“Three Days of Peace, Music and Blood” – Q&A with WOODSTAKE’s Shawn Hainsworth

Woodstake brings vampires to 1969's Woodstock festival for a clever horror and music mashup. Now available in its entirety as a graphic novel, featuring jaw-dropping artwork from Felipe Kroll, we have a Q&A with writer Shawn Hainsworth (AKA Darin S. Cape), who talks about his love of music, researching Woodstock, infusing this historical event with vampires, collaborating with Kroll, and what to expect from Woodstake ’99:

Can you share with our readers the origins of Woodstake and what inspired you to bring a vampire to the 1969 Woodstock Festival? Why was Woodstock so impactful to you?

Shawn Hainsworth: I am a big fan of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and had re-read it shortly before reading Michael Lang’s nonfiction book, The Road to Woodstock, which is the story of how the festival was produced. Somehow, the wires in my brain crossed, and I started imagining a vampire at Woodstock. A festival with almost half a million strangers with limited communication, lots of drugs, and missing people was the perfect hunting ground for a vampire. From there, scenes started playing out in my head, including a vampire feeding on a hippie who had just dropped acid. Beyond the humor, I loved the thematic contrast. Hippies represent peace, love, and hope for a better world, while vampires embody selfishness, cynicism, and the exploitation of humanity. That collision made for a story that could celebrate the spirit of the 1960s while also poking fun at it, with plenty of blood along the way.

How long has Woodstake been in development and how has the project changed over the years?

Shawn Hainsworth: I started writing during the pandemic. It took me about a year to write the screenplay, which was a “second rounder” in the Austin Film Festival in 2021, and it was there that I decided to produce it myself as a graphic novel. Felipe and I worked for three years, and the first single issue hit comic bookstores, distributed through Diamond, in 2024. It then took another two years to find a graphic novel distributor, IPG. The story changed a lot. I probably wrote ten drafts of the screenplay, and at the time, thought that it was done. But, when I started to produce it as a graphic novel, I was able to really sharpen the story. I decided to add the prologue after we completed issue #2. Felipe was really patient with me, and what was issue #1 was split into the prologue and issue #1. The artwork takes a long time. Felipe builds 3D models, and then digitally paints them. We are two and a half years into Woodstake ’99 and still wrapping up issue #3, although to be fair, we are both working on other projects.

Given the historic setting, what kind of research did you have to do into the Woodstock festival? Was there anything surprising you learned? Was it a challenge to balance historical accuracy with the fiction?

Shawn Hainsworth: I did a ridiculous amount of research. I was driven to get the details right, I think because the festival is so legendary. I read several more books, watched the documentary on repeat, studied maps of the festival grounds, and the playlists, including what time each band took the stage. There are a lot of Easter eggs and other small references that make me happy. In the screenplay, I had Martin Scorsese, who made the documentary, with his cameraman in front of the stage as the vampire confronts Jon beneath the stage. Unfortunately, Marty didn’t make the final cut. The most surprising thing I learned was how much Wavy Gravy and members of the Hog Farm Commune did to make the festival work, from their “Please Force” instead of a police force, and their bad-trip tent where volunteers would talk people through bad acid trips. As you may know, there was a lot of bad acid at the festival. At one point, the vampire quips, “Don’t take the brown tabs,” which is what the organizers were telling people. It was more work to balance the history and the fiction, but I think it makes it a better story, and along the way, I found some great coincidences that took the story in a direction I didn’t originally imagine.

What was the collaborative process like with illustrator Felipe Kroll? And how did this collaboration change or improve the original plan or the story or its characters?

Shawn Hainsworth: This was my first graphic novel, and I had a lot to learn. Felipe works in film and other media, and since he builds 3D models, we really used the language of film and rough storyboards for certain scenes. We had a lot of time, since there were no hard deadlines, to go back and forth on character designs, backgrounds, etc. During the years we worked together, Felipe was a full creative partner, and this book is really the result of our collaboration.

Can you talk about the transition from issue #0's historical prologue to the main 1969 timeline, and developing the backstories for these vampires?

Shawn Hainsworth: The first version starts with Jack confronting the vampire in his basement, which now happens at the end of issue #1, over fifty pages into the story. I thought starting with a vampire action scene would be enough to set the stage, and I didn’t want to delay the hippies getting to the festival. But it really bugged me that there was no backstory. Why is there a vampire in upstate New York? What kind of vampire is he? And what about Van Helsing? How could the hippies hope to survive a vampire without the assistance of someone who knows something about vampires? In the first version, I introduced the character in the first few pages as Dr. Van Halen with a joke about his cousin Eddie playing guitar, and assumed readers would put two and two together. But eventually, I knew I had to write a complete story, not just have fun with vampires, hippies, and Eddie Van Halen references. When I wrote the prologue, I wanted a self-contained story that would leave the vampire recovering from a near-fatal encounter with Van Helsing, only to recover and awaken in 1969.

What are your favorite vampire films that inspired how you approached the vampires of Woodstake?

Shawn Hainsworth: There are so many great vampire films, from Nosferatu and Bela Lugosi’s Dracula to The Lost Boys and Blade. The films that inspired me which are off the beaten track are Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which is really Abbott and Costello meet all the Universal monsters. I love the monster/comedy mashup. Similarly, Shaun of the Dead was a big influence, although not a vampire movie. The other vampire film I thought was very clever is Shadow of the Vampire, with Willem Dafoe playing Max Schreck.

What are your favorite performers and songs from Woodstock?

Shawn Hainsworth: Santana's Woodstock performance was a breakout moment, as the band was largely unknown outside the San Francisco Bay Area before the festival. Crosby, Stills and Nash gave an incredible performance, which was only the second time they had played together in front of people. Richie Havens' "Freedom" was so spontaneous and moving. The next acts were stuck in traffic, so he had to just keep playing, improvising from the spiritual, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." And, of course, Jimi playing the "Star-Spangled Banner." Woodstake offers a tongue-in-cheek alternate history of why Jimi decided to play the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Do you have more planned for the world of Woodstake? Anything you can tease?

Shawn Hainsworth: The story will conclude in Woodstake ’99. Issue #1 should hit the shelves at the end of this year or early next year. This takes place at the train wreck Woodstock in Rome, NY, in 1999. I would highly recommend watching one of the documentaries on Netflix or HBO to get a sense of the scope of the disaster. This one is darker, bloodier, and features the vampire as Fred Durst. Need we say more? This will be the end of the series. There will be no Coachella-stake. I am very excited for this one and think fans will be very satisfied with the ending.

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To learn more and read Woodstake for yourself, visit: http://www.shpcomics.com/woodstake

To read the Woodstake prologue comic book for free right now, we previously shared the issue with Daily Dead readers and you can find it at: https://dailydead.com/exclusive-a-saga-of-desire-fear-and-fangs-we-have-the-entire-issue-of-woodstake-prologue-from-shp-comics-that-you-can-read-right-now/

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"A blood-soaked mashup of vampire myth, rock history, and the counterculture of the late 1960s

Woodstake is a wickedly clever spin on the Dracula legend, reimagined against the backdrop of the iconic Woodstock festival of 1969. When a vampire descends on the summer of love, a generation of hippies is forced to survive three days of peace, music, and blood in this darkly funny, genre-bending thrill ride. A razor-sharp blend of satire, horror, and ‘60s nostalgia, Woodstake offers a wildly original story brought vividly to life through the bold, evocative artwork of Felipe Kroll. It is a must-read for fans of classic rock, genre mashups, and blood-soaked storytelling.

With its unique blend of Woodstock-era atmosphere and vampire horror, Woodstake stands out as a wild, cult-horror crossover that feels both nostalgic and fiercely original. This gripping graphic novel delivers a character-driven narrative paired with a bold visual style that brings the late '60s to life, complete with period-authentic detail, psychedelic flair, and sharp dark humor. Ideal for readers of horror comics, supernatural thrillers, and music history, Woodstake bridges genres in a way that is fresh, immersive, and unforgettable."