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.

Snyder’s storyline is one of decadence and deception and Jazz Age glamour. Pearl is an ambitious modern woman with starlet dreams. She frequents Hollywood’s speakeasies and dance-halls searching for her first big break, only to find something far more sinister waiting for her.

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?

Following the conclusion of the first story arc, Snyder and Albuquerque will trace Skinner’s bloodline through various decades of American history.

“Getting the chance to re-imagine a classic monster—to invent a whole new mythology and secret history—nothing could be more exciting for me . . . except getting the chance to do it with Stephen King at Vertigo. I honestly can’t think of any influences more crucial or enduring for me than Vertigo and Stephen King. To have them both involved in AMERICAN VAMPIRE, along with the amazing Rafael Albuquerque—this all a dream come true for me!” —Scott Snyder

“I love vampire stories, and the idea of following the dark exploits of a uniquely American vampire really lit up my imagination. The chance to do the origin story—to be “present at the creation” —was a thrill. I owe big thanks to Scott Snyder for letting me share his vision, and sip from his bucket of blood.” —Stephen King

“In a time where vampires are everywhere, Scott and Stephen seem to have done the impossible: An original, inventive and detailed new series. It’s a challenging and exciting project I’m proud to be working on.” —Rafael Albuquerque

“Publishing a series with a fresh take on the vampire mythos would be incredible enough, but adding the talents of Scott Snyder, an exciting new voice in fiction, and Stephen King, the master of horror himself, is beyond awesome. We are thrilled that Vertigo is the home for this special new work, which we’re certain will be a major addition to the timeless and popular appeal of vampire lore everywhere.” —Karen Berger

About the creators:

Scott Snyder is best known for his first collection of stories, Voodoo Heart (Dial Press). Stephen King picked two of the included stories—“Wreck” and “Dumpster Tuesday”—for the 2007 Best American Short Stories anthology shortlist. Snyder teaches writing at Columbia University, NYU and Sarah Lawrence College and is working on a novel called The Goodbye Suit, to be published by Dial in 2011. He lives in New York City. This is his first comic book series.

Stephen King is the bestselling author of The Stand, The Shining, The Dark Tower books and multitudes of other works, most recently Under the Dome. American Vampire marks Stephen King’s debut with Vertigo/DC Comics; it is the first comic book writing he’s done, based on original material, as opposed to existing characters.

Rafael Albuquerque is best known for his work on Superman/Batman and Crimeland.
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Featuring an international lineup of some of comics’ greatest talents, including Bryan Talbot, Philippe Caza, Benoît Springer, David Lloyd, Mike Mignola, Tommy Lee Edwards, Richard Marazano, Gary Gianni, Yoann and Sfar, and others, Vampires is a stunning, full-color, oversized hardcover graphic album that showcases a wide range of visions, both hideously dark and whimsically light, of these mythic creatures of the night.

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God Complex (Image) is about Apollo hiding out in a human form to escape his family, the Greek Gods.

Athena (Dynamite) is about the goddess Athena in human form working as a detective/superhero something or other, not remembering her old life.

Olympus (IDW) is about Greek Gods hiding out on earth, waging a secret battle with fiends that have escaped from Hades.

Greek Street (Vertigo) is about the Greek Gods and mythic characters playing through the same stories they’ve previously experienced, in the modern day, in human form.

So obviously, there are differences in each story. And I want to stress, I’m not calling “stolen!” at any of these, things move in trends, and that’s my point: what’s with the focus on Greek myths all of a sudden? They’re certainly eternally fascinating stories with a large cast of built in interesting characters, so there’s that going for it. And it may be a bit of a reaction to the immense amount of Judeo-Christian mythology that has seeped into comics of late (Superman has to leave his people for a desert planet where he has conversations with Zod, aka The Devil? That doesn’t sound reminiscent of anything at all to me).

But four different publishers, with very similar ideas certainly indicates a trend. The question is, how long can the comic book market support so many titles about Greek Myths? This isn’t even taking into account Incredible Hercules, which deals with the subject intelligently and hilariously on a monthly basis. Or JMS’ Thor, which is possibly the genesis of this whole trend in the first place (Norse gods in human form).

And regardless, just to emphasize, a new Mike Oeming series is always an event, so regardless of any similarities, I can’t wait to check it out.

By the way, my new comic book, “Vampires vs. Olympus” should be announced any day now. It’s about vampires hiding out in Olympus as Greek Gods. Should be a blast.