American Vampire, the new comicbook series from VERTIGO publishers (of five issues) by Scott Snyder and Stephen King (Based on an idea by Scott Snyder) is a really great idea!

My hat is off to King, who, busy as he is, liked the idea of a new breed of vampire so much that, instead of contributing a kindly blurb for the series, he asked Scott if he could write a whole story for the series.

So for the next 5 issues, we will see a new breed of vampire and his name is Skinner. He seems to like robbing trains in the old west (circa 1800). There is another "B" story (that is scheduled to run the length of the 5 issues) concerning a woman struggling to find work in Hollywood and she has a run in with Skinner as well.... in the 1920's !!

I heard an interview with Scott who said that while there is a contract for 13 issues, he hopes to continue the story beyond that. I'm on board because this is a sweet idea.

Of course, King might have only had time to write his bit within the initial 5 issues (first issue available now at your local comics shop) and hopefully fans will continue supporting American vampire after King's turn wraps up. Hopefully Scott might consider a novel using these characters so that there might be an even larger audience for Skinner the vampire beyond the few thousand comicbook fans a new comics series attracts.

Good luck Scott! And thanks Steve for making the time to contribute to this new addition to the fictional vampire legacy