The May-July 2017 issue of Filmfax, which I found at Barnes and Noble, has a very good interview with Ken Bald, who drew the DS newspaper comic strip. Bald has extensive golden age comic book credits going back to the classic Captain America, Submariner and Blonde Phantom. He also did a lot of horror comics in the 1950's. He was a fan of the tv show and loved doing the book. According to Bald, the strip did well in areas like NYC and California but the bible belt never warmed up to the idea of a vampire hero.