transition been pretty smooth? I know Stephen added some of his own original material.



Scott Snyder: Oh yeah, he's definitely added a ton of great story material. But he's also been good about following a general outline we had planned. So there wasn't any problem taking the baton from him as he finishes his Skinner story and moving forward with it.



...some of the stuff that Steve has added to the Skinner character, and how clever and devious he's made him, has been really inspiring to me. He made him so much more ruthless than I'd planned out, but it was inspiring and exciting as I've gotten my hands on that character again for future cycles.

BevVincent

From USA Today



Stephen King has seen enough of what he calls the "sweetie-vamp" craze. The master of horror is a proponent of bloodsuckers with a little more bite.

King is doing his part for that movement in the Vertigo/DC Comics comic book series American Vampire, which showcases U.S. history through the eyes of a newly immortal bloodsucker. The first hardcover collection arrives in comic shops today and bookstores next week, and it's the first time King has ever contributed original material to a comic book.



In two connecting stories, writer Scott Snyder tells of a 1920s flapper in Hollywood who comes into contact with some nasty European vamps, while King contributes the origin of the ornery outlaw Skinner Sweet. He is killed in the 1880s-era Old West and turned into a vampire, becoming the newly evolved American version of the popular monster. Sunlight and crosses don't bother Skinner. And no, he doesn't sparkle, either.



"A traditional vampire is always a taker, and that's the story of American expansion and laissez-faire and the rise of industrialism," says King, adding that Skinner's violent streak is his most essentially American trait. "The idea that he wants to come back and get his vengeance and he wants to get it as fast as he can and as harshly as he can, that's a very American desperado thing."



While it's not exactly in vogue in current pop culture, King says there will always be an audience for the bloodthirsty vamp. "And when I say bloodthirsty, I mean thirsty for your blood. I don't mean necessarily a bottle of Tru Blood they get in a bar, or Edward and his family going out there and basically hunting caribou to suck their blood."



He refers, of course, to the likes of True Blood and Twilight, which for him are more about romance than unspeakable horror. Not exactly a Twihard by any stretch, King does respect True Blood and its themes of sex and intolerance. "It's about a lot of stuff, actually, and that makes it a lot of fun to watch," he says.



King says working on American Vampire reinvigorated him, and Snyder took note of the youthful hunger in King's writing. "When he gets his teeth into something, he seems to enjoy, he writes like a demon," Snyder says. "It's inspiring."

willowlove

SK's 3 page long introduction to the American Vampire hardback, called "Suck on This", can be found at EW.com.

DanishFan

Typically that the first comment on that EW page was a Twilight-fan/King-hater. They are obviously p....d because the truth hurts.

willowlove

From AICN:



[Interviewer: O]ne more thing about AMERICAN VAMPIRE. I was wondering if there were any word on Stephen King ever coming back and doing some more stuff?



SS: He teases it. He’s doing a little piece, a foreword, for us in prose for the volume two which is out in May, which we are really excited about which collects issues six through eleven. But he always has an open door man. I talk to him a lot. We send him every issue and he’s always chiming in about where he’d like to be, so my hope is we are really, really thrilled about what we have planned for the fifties. I have a big, big twist and a new character I want to bring in that is sort of our version of a Punisher. He’s a character who has actually been tucked into the series earlier in a hidden way and my feeling is that if he comes back at any point, it will probably be there. I think that he can’t really resist hot rods and vampires.

willowlove

American Vampire won the Eisner Award for best new series.



Source

Lou_Sytsma

I see Joe Hill won an Eisner for best writer as well.