Novelist Stephen King has penned his first comic book, a five-issue cycle for Vertigo’s upcoming series, American Vampire. The series launches in March 2010.

According to an article at The Daily Beast, the series’ creator Scott Snyder met King when the author blurbed his short story collection, “Voodoo Heart.” King was so inspired by “American Vampire” (art sample via Vertigo) that he asked if he could write a few issues.

Here’s Snyder explaining his unique writing experience: “I start getting these emails from him that are like, how much he’s enjoying Skinner, and maybe he’ll actually do a little more, and finally a little ways in he’s like, ‘Do you mind if I go off the res a little bit? … Steve took that story and took it to so many places that were not in the original script, and it was just amazing to watch. He added terrific story twists–he added incredibly scary and wonderful gore.”