By Jeff Johncox

Transcript Sports Writer

Halloween may be over, but it's never too late, or too early (just 363 days til Oct. 31, 2008!) to talk about Blade.

Everyone's favorite "daywalker" has had a successful film franchise (1998's "Blade," 2002's "Blade II," and 2004's "Blade: Trinity) and even a pretty kickin' Spike TV series.

The Blade of the comics, though, is a far cry from his popular media counterpart. The character is still the baddest vampire hunter in the land, but until recently was mostly human (he had an innate resilience to vampire bites due to his mother having been bitten by vamp doc Deacon Frost when he was still in the womb). The vamps he dusted were even more different. While in the films and TV series they passed as human, wore slick clothes and lived the high life, in the comics they were portrayed with wings, inhuman faces and as a secret society.

There's a long, drawn out history as to when exactly Blade in the comics turned into more of the Blade in the movies.

But one thing's for certain, the movie and TV character's world is much more fun to be immersed in.

Last week we talked with University of Oklahoma graduate Sterling Gates about his major comics debut, "Fear is a Baby's Cry," a Sinestro Corps story featured in the back of "Superman-Prime."

This week, Gates talks to Comics Corner about what it was like getting to work on the aforementioned TV series, and just how cool it was to watch Hollywood in action.

Gates was an assistant to the writer's room for "Blade: The Series," an entertaining series that pushed the horror envelope for basic cable and lived up to, and sometimes improved upon, the film series' story and potential.

Rapper Sticky Fingaz took over the title role from Wesley Snipes, and eventually makes it his own.

For Gates, it was his first foray into the entertainment world after a whirlwind move from Norman to Los Angeles.

"It was a fantastic job," Gates said. "And nothing in college can possibly prepare you for the break-neck speed at which everything moves in Hollywood. We would deliver a script, then revise, then shoot the episode -- sometimes in a matter of days. And there I am in the middle of it, just trying to make sure everyone has anything they need."

The key, Gates learned, was to be flexible. It's a long way from an OU classroom to a writer's room in Hollywood.