Infusing a bloodthirsty vampire into the wild instances of Woodstock in the summertime of 1969, the cleverly named comedian e-book collection Woodstake invitations you to participate in “three days of peace, music… and blood.” With the ultimate difficulty of Woodstake popping out in shops tomorrow from SHP Comics, we have now a particular deal with for Day by day Useless readers to sink their enamel into: all the difficulty of Woodstake Prologue (aka difficulty #0) that you may learn proper now at no cost!
Created, written, and edited by Shawn Hainsworth (aka Darin S. Cape), and that includes art work by Felipe Kroll, lettering by ES Kay, and proofreading by Kim Whitener, Woodstake Prologue is accessible to learn in its entirety beneath, and we even have insights from Shawn about how he got here up with the idea for the historic horror collection:
The concept popped into my head was the title and the idea, wooden stake—Woodstake—a vampire at Woodstock. Instantly, I began to think about comedian scenes of a vampire encountering hippies, and naturally reinterpreting Van Helsing as Van Halen. I cherished the concept thematically as a result of hippies are the incarnation of peace, love and optimism and vampires are the exact opposite: cynical, self-centered and completely unconcerned with humanity besides as a meals supply. The thought was an attention-grabbing solution to revisit the Nineteen Sixties however with a contemporary perspective and, after all, plenty of blood. There are such a lot of nice permutations of the vampire story, however I made a decision to floor my vampire on this planet of Bram Stoker’s authentic novel. This may permit me to give attention to the characters and the music competition with out including one other component to the story (new or up to date vampire lore).
I needed to maintain the narrative tight and fast-paced—Traditional Vampires, Traditional Rock. Whereas my thoughts was overflowing with comedian concepts, I did not need the story to be a satire. I needed to inform a genuinely scary story with well-developed characters through which the setting and the humor provides to however would not dominate the narrative. I needed to educate myself on the small print of the competition. I had seen the Woodstock documentary a very long time in the past, and was aware of a number of the iconic performances, however I needed to get all the small print proper. I labored out the timing of the actual occasions that are portrayed within the comedian in order that they occur on the right time. I used to be stunned at how nicely a number of the musical performances lined up with the story on the time they had been speculated to occur, from Richie Havens’ efficiency of “Freedom on Friday” to Creedence’s efficiency of “Unhealthy Moon Rising” late on Saturday night time. And for the conclusion (no spoilers), Michael Lang actually did attempt to persuade Jimi to carry out on Saturday night time, and Jimi insisted on closing out the present on Sunday morning. This was precisely what I wanted to carry my characters by means of the precise occasions in a manner that made the conclusion work, and I bought to have some enjoyable with Jimi’s inspiration for enjoying “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Shawn additionally discusses how the vampire’s backstory is explored in Woodstock Prologue:
The large query I wanted to reply was, “Why is there a vampire in upstate New York?” I might have prevented the query, and simply had a vampire present up at Woodstock, however that didn’t really feel very satisfying. I needed to construct the vampire’s backstory and make him a totally developed character. However I used to be apprehensive I might lose readers who picked up a comic book e-book a couple of vampire at Woodstock and discover it takes too many points to truly get to Woodstock. Initially, difficulty #1 was cut up between 1927 (the vampire again story) and 1969 (the introduction of the hippie characters). However after the difficulty was full, I felt the backstory was not robust sufficient. So, I went again and expanded the occasions of 1927 right into a prologue which grew to become difficulty #0. This difficulty additionally has a special narrative type in that it makes use of an omniscient narrator, not like the remainder of the collection. The narrator feels proper within the scenes which occur within the distant previous, after which fades out because the story strikes into the current (1969). For me, every difficulty builds on the earlier one, and the collection actually hits its stride in difficulty #3 when the competition begins. Points #4 and #5 are 32-pages every of vampire slaughter and enjoyable, the flesh of the collection. So, light reader, have persistence. That is true for all of the tales I’ve written for SHP. It is extremely necessary for me to take the time to develop the story and the characters earlier than releasing the whirlwind.
Moreover, Shawn shares his appreciation for Day by day Useless readers who’ve supported Woodstake and SHP Comics:
I need to thank Day by day Useless and our readers for serving to us to get off the bottom. It’s not simple launching a brand new publishing firm, and we couldn’t have finished it with out passionate followers. Day by day Useless has been an early champion of SHP Comics and Woodstake. THANK YOU! We’re able to take off in 2025, and stay up for bringing extra enjoyable and blood to your readers for a few years to return.
You may learn Woodstake Prolouge beneath, and to maintain up on all issues Woodstake and different thrilling releases from SHP Comics, go to their official web site!
Woodstake Synopsis: Sink your enamel into Woodstake an excellent horror/comedy about three days of peace, music, and blood. In the summertime of 1969, an previous and lethal vampire awakens as hippies unknowingly collect for the historic Woodstock Pageant. Amidst the backdrop of peace indicators and protest anthems, festival-goers are hunted in a chilling however hilarious journey crammed with music, mayhem, and vampires tripping exhausting on hippie blood. Woodstake is a must have collection, masterfully mixing Nineteen Sixties counterculture, psychedelic imagery, vampire mythology, and biting humor into one thing actually particular. Put together for a wild experience of guffaws and frights in Woodstake!
The Woodstake Prologue is a gripping saga of need, worry, and fangs because the New World trembles underneath the stirrings of an historic, sinister pressure. Thirsting for sustenance and pushed by revenge, a formidable vampire lands on America’s burgeoning shores, attempting to find a recent begin and brisker blood. His darkish wishes fixate on a fascinating younger lady, standing on the edge of her wedding ceremony. Put together for a story of historic terror the place love, destiny, and dying collide!
That includes the artwork of Felipe Kroll.
To learn all the difficulty of Woodstake Prologue, click on on the quilt beneath or go to: https://dailydead.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Woodstake_Prologue.pdf
