Happy Tuesday, kids! Today is a day that will live in infamy. No, it's not just the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It's also release day for Mario Acevedo's newest graphic novel. I've invited the man himself to stop by and tell us a little about his newest endeavor. I know you'll give him a warm welcome. Especially since he's offering free swag to one lucky commenter! I'll choose a winner on Friday morning, so be sure to comment by Thursday night.

Also, a quick formatting note: I'm an html dunce, so I had some issues posting pictures in the appropriate places. Regardless, I think you'll enjoy this peak into the world of Killing the Cobra.

Without further ado, here's Mario:

Thanks, Jaye, for this opportunity to pimp my graphic novel, Killing the Cobra: Chinatown Trollop.

A lot of us writers dream about having our stories and characters presented in comic book form, so I consider myself truly lucky that I had this chance. What happened is that the publisher at IDW Publishing had read my books and thought my hero, Iraq War veteran turned detective-vampire Felix Gomez, would make a great comic book character.

It may surprise many of you, but in the traditional book business, we novelists have very little control of the production process and the book covers.

Whole different story with comic books. I got to write the scripts and was the overall creative honcho of the project. I was assigned two amazing artists, Alberto Dose for the panels and Pinturero for the covers.

When you get a novel published, a common question is: "When they make a movie of your book, who would you want to play your lead character?"

Hmmm…who should play Felix? I thought of Gael Garcia Bernal, who played Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries.

Here's how Dose interpreted my Felix. Handsome guy, no, for a bloodsucking killer?

The love interest, Qian Ning? Seeing how the story was set in Hong Kong, it made sense that Qian would be Chinese. I did a Google search on Chinese actresses and discovered Gong Li. I forwarded her photo to IDW and they immediately replied: "We concur."

Here's how Dose depicted Qian Ning.

Now the bad guy. I like to work against type and the usual Hollywood drug lord is a smarmy pretty boy. One of my all time favorite actors was Sydney Greenstreet (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon)

…so I imagined my villain as Sydney's Chinese cousin, the ruthless Jiang Chow.

Killing the Cobra is a fun over-the-top story, full of hard-boiled action, with plenty of vampire violence, guns, and even electric harpoons!

On sale at your local comic book store, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

Thanks again, Jaye.

Happy fanging!

Mario Acevedo

Also check out Mario's blog with Jeanne Stein at The Biting Edge!

It's Jaye again! Thanks, Mario, just dropping by and for offering my readers some cool swag. Readers, don't forget to comment to win!