Not content to let his son hog all the comic book glory, Stephen King has officially thrown his hat into the ring with American Vampire at Vertigo Comics. Teaming up with writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque, King has agreed to share pen duties through the books first five issue story arc.

“Witness the birth of a brand new species of vampire in this new ongoing series that begins with five extra-sized issues featuring back-to-back stories by exciting new writer Scott Snyder and the master of horror himself, Stephen King! When notorious outlaw Skinner Sweet is attacked by an old enemy (who happens to be a member of the undead), the first American vampire is born… a vampire powered by the sun, stronger, fiercer, and meaner than anything that came before. Plus… Pearl Jones is a struggling young actress in 1920s Los Angeles. But when her big break brings her face-to-face with an ancient evil, her Hollywood dream quickly turns into a brutal, shocking nightmare.”

Sure, Vampires are now officially done to death, but one can hope that somebody like King could help give it a bit of a twist at the very least. After reading the first issue of this new series, he actually hasn’t done too bad! For the first book, we get two stories packaged together with one common character. Snyder fronts the first tale with “Big Break”, the story of a small town girl trying to make it big in Hollywood while King gives us “Bad Blood”, an old west yarn turned origin story. Both stories manage to be gripping enough to hold your attention and set the stage for what seems like it’s going to be a solid series. The characters are nice and manage to have just enough cliche to fit the part without being overdone. You have to expect a bit because these are essentially pulp stories which relies on cliche as it is!

With only one issue so far, “American Vampire” isn’t quite enough to blow my mind like Hill’s Locke & Key did, but it is a strong start. We don’t learn a whole lot about our vampires as of yet, but we do get just enough detail to prove that these aren’t going to be your typical vamps, which is nice. They don’t sparkle either!

“American Vampire” hits shelves today weighing in at a jumbo sized 40 pages. Definitely worth a pick up when you head out to the shops this week!