082: Vampire Jump Game
Hullo.
The thing which most efficiently describes how excellent Thought Bubble was is that I'm still tired from Thought Bubble.
Contents!
Catholic
Apple
Invention
Links
Bye!!!
****
Out this week? The Wicked + the Divine 1373. Here's the first three pages.
As was pointed out within seconds after we announced it, Nun More Goth.
It’s the last of the Historical Specials, set a couple of decades after the Black Death hit Europe. It’s about a Lucifer who decides to become a nun, who goes to hear Ananke’s confession. It’s intimate and horrific, and is the most ludicrously Raised Catholic Guilt thing I’ve ever written. C looked at me like I was an alien after she read it. As I said in the script when I mailed it to Ryan: “Joan of Arc, Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS, Carrie. This is a fun recipe, isn’t it?”
Ryan being Ryan Kelly, my shieldbrother on THREE. As my original collaborator on all things historical, was good to get him in on one of these, and he absolutely summons the horror of the period. Plus Matt Wilson on colours, turning away from the hyper-bright and going lived in and dank and hellish. Mud and fire. That’s what we’re about.
(And just look at Jamie’s cover for it, and how he’s treated the stained glass. EISNER FOR MATT WILSON.)
This will be collected in the eighth WicDiv collection, OLD IS THE NEW NEW, which will be out next year. In March, if my math is right.
Before then? Get thee to a nunnery and/or comic shop and/or comixology and/or Image Directly.
*
Jamie and I have decided to go to New York Comic Con at the last minute for marketing adventures. With DIE coming out and WicDiv coming into the final straight, it’s probably an idea, right?
I’ll do a list of signing times in next week’s newsletter. The only signing that’s been confirmed so far is Saturday at 4pm at Image, for those who are planning to drags book around.
It will be fun. Looking forward to seeing you all. As in, you all. Every single one of you. I want you to form an orderly line outside the con so I can examine you. Be sure to wash behind your ears.
This will be leaning a little short, but for those hungry for Gillen words, here’s the usual few thousand writer notes on The Wicked + the Divine 39. Lots about the specifics of how trying to navigate a minefield of semiotics.
Oh – and the comps of the next trade turned up.
Out first week in October.
*
Second week in a row, second Robyn piece. This one is a heart tugger. I hope the album is great. I mean, I hope every album is great. Great things are great. The world needs more great things. But it would be deeply pleasing if this was Great.
Idles tearing up Jules Holland. As in, the stage on his show, though knowing them, it could easily go that way too.
Eisner-Award Winning Colourist Matt Wilson being interviewed over on the Beat about how lovely he is. Spoilers: very lovely.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned Nighthawks, a Vampire-Bar-RPG that’s currently kickstarted. Written by my old comrade in arms, Richard Cobbett. I think you’d like it.
The working week was obviously defined by Thought Bubble, the much-loved arty powerhouse of the British Comic scene. Anyone who’s read my stuff will know that I’m a great fan of the con – at least in terms of Britain, it’s the finest con going, by some distance. I love its fundamental comics-only democratic structure, where the biggest names are right up against entirely new people. By way of example, someone who I’ve only really met on the Thought Bubble dancefloor had her first photocopied zine for sale, a handful of desks away from us hoary old veterans. I love a flat stage.
(I just read it. It’s good. Personal meditation on identity via her relationship with A Certain Toy. Cool Formalist zine-storytelling moves. You Can Be Anthingtm by Sophie Bainbridge. Nice work, Sophie.)
I abstractly had a relatively small commitment. I had one event, where I interviewed Warren Ellis about basically everything, but mainly about Vampire Jump Game. Bleeding Cool have lobbed the footage online. I also showed myself at the WicDiv Immersive Experience, which Bleeding Cool also wrote about. From what I understand, it was an enormous success – Sarah and Mink were expecting people to stay for half an hour, but there were people who stayed in the room and talked to the oracles (i.e. Experts) for four hours. That’s absolutely astounding. I should actually hit up Mink and Sarah and see if they’re up for an interview for the next newsletter to decompress on it. Hey, Mink and Sarah. You read this. Up for it?
Despite that paucity of commitments, I was still working hard, as I had someone taken it upon myself to arrange the DJs for the Saturday Night Party. Yes, I’ve moved entirely into my Svengali period, and will become Malcolm McClaren shortly. It was also noted that it’s a very wanky Gillen-y move to become a meta-DJ, by basically Djing with DJs. Anyway – I was spending every spare minute on Saturday ensuring several of the DJs wanted were available on my Ipad and generally running around getting drinks. I was perhaps too successful at the latter part. I also got called DJ Dad, which sounds about right.
In short: DJs were great, shapes were thrown, my feet hurt.
Work wise? Jamie has WicDiv 40 and is now squinting at the diagrams and going “Are you sure?” Here’s a screenshot of a random bit…
Honestly, I’m a professional.
Other stuff? A playtest of the DIE RPG, which was crunched for time, but basically worked, ending up emotionally charged and the final character class basically did what I wanted it to do. Script stuff? Working on some outlines for other projects, and prodding at WicDiv 41, which has suddenly decided it wants some nine-panel grids in. Shush! Don’t tell Jamie.
Byyyyyeeee!
Kieron Gillen
London
26.9.2018
<style type=”text/css” “=”“>–>
Hullo.
The thing which most efficiently describes how excellent Thought Bubble was is that I’m still tired from Thought Bubble.
Contents!
Catholic
Apple
Invention
Links
Bye!!!
*
Out this week? The Wicked + the Divine 1373. Here’s the first three pages.
<IMAGES HERE>
As was pointed out within seconds after we announced it, Nun More Goth.
It’s the last of the Historical Specials, set a couple of decades after the Black Death hit Europe. It’s about a Lucifer who decides to become a nun, who goes to hear Ananke’s confession. It’s intimate and horrific, and is the most ludicrously Raised Catholic Guilt thing I’ve ever written. C looked at me like I was an alien after she read it. As I said in the script when I mailed it to Ryan: “Joan of Arc, Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS, Carrie. This is a fun recipe, isn’t it?”
Ryan being Ryan Kelly, my shieldbrother on THREE. As my original collaborator on all things historical, was good to get him in on one of these, and he absolutely summons the horror of the period. Plus Matt Wilson on colours, turning away from the hyper-bright and going lived in and dank and hellish. Mud and fire. That’s what we’re about.
(And just look at Jamie’s cover for it, and how he’s treated the stained glass. EISNER FOR MATT WILSON.)
This will be collected in the eighth WicDiv collection, OLD IS THE NEW NEW, which will be out next year. In March, if my math is right.
Before then? Get thee to a nunnery and/or comic shop and/or comixology and/or Image Directly.
Jamie and I have decided to go to New York Comic Con at the last minute for marketing adventures. With DIE coming out and WicDiv coming into the final straight, it’s probably an idea, right?
I’ll do a list of signing times in next week’s newsletter. The only signing that’s been confirmed so far is Saturday at 4pm at Image, for those who are planning to drags book around.
It will be fun. Looking forward to seeing you all. As in, you all. Every single one of you. I want you to form an orderly line outside the con so I can examine you. Be sure to wash behind your ears.
*
This will be leaning a little short, but for those hungry for Gillen words, here’s the usual few thousand writer notes on The Wicked + the Divine 39. Lots about the specifics of how trying to navigate a minefield of semiotics.
Oh – and the comps of the next trade turned up. Out first week in October.
<IMAGE>
Second week in a row, second Robyn piece. This one is a heart tugger. I hope the album is great. I mean, I hope every album is great. Great things are great. The world needs more great things. But it would be deeply pleasing if this was Great.
Idles tearing up Jules Holland. As in, the stage on his show, though knowing them, it could easily go that way too.
Eisner-Award Winning Colourist Matt Wilson being interviewed over on the Beat about how lovely he is. Spoilers: very lovely.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned Nighthawks, a Vampire-Bar-RPG that’s currently kickstarted. Written by my old comrade in arms, Richard Cobbett. I think you’d like it.
****
The working week was obviously defined by Thought Bubble, the much-loved arty powerhouse of the British Comic scene. Anyone who’s read my stuff will know that I’m a great fan of the con – at least in terms of Britain, it’s the finest con going, by some distance. I love its fundamental comics-only democratic structure, where the biggest names are right up against entirely new people. By way of example, someone who I’ve only really met on the Thought Bubble dancefloor had her first photocopied zine for sale, a handful of desks away from us hoary old veterans. I love a flat stage.
(I just read it. It’s good. Personal meditation on identity via her relationship with A Certain Toy. Cool Formalist zine-storytelling moves. You Can Be Anthingtm by Sophie Bainbridge. Nice work, Sophie.)
I abstractly had a relatively small commitment. I had one event, where I interviewed Warren Ellis about basically everything, but mainly about Vampire Jump Game. Bleeding Cool have lobbed the footage online. I also showed myself at the WicDiv Immersive Experience, which Bleeding Cool also wrote about. From what I understand, it was an enormous success – Sarah and Mink were expecting people to stay for half an hour, but there were people who stayed in the room and talked to the oracles (i.e. Experts) for four hours. That’s absolutely astounding. I should actually hit up Mink and Sarah and see if they’re up for an interview for the next newsletter to decompress on it. Hey, Mink and Sarah. You read this. Up for it?
Despite that paucity of commitments, I was still working hard, as I had someone taken it upon myself to arrange the DJs for the Saturday Night Party. Yes, I’ve moved entirely into my Svengali period, and will become Malcolm McClaren shortly. It was also noted that it’s a very wanky Gillen-y move to become a meta-DJ, by basically Djing with DJs. Anyway – I was spending every spare minute on Saturday ensuring several of the DJs wanted were available on my Ipad and generally running around getting drinks. I was perhaps too successful at the latter part. I also got called DJ Dad, which sounds about right.
In short: DJs were great, shapes were thrown, my feet hurt.
Work wise? Jamie has WicDiv 40 and is now squinting at the diagrams and going “Are you sure?” Working on some outlines for other projects, and prodding at WicDiv 41, which has suddenly decided it wants some nine-panel grids in. Shush! Don’t tell Jamie.
Byyyyyeeee!
Kieron Gillen
26.9.2018