008: how to write about grotesques and monsters?
Hullo.
It's Holiday week so it's just chaos, so I'll hit the main beats.
Contents!
Love = Love
Good Release Dates, Not Indie.
Treat yourself.
Chat and war.
Byyyeeeee, etc.
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The big comic over the holidays is LOVE IS LOVE, the charity anthology created in response to the Orlando shootings. All proceeds go to the victims, survivors and their families. More details here. The level of talent involved is astounding – there’s a piece by JK Rowling, for example.
To stress, it’s not out tomorrow - it’s out on December 28th, but there’s a chance I may not do one over the holiday, so want to get this out ASAP.
I’m honoured to have a piece in it, which I did with the London artist Sarah Gordon. As the pieces are all a page, I can’t show much, but here’s a panel.
I can’t wait to buy my copy and see what everyone it all.
Aphra #2 also drops. It won’t be bimonthly throughout, but Marvel like to launch at a higher pace, especially earlier.
The rest of the preview here.
Aphra seemed to go down well. The issue was about (re)-establishing the cast and the world she lives in, as well as setting up for the spin. The next part is very much about us diving into the quest of it all. I also smile at this coming out in the week of Rogue One, for various reasons you’ll probably realise.
Yes, I’ve seen it. I liked it. I’d say more, but I have to be out the house in 30 minutes. Oh noes!
Image are doing a comixology sale from now until January 2nd. That basically means there’s time to return unwanted gifts and use the cash to pay for FINE COMICS PRODUCT.
The sale is here and you need the code IMAGE16.
I said on twitter that I’d give some recommendations, but this is literally everything in Image. Like, everything, ever. At 50% off. Explore, grab stuff you like, have fun.
I’ll try and avoid the usual biggest Image books and grab stuff I generally haven’t talked about. Also, oh god, is that the time? I have to run.
Blue Monday: I actually wrote the intro for the new volume of this. At 50% off, it’s four dollars, so just do it. Jamie and I wouldn’t be doing comics without it, but don’t hold that against it.
Black Magick: Greg and Nicola are astounding talents, and I don’t think I’ve ever raved about this. Occultist detective and definitely worth your time.
Deadly Class: Rick Remender writes a bunch of books at Image, but for my money the best is this beauty with Wes Craig. Wes’ understanding of space and panel possibilities is inspiring, and in terms of teenagers and death, Deadly Class makes WicDiv look like the Get Along Gang.
No Mercy: Alex De Campi and Carla Speed McNeil do teenage survival in human-scale disaster. Carla Speed McNeil once removed a wasp from my ear with a pair of tweezers. Buy all her stuff, forever.
Limbo: The first Image book by two new creators, and just a solar flare. I wish Jamie and I were this good when we dropped Rue Britannia. It’s a surreal detective story, with strong Lynchean notes, and is so confident it even manages to find its own way to make magical, magical. Also, formalist tour de force.
Emitown: Emi Lenox’s early autobio work. Humane, adorable, brilliant.
Cry Havoc: Si Spurrier and Ryan Kelly taking on a genre trope – the supernatural SAS squad – with as much intelligence as I’ve seen anyone attempt it.
The Wicked + The Divine: Minor obscure series by forgettable creators, but give them a break, right?
(Actually, if you’ve never read THREE, it’d be a good chance to grab it. Spartan mini-series with Ryan Kelly that I’m very proud of.)
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I did a podcast this week with Phil Sandifer. It’s about an hour and a half of talking around the esoterica of my career, with a special eye on the Avatar stuff generally and Uber specifically. This is stuff I rarely get to talk about, so I suspect it would be of interest.
Also, Phil is a smart guy, and one of my favourite critics, so his side of the conversation will obviously holds up.
While we’re talking, he’s just launched his new book, THE LAST WAR IN ALBION V1. This is an enormous critical endeavour, in every sense of the word. It attempts to read the last forty odd years as a magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. This is the story so far, and basically goes up to the end of Watchmen. I was a fan of it even before I turned up in it.
If you think you’d like it, you probably would. You can try it out on the blog too.
Reading update: finished Titus Groan. Started on Lolita.
Yes, I may be in a “study exquisite prose stylists” place, as well as my usual “how to write about grotesques and monsters?” place.
Also DJed at Marioke, which was my usual delve into infinite trash. I don’t think anything makes me as happy as playing records that make my friends’ dance.
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That’ll do. I’ll try and write one next week, about the odd liminal period that is the Christmas Eve to New Years gap.
Thanks for reading.
Kieron Gillen
London
20.12.2016