122: No, Chip, that’s not a euphemism.
Hullo.
The day is contracting, so I suspect this will be a shorter one than usual.
Go read Chip’s and sign up for it, because you are a glutton for punishment.
Once & Now
Case
Bolt
Worldcon
Future 3 and Future 4
Links
Byyyyeeee!!!
****
My third and final new book of the year is released.
Once & Future is the story of a retired Monster Hunter who drags her entirely unknowing grandchild into her line of work when a bunch of British Ultra nationalists try and awake an ancient Arthurian Evil.
I like to mix up what I do, as I get bored easily. I like the work I do to be i) born of my obsessions while ii) feeding from a completely different part of me. If I do two books that scratch the same itch, I get bored. I suspect you would too.
DIE is the weird, hyper-detailed, painful, messy work. Peter Cannon was the formalist, experimental fuck-me-I-love-comics art-for-art’s sake work. Once & Future is the smart pop thrill work.
It wouldn’t work without Dan Mora, who is an fantastic action/horror artist who never loses track of the characters’ charms. I often think of comic artists in terms of who they are as actors, and everyone Dan draws is the equivalent of a box office draw. I just want to hang around with these people. Tamra Bonvillain is a colourist with huge taste and imagination, choosing her palettes to either sell the normality or the weirdness.
Orders have been fantastic, so hopefully you should have no trouble finding a copy. I think you’ll enjoy this a lot. Writing Bridgette and Duncan is just a joy.
You can buy from your local shop or, Comixology. There’s some preview pages here and a trailer here.
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Stephanie posted a photo of Canelle, who was her inspiration for Case’s visual in DIE. “When my parents brought her home, she still had a pink belly and a small navel. She stole my heart,” she said.
Caspar, Hassan, possibly Mary and myself have been trying to plan a signing for PETER CANNON: THUNDERBOLT’s hardcover that’s coming out next month. In the process of sorting that out I remembered it probably is worth another plug.
Speak to your retailer. If you want its code, it’s this: JUL191290. You can preorder on book retailers too online.
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I’m at Worldcon this week. Here’s my schedule. Do say Hi.
Okay, I’ve lost track of the prints for Once & Future. I think that last time we talked there was a second printing, right? Well, they announced a third printing of issue 1, with this cover by Dan. Out 4th September.
Which is a lot, but I sat back and had a rest and then they go and announce a fourth one, with a cover by Jakub Rebelka, which is out on September 11th.
In short: ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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There’s a bunch of press out at the mo. I’m going to grab a load.
I spent a couple of hours talking comics with Talking Comics last night, which was lots of fun. You can listen to it here. It starts on Once & Future, and then moves into everything else. If you’re not up to date with WicDiv, I’d be careful – we talk a lot about the current arc.
The Beat recorded me filling in a DIE character sheet and generally rambling at SDCC. You can watch it here. What a world we live in.
The early Once & Future reviews are compiled here. Hmm. The bottom review has the wrong score. Presumably a bug. I’ll write and tell them and, oh, they’ve already fixed it. Good work, Comic Book Roundup.
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To be honest, I’ve been a hot mess this week, hence work has been primarily picking off things around the edges as my brain can handle. Stuff has got done, but not really huge and useful novel stuff. I’m hoping the trip to World Con and Dublin clears my head.
I’m still working on breaking Ludocrats 3 into a script. I’ve done Lettering drafts on a bunch of scripts. There’s a bunch more work on PROJECT MILLIONAIRE SWEEPER, which I really should be doing today, but instead I’m writing to you. There’s some fun stuff with PROJECT PRIVATE BUKOWSKI too, but that’s still miles off.
I also finished painting my dragon. No, Chip, that’s not a euphemism.
Kieron Gillen
London
14.8.2019