I’ve been a fan of Scott Snyder’s writing ever since we took part in a Dollar Store Show reading at McNally Jackson a few years ago. His collection Voodoo Heart is highly recommended — Snyder understands and deconstructs irrational male anger with empathy and precision. Nowadays, Snyder has a Vertigo series in collaboration with artist Rafael Alberquerque called American Vampire, and the first issue (sixteen pages from Snyder and Alberquerque, sixteen pages from Stephen King and Alberquerque) makes for a nicely creepy pair of opening chapters.
This Faster Times interview is fine stuff, and this piece in particular has me intrigued:
To me, vampires are one of the scariest creations of all time. A classic monster. Like zombies and Frankenstein, werewolves too, which I hope get a good treatment sometime soon. These guys have stuck around because they’re primally frightening monsters.
Snyder’s referred to Near Dark as a favorite horror work of his, and that’s encouraging — it’s significant, I’d think, that one of the most unsettling vampire films is also one of the most understated.