Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person. Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures and according to speculation by literary historian Brian Frost that the "belief in vampires and bloodsucking demons is as old as man himself", and may go back to "prehistoric times", the term vampire was not popularized until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vampir (вампир) in Serbia and Bulgaria, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.

Although there was no connection or implication of vampirism in the original Peter Pan stories, they have become associated with vampires in recent decades. While some of it can be attributed to writers independently drawing parallels between "undead" bloodsuckers and the ruthless boy who wouldn't grow up, most of it was inspired by the 1987 film The Lost Boys starring Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric, which drew its title from a wry comparison of the two. Works that associate Peter Pan and/or the Lost Boys with vampires or vampiric characteristics include:


 * The Lost Boys (1987), a major horror/comedy film, with two 2010-ish sequels.
 * The Lost by Marc Andreyko, Galen Showman, and Jay Geldhof (1997), a comic book mini-series.
 * The Child Thief by Brom (2009), an illustrated novel.
 * Peter Pan the Vampire by Gary Brantner (2009), a self-published comic book series.
 * Neverland by Joe Brusha (2009), a comic book mini-series.
 * Midnight in Never Land by Perry Bradford-Wilson and Michael Norris (2010), a self-published novel.