Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

With the new movie featuring Johnny Depp heading for cinemas next year, interest in vampire soap opera Dark Shadows is increasing, with Dynamite Entertainment preparing a comic book for release from October this year featuring vampire Barnabas Collins and the inhabitants of Collinsport.

The comic will remain in the continuity of the highly popular 1960s series, rather than its later remakes. Writer Stuart Manning, who has produced Big Finish’s set of Dark Shadows audio releases, told Newsarama that “You can trace all the current vampire properties back to Dark Shadows in some respect – all roads lead to Barnabas. He’s the original reluctant vampire, the first enduring vampire character created for television, and it’s going to be great introducing him to a new audience. He’s a classic – pure and simple.”

The new stories will pick up from the TV series, and not contradict the Big Finish stories. “The fun of a soap opera is the huge sprawling histories and connections, so opting out of that would be like cheating. I doubt we’ll dwell on it too much, but absolutely, they’re all part of the same bigger story.”

Issue 1 centres on Barnabas, with the vampire trying to overcome his urges…