Woodstake is the vampire graphic novel that sends a Dracula-style predator to Woodstock 1969, and we sat down with the man who made it. Shawn Hainsworth (who writes as Darin S. Cape) joins Meaghan and Arthur to talk about how rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula alongside Michael Lang's The Road to Woodstock turned into a pun, then a screenplay, then five years of work on the Woodstake graphic novel.
The elevator pitch is simple: hippies vs. vampires. What's underneath it is a lot more interesting. Shawn wanted to take one of the most cynical creatures in horror (a centuries-old predator who knows human failings better than anyone) and set it loose on a generation that honestly believed it could change the world.
Woodstake: Hippies vs. Vampires at Woodstock 1969
Shawn Hainsworth's elevator pitch for the Woodstake graphic novel: a vampire descends on Woodstock in 1969.
The idea hit while he was rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula and reading Michael Lang's The Road to Woodstock at the same time. The pun came first; the scenes followed.
He didn't want it to just be campy, so it took a while to find something bigger inside the concept.
A Dracula-Style Vampire vs. the Peace and Love Generation
A cynical, centuries-old vampire who knows human failings better than anybody, set against people who believed they could change the world.
Three kinds of hippie: Nina, the true believer; Artie, who might sell out and become a yuppie; and Jon, chasing his own career.
The Vietnam War divide runs through the villains, including a vampire who argues about the war while trying to kill Artie.
Recreating Woodstock 1969 in a Graphic Novel
Shawn and Felipe Kroll watched the Woodstock documentary on repeat to get the details right.
Every act appears when it actually played, and Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising lands right as things come to a head.
Michael Lang makes a cameo, and the story ends with a conversation between the vampire and Jimi Hendrix.
Shawn's dream backstage passes: Richie Havens stretching his set into Freedom, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Arlo Guthrie, and Hendrix.
From Screenplay to Graphic Novel
Woodstake started as a screenplay; the whole prologue was added after the first two issues were written.
Felipe Kroll's painted art style looks nothing like a typical comic book, and he repainted pages to get them right.
Woodstake took about five years from idea to finished graphic novel.
Vampire Movies and Why Vampires Never Die
Shadow of the Vampire, Willem Dafoe and the Max Schreck legend from the making of Nosferatu.
Meaghan's festival pick Los Vampires, about the Spanish-language Dracula crew that shot at night.
Shawn calls vampires the Swiss Army knives of the horror world: What We Do in the Shadows, Interview with the Vampire, and even Star Trek's salt vampire.
Woodstake '99 and What's Next from SHP Comics
Woodstake '99 concludes the story at Woodstock 1999, with darker art and a vampire who is back for vengeance.
Issues are named after songs: Going Up the Country, My Generation, Freedom, Bad Moon Rising and Purple Haze. There's a companion Spotify playlist too.
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
Grave Tone. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Grave Tone och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
